6 Unusual Demands Made By Lord Of The Rings Actors

Australian Cinephile

Who were the divas in The Lord Of The Rings, and what exactly was on their list of demands.

Transcript

00:00Listen, I'm not one to judge. If somebody can bring me a cup of tea while I'm sitting there

00:03waiting to go on and film, I'm going to ask for that cup of tea. Of course I'm going to ask for

00:07it nicely because, you know, I'd like to be hired again. With that in mind, I'm Sean Ferrick for

00:12WhatCulture and here are six unusual demands made by Lord of the Rings actors. Number six.

00:19The cast insisted that John Rhys Davies' stunt double got a tattoo. Brett Beatty was the stunt

00:24double who did most of the heavy lifting for the role of Gimli, while camera trickery was

00:29mainly responsible for catching all of the main Fellowship cast together on screen,

00:33both Gimli and the Hobbits were portrayed by doubles for wider shots. However,

00:37Beatty did considerably more than many of the other actors. John Rhys Davies, the tallest of the cast

00:42in real life, has frequently joked that a lot of the time Gimli is on screen, it isn't him,

00:47but Beatty in the part. There were a number of reasons, but also a health one. Rhys Davies was

00:52allergic to the prosthetics used to create the dwarf, so tried to avoid wearing them for as much time as

00:57possible. When it came for the Fellowship cast to commemorate the work they had done together with

01:01a tattoo, Beatty was approached in Rhys Davies' stead. This was fully supported by the actor,

01:06who agreed that Beatty had done so much of the work that he deserved recognition. Therefore,

01:11he is the only stunt double from the cast to have the elvish script of Nine tattooed on his body. This

01:18sadly would be the biggest form of recognition that he would receive for many years,

01:22as the studio only billed him as stunt double in the credits. Number 5. Andy Serkis wanted to be

01:28Gollum on set, not just provide the voice. Now, this one might not seem like such a strange demand

01:35at all. Nowadays, don't all films that require mocap imagery encourage the performers to act on set,

01:41interacting with the other performers in a scene? Well, that was not quite the done thing when Andy

01:45Serkis arrived in New Zealand to play the dual role of Smeagol and Gollum. While motion capture technology

01:51wasn't invented for the Lord of the Rings, one could argue that it was perfected during the

01:55production period. Serkis devoted hours and hours of life to playing the villainous character on set,

02:01as he felt that standing to the side and shouting his lines for the other performers to react

02:06wouldn't capture the spirit of the scenes. So, he asked to be physically part of the action,

02:11donning his mocap suit and running around like a controlled lunatic. This served not only to allow

02:16Serkis the best chance of delivery and provide the CGI team with an easier reference point,

02:20but also allowed actors like Sean Austin and Elijah Wood to delve deeper into each scene,

02:25as opposed to having Gollum's lines fed to them via a bullhorn.

02:28Number 4. Viggo Mortensen consistently asked for rewrites.

02:33Coming to the production later than most, Viggo Mortensen had been convinced to take on the role by

02:38his son, who was an enormous fan of the books. When he arrived in New Zealand, he became part of the

02:43collaborative process by which much of the film scenes were devised once filming had begun.

02:48According to Sean Austin's autobiography of making the films, Mortensen became something of a pain in

02:52the backside to Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. He apparently lived with the books,

02:58reading them over and over again trying his best to understand the part of Aragorn. This led to his

03:03constant suggestions that tweaks could be made to the script to improve the character.

03:08While script revisions happened on many projects, this stemmed from the actor effectively going

03:12over the heads of the script writers. Basically, he was using Tolkien's own works as a way to

03:17supersede them. Having said that, according to Aston, this was often well received by Jackson,

03:22who would often, though not always, take Mortensen's suggestions on board.

03:26Number 3. Sean Bean refused point blank to get into the helicopter.

03:31Sean Bean had a fear of flying, particularly when it came to helicopters. This became a bit of an issue

03:35when it came to location shooting for the Fellowship of the Ring, as many of the scenes involved high-rise

03:40shots in the mountains. Whether it was the snowy pass of Caradhras or the heights of Amon Hen,

03:45Boromir was needed, but Bean wasn't thrilled. He made a somewhat strange request to be allowed to

03:52hike the distance each day. This was no mean feat, as filming locations were remote enough for the

03:56rest of the cast to be airlifted to the set. However, Bean simply refused to get to the chopper,

04:02so the producers were left with very few options but to allow it. The rest of the cast remembered fondly in

04:07interviews their sight of Bean, in full costume, shield thrown over his shoulder, climbing up the

04:12mountain each day, huffing it up the hills as they passed him overhead in the helicopters.

04:17Perhaps, thanks to the physical nature of this daily hike, it was for the best that Boromir's role

04:22in the trilogy effectively came to a close amid a shower of arrows at the hands of the Uruk-hai in

04:27the Fellowship of the Ring. Number 2. Viggo Mortensen did not want a gelded horse. In an interview in 2006,

04:34Miranda Otto, who played Eowyn in the films, recounted her experiences with her horse.

04:39When asked if she had bought her horse to bring home with her, she answered that no, she hadn't.

04:43She then went on to reveal that she only received that horse because Viggo Mortensen didn't want him.

04:48Otto's steed was a gelding, which is to say that he had been neutered. Mortensen demanded a stallion for

04:53his scenes as he felt it was more appropriate for Aragorn to ride one. This meant that this horse passed to

04:59Otto. She credited the horse as a beautiful soul who was a dream to work with, except for one little

05:04problem. When Otto had first met the horse, he was a smaller, more easily manageable creature.

05:09They were separated for some time, during which his new owner treated him very well. According to

05:14Otto, when he returned to the set, he had been so well fed that he was nearly twice the size.

05:19However, despite that, she still found him to be a tame animal. And all of this because Viggo Mortensen

05:25had no interest in riding a gelding. Number 1. Christopher Lee demanded a rewrite of his murder.

05:31Veteran actor and former soldier Christopher Lee played the evil wizard Saruman in the trilogy.

05:37Much has been said about his removal from the theatrical release of The Return of the King,

05:41though thankfully his scenes were restored for the extended editions. This included a crucial scene,

05:47his murder. With the excising of the Scouring of the Shire chapter from the book, Saruman was to be

05:52stabbed in the back by Wormtongue atop Orthanc. Filming commenced, but Lee quickly demanded a change

05:57to the script. In the written version, Saruman would cry out in pain when Wormtongue plunged the

06:02knife into his back. Lee asked Peter Jackson if the director actually knew what sound a man made

06:08when being stabbed from behind. Slightly apprehensively, Jackson said that he didn't.

06:13Lee confirmed that he, in fact, did know. As Lee said, when the knife penetrated the lung,

06:21all the air would be forced out so there could be no cry, merely a gasp. Jackson, thoroughly spooked,

06:26allowed the change in the script and the scene exists as Lee intended in the complete version

06:31of The Return of the King. Now that's everything for our list today folks. If you have anything you

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06:49again. You be kind to yourself, you stay safe, you stay well and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks very much.

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