The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[bessie]

Andy Serkis' last day of filming was only a few weeks before the theatrical release. On the carpet of the floor of Peter Jackson's house, they filmed the facial reaction of Gollum when he realizes Frodo intends to destroy the ring. The resulting video was e-mailed to Weta Digital so the animators could replicate the shot with the CGI character.

[sylvia]

"The Return of the King" is also the title of a graphic novel in the X-Men series. The title refers to Magneto, who has also been played by Sir Ian McKellen. The series also features a villain named Sauron.

[elmer]

According to a magazine article, Peter Jackson hated the Army of the Dead, thinking it was too unbelievable. He kept it in the script because he did not wish to disappoint diehard fans of the book.

[manuel]

Was the ninth movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture without being nominated in a single acting category. As of 2018, ten movies have achieved this distinction. The others being Wings (1927), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Grand Hotel (1932), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Gigi (1958), The Last Emperor (1987), Braveheart (1995), and Slumdog Millionaire (2008).

[eli]

Jed Brophy, who appeared as a "Featured Orc", appeared in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) as an orc, and appeared in King Kong (2005), and the Peter Jackson-produced District 9 (2009), before receiving a featured role as Nori in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).

[chad]

Rick Porras: The other soldier watching the beacon at Minas Tirith is a co-producer.

[ruby]

Frodo and Sam's climb up Mt. Doom was shot on a volcano called Ruapehu. The footing was so steep on the volcano that Elijah Wood and Sean Astin were hooked up to safety wires. If one of them lost their footing, the wires prevented them from sliding halfway down the volcano. The wires were painted out digitally.

[kenneth]

King Theoden touching the spears of his soldiers before they charge into battle was Bernard Hill's idea.

[terry]

In the scene when Denethor attempts to burn Faramir on the pyre, the pyre could not truly be on fire, because Gandalf's horse would not go near it. To solve this, the crew reflected a real fire onto a pane of glass in front of the camera, so that it looks as though the pyre is burning.

[nora]

On the Extended DVD extras, Peter Jackson explains that the head of Gothmog, the leader of the Orcs during the siege of Gondor, was partly derived from the head of Joseph "John" Merrick, also known as "The Elephant Man". Also of influence was the alien leader from Jackson's Bad Taste (1987).

[kenzi]

The Battle of Pelennor Fields was filmed on a large field heavily populated with rabbits. The place had to be carefully inspected for rabbit holes, which were all filled, due to the danger they would pose if a horse were to step into one, which could cause a major pile-up, with injuries to horses and riders.

[chad]

One of only three movies to win eleven Academy Awards, with the other two being Titanic (1997) and Ben-Hur (1959). It is, however, the only movie of the three to win every award for which it was nominated.

[oscar]

This movie was originally going to end with a voice-over epilogue by Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), detailing the fate of the Fellowship of the Ring after the events of the movie. Scenes showing Gimli and Legolas for this purpose had been shot, but were not used in any version of the finished movie.

[frances]

The model of Shelob was based on a New Zealand funnel web spider.

[maureen]

Howard Shore, Michael Semanick: Seen over Legolas' shoulder during the drinking game in the Golden Hall, in the Extended Edition DVD.

[ken]

Billy Boyd's singing scene largely came about because co-writer Philippa Boyens went for a night out at a karaoke bar with the younger male cast members, and she was very struck by the quality of his voice. Remembering that Denethor asks Pippin to sing him a song when Faramir heads off to war, she resurrected the lyrics from the novel, and Boyd came up with the tune for it.

[eli]

It has the highest perfect score at the Academy Awards, with eleven wins out of eleven nominations. Its wins also means that the Lord of the Rings film franchise has won every category for which it was nominated, except one (Best Actor in a Supporting Role).

[manuel]

Throughout the trilogy, there are a total of 1,422 deaths, the highest of any film franchise.

[kenneth]

The opening scene, in which Smeagol (Andy Serkis) discovers the Ring and starts on the slippery slope towards ultimately becoming Gollum, was directed by co-writer and co-producer Fran Walsh. Originally, it was set to appear in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), immediately after Frodo first revealed Gollum's real name.