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, but Beatty

00:48in the part. There were a number of reasons, but also a health one. Rhys Davies was allergic to the

00:53prosthetics used to create the dwarf, so tried to avoid wearing them for as much time as possible.

00:58When it came for the Fellowship cast to commemorate the work they had done together with a tattoo,

01:02Beatty was approached in Rhys Davies stead. This was fully supported by the actor, who agreed that

01:07Beatty had done so much of the work that he deserved recognition. Therefore, he is the only stunt double

01:13from the cast to have the elvish script of Nine tattooed on his body. This, sadly, would be the biggest

01:19form of recognition that he would receive for many years, as the studio only billed him as stunt double in

01:24the credits. Number 5. Andy Serkis wanted to BE Gollum on set, not just provide the voice. Now,

01:32this one might not seem like such a strange demand at all. Nowadays, don't all films that require

01:38mocap imagery encourage the performers to act on set, interacting with the other performers in a scene?

01:43Well that was not quite the done thing when Andy Serkis arrived in New Zealand to play the dual role of

01:48Smeagol and Gollum. While motion capture technology wasn't invented for The Lord of the Rings, one could

01:53argue that it was perfected during the production period. Serkis devoted hours and hours of life to

01:59playing the villainous character on set as he felt that standing to the side and shouting his lines for

02:05the other performers to react wouldn't capture the spirit of the scenes. So, he asked to be physically

02:10part of the action, donning his mocap suit and running around like a controlled lunatic. This served not only to

02:16allow Serkis 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. Number 4. Viggo Mortensen consistently

02:31asked for rewrites. Coming to the production later than most, Viggo Mortensen had been convinced

02:36to take on the role by his son, who was an enormous fan of the books. When he arrived in New Zealand,

02:42he became part of the collaborative process by which much of the film scenes were devised once

02:46filming had begun. According to Sean Austin's autobiography of making the films, Mortensen

02:51became something of a pain in the backside to Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

02:56He apparently lived with the books, reading them over and over again trying his best to understand the

03:01part of Aragorn. This led to his constant suggestions that tweaks could be made to the script to improve

03:07the character. While script revisions happened on many projects, this stemmed from the actor effectively

03:12going over the heads of the scriptwriters. 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. Sean Bean had a fear of flying,

03:32particularly when it came to helicopters. This became a bit of an issue when it came to location

03:36shooting for the Fellowship of the Ring, as many of the scenes involved high rise shots in the

03:41mountains. Whether it was the snowy pass of Caradhras or the heights of Amon Hen, Boromir was needed,

03:47but Bean wasn't thrilled. He made somewhat strange request to be allowed to hike the distance each day.

03:53This was no mean feat, as filming locations were remote enough for the rest of the cast to be

03:57airlifted to the set. However, Bean simply refused to get to the chopper, so the producers were left

04:03with very few options but to allow it. The rest of the cast remembered fondly in interviews their

04:07sight of Bean in full costume, shield thrown over his shoulder, climbing up the mountain each day,

04:14huffing it up the hills as they passed him overhead in the helicopters. Perhaps, thanks to the physical

04:19nature of this daily hike, it was for the best that Boromir's role in the trilogy effectively came

04:24to a close amid a shower of arrows at the hands of the Uruk-hai in the Fellowship of the Ring.

04:29Number 2. Viggo Mortensen did not want a gelded horse. In an interview in 2006, Miranda Otto,

04:35who played Eowyn in the films, recounted her experiences with her horse. When asked if she

04:40had bought her horse to bring home with her, she answered that no, she hadn't. She then went on

04:44to reveal that she only received that horse because Viggo Mortensen didn't want him. Otto's steed was a

04:49gelding, which is to say that he had been neutered. Mortensen demanded a stallion for his scenes,

04:54as he felt it was more appropriate for Aragorn to ride one. This meant that this horse passed to Otto.

04:59She 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 Otto,

05:15when he returned to the set, he had been so well fed that he was nearly twice the size. However,

05:20despite 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

05:52be stabbed 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 knife

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

06:09stabbed from behind. Slightly apprehensively, Jackson said that he didn't. Lee confirmed that he, in fact,

06:17did know. As Lee said, when the knife penetrated the lung all the air would be forced out so there

06:22could be no cry, merely a gasp. Jackson, thoroughly spooked, allowed the change in the script and the

06:28scene exists as Lee intended in the complete version of The Return of the King. Now that's everything for

06:33our list today folks. If you have anything you would love to add please drop it into the comments below.

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06:42at WhatCulture. You can catch myself at Sean Ferrick on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. You look after

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06:53and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks very much.

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08:23Bye.

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