These 7 The Lord of the Rings behind the scene facts are a treat for true fans

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy depicted the struggle of the Fellowship to destroy the Ring and defeat Sauron. It depicted several battles, such as the battle at Helm’s Deep and the battle of Pelenor fields, and also introduced us to many places in Middle-earth.

However, since The Lord of the Rings films enthralled the viewers with their battlefields and world-building, creating something of this level might have required endless amounts of labor. There are numerous behind-the-scenes stories about the cast getting injured or fascinating stories like Gollum’s creation, while the CGI techniques were evolving or the unscripted moments that still became a part of the film, like Gandalf hitting his head at Bilbo’s house, depicting how much effort it took to bring the epic tale to the screen.

Here’s a list of 7 such fascinating behind-the-scenes facts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

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7 The Lord of the Rings behind-the-scenes facts are a treat for true fans

7) Peter Jackson’s cameos

Did you know Peter Jackson appeared in all of The Lord of the Rings films and The Hobbit films? In the first LOTR film, Jackson appeared as a villager eating a carrot in the village of Bree.

In the second film, he took part in the battle of Helm’s Deep, defending the Rohirrim, and in the third film, he played a more sinister role as he appeared as one of the Corsairs on the Black Ships. While making the film, Jackson also lived fans' wishes of becoming a part of Middle-earth.

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6) Gandalf hitting his head was unscripted

In the first film of The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf goes to visit Bilbo for his 111th birthday. In the lighthearted scene of the two longtime friends meeting, Gandalf hits his head on the ceiling of Bilbo’s house. The scene might have made the moment funnier, but it was actually one of the unscripted moments from the film, which Jackson decided to keep.

While unintentional, the moment provided humor and also lamented the fact that Gandalf is an Istari and is supposed to be taller. Bilbo’s house is a Hobbit’s house, which might mean these accidents are bound to happen to Gandalf.

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5) Riders of Rohan were mostly women

Did you know there were women horse riders in the second film of The Lord of the Rings? It was revealed in the extended edition of The Two Towers that, since they wanted expert riders for the battle scenes, they had to look for riders who owned their horses. Turns out it was mostly women.

Therefore, these women rode their own horses and were disguised as men with fake beards. Making Rohan’s riders mostly women adds a layer of irony to Éowyn's story, who disguised herself as a man to enter the battle of Pelenor fields and killed the Witch King.

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4) Gollum’s evolution onscreen

Another surprising fact that you’ll love about The Lord of the Rings is Gollum’s transformation. Initially, Gollum was supposed to be a computerized character, and only Serkis’s voice acting was required. However, later, Jackson changed it to let Andy Serkis play the role himself.

From wearing pajamas to a motion capture suit, Serkis and Gollum went through many technological changes while playing the character.

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3) Christopher Lee being the only cast member to meet J.R.R. Tolkien

The late actor who portrayed the character of Saruman in The Lord of the Rings films was actually the only actor who met LOTR’s author, J.R.R. Tolkien. In a 2020 interview with Cinefantastique, Lee talked about the chance meeting and said:

"I met him with a group of other people in a pub in Oxford he used to go to, The Eagle and Child. I was very much in awe of him, as you can imagine, so I just said, “how do you do?”

As per Mashable, Lee auditioned for various wizard roles to show that he was good enough to play the character and should be cast in the LOTR films.

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2) Using magnets to depict the weight of the ring

We have seen how the weight of the ring affected Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. The film made many efforts to depict the weight of the powerful ring. In the first film, Bilbo drops the ring on the floor at Bag End, but the ring doesn’t bounce back. It was due to magnets being placed under the floor to depict the physical and metaphorical weight of the evil ring. They even used an alloy ring to ensure it sticks with the magnet.

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1) Filming continued even after The Return of the King premiere

This top behind-the-scenes fact about The Lord of the Rings might blow your mind. While the third LOTR film had its premiere, Jackson was revealed to be still directing the extended version. Return of the King went on to win the Best Picture Academy Award.

However, Jackson was still not done and went on to direct the extended edition of the film for the Paths of the Dead sequences.

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