The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is an epic fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson. It is primarily based on the
third volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings (but also includes material from the second volume), and it is the concluding film in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. It follows The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers and was filmed simultaneously with them.
As Sauron launches the final stages of his conquest of Middle-earth, Gandalf the Wizard and Théoden King of Rohan step up their forces to help defend Gondor's
capital Minas Tirith from this threat. Aragorn must
finally take up the throne of Gondor and summons an army of ghosts to help him defeat Sauron.
Ultimately, even with full strength of arms, they find they cannot win; it comes down to the Hobbits Frodo and Sam, who themselves face the burden of the Ring and the
treachery of Gollum, to destroy the One Ring in Mordor.
Released on December 17, 2003, The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King became one of the most critically acclaimed films and greatest box-office successes of all time. It
swept all eleven Academy Awards it was nominated for, which ties it with only
Titanic and Ben-Hur for
most Academy Awards ever won. It also won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the only time in history a fantasy film has done so. It also became the second highest grossing movie worldwide of all time behind Titanic, unadjusted for inflation.[1] The Special Extended Edition, containing 50 more minutes of footage, was released on DVD on
December 14, 2004.
Plot
The film begins with a flashback of how Déagol found the One Ring and Sméagol murdered him for it, followed by his
transformation into Gollum. It then returns to the current story with Gollum taking
Frodo and Sam to Minas Morgul. Aragorn, Legolas,
Gimli, Gandalf, Théoden and Éomer meet up with Merry, Pippin and Treebeard at Isengard, now under the Ents' control. After a brief parley with Saruman, the evil wizard, ending in his
death, they decide to return to Edoras to plan their next move. They also recover the palantír. Pippin's curiosity gets the better of him at Edoras, and he looks
into it. Gandalf realizes Sauron is planning to attack Minas Tirith, capital of the kingdom of Gondor, and he rides off there with
Pippin. In Rivendell, Arwen has a vision of her son with Aragorn and convinces Elrond to reforge the sword, Narsil, that cut the Ring from Sauron's finger long
ago. Sam also overhears Gollum's treacherous plans.
Gandalf and Pippin ride to Minas Tirith.
Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith to find the steward Denethor mourning over
Boromir, and Pippin swears loyalty to him in return for Boromir saving his own life. They also
witness a great signal of light from Minas Morgul, where Frodo, Sam, and Gollum see the Witch-king dispatch his immense and powerful orc army, heralding the start of the war. The hobbits
and Gollum begin climbing the stairs nearby. The Morgul army drives the Gondorians out of Osgiliath, and Faramir is forced to lead a doomed ride to reclaim the city,
at the behest of his despondent father. Near Minas Morgul, Gollum convinces Frodo to send Sam home on the belief he wants the
Ring. At the urging of Gandalf, Pippin lights the first of the beacon signals to Edoras, alerting Théoden and the Rohirrim,
prompting them to ride to Dunharrow to prepare for war. While preparing for battle in
Dunharrow, Aragorn meets Elrond, who presents the future King with the newly reforged sword, Andúril. Aragorn then sets off with
Legolas and Gimli to brave the Paths of the Dead, to enlist the help of the cursed
Army of Dead, and capture the ships of the Corsairs of Umbar. Théoden rides off to war with six thousand Riders, unaware Éowyn and Merry are part of the army too.
The Morgul forces, composed mostly of Orcs, begin the siege of Minas Tirith, and many missiles are traded, while the
Witch-king and the other Ringwraiths on their
Fell Beasts also attack. They break into the city using the enormous battering ram
Grond. The Gondorians do their best to hold the Orcs back, but they suffer catastrophic losses and
are forced to retreat to the second level of the city. Simultaneously, Gollum betrays Frodo to the giant spider Shelob, who stings him. Sam returns, and in a short but fierce battle, manages to wound the spider and drive her
away. Gollum is nowhere to be found after this fight. Sam believes Frodo is dead, but when Orcs from the Tower of Cirith Ungol take Frodo, he overhears that he is still alive.
At Minas Tirith, Denethor has gone mad and he prepares a pyre for him and the unconscious Faramir. Pippin catches sight of
this and proceeds to warn Gandalf, who is trying to rally the fleeing soldiers. Gandalf accompanies Pippin back up to the Citadel
to stop Denethor. On the way, the Witch-king blocks their path with his fell beast and breaks Gandalf's staff. In a stunning turn
of events, Théoden and his Rohirrim arrive and charge into the advancing Orcs, killing
thousands. The Witch-king leaves to deal with the advancing horsemen, allowing Gandalf and Pippin to arrive back at the Citadel.
They save Faramir, but despite Gandalf's best efforts, Denethor sets fire to himself, and runs out of the temple, falling from
the tall rock spur of the city. The riders of Rohan have the Orcs in retreat to Osgiliath and
they are preparing to secure Minas Tirith, but the Mûmakil and the Witch-king arrive to
rout them. Aragorn finally arrives with the undead on the captured Corsair ships and joins the battle against the Orcs and
Mûmakil, whilst Éowyn and Merry kill the Witch-king. Théoden dies of injuries suffered during the battle, and Aragorn
holds the Dead Army's oath fulfilled, releasing them from their curse.
Sam carries Frodo up Mount Doom.
Sam rescues Frodo from Cirith Ungol, which is mostly empty following a fight between Orcs over the mithril shirt, and they begin the long trek across Mordor to Mount Doom.
Gandalf realizes that 10,000 Orcs stand between Frodo at Cirith Ungol and Mount Doom. Aragorn leads the remaining soldiers to the
Black Gate to draw the Orcs away from Frodo's path. Sam carries a weak and
despairing Frodo up to Mount Doom but Gollum attacks them, just as the Men of the West
furiously battle the Orcs. Sam and Gollum fight, giving Frodo time to make an escape up the slope to the Crack of Doom. At
the Crack of Doom, Frodo, instead of dropping the ring into the lava, succumbs to its power and
puts it on, disappearing from sight. Gollum enters the chamber, renders Sam unconscious, and leaps on the invisible Frodo. He
seizes Frodo's finger, biting it and the Ring off. Frodo charges at him to get the Ring back and both fall over the edge. Gollum
falls into the lava flow while Frodo hangs onto the edge of the cliff. Sam rescues Frodo as the Ring finally sinks into the lava
and is destroyed, starting an immense eruption. The Barad-dûr collapses and the Orcs are
killed in the ensuing shockwave and earthquakes. Frodo and Sam are stranded and surrounded by lava until Gandalf arrives with the
Eagles. They awake in Minas Tirith, reuniting with their friends.
Aragorn is crowned King, heralding the new age of peace, and is reunited with Arwen. All bow to him, but when the Hobbits
start to kneel, he stops them, saying, "My friends, you bow to no one." The entire congregation then bows to the Hobbits,
following Aragorn's lead. The hobbits return to the Shire, where Sam marries Rosie
Cotton. Frodo, having finished writing the story of the Lord of the Rings and still exhausted from his quest as the
Ring-bearer, decides to leave Middle-earth with Gandalf, Bilbo, Elrond and
Galadriel at the Grey Havens, leaving his account of the story to Sam, who peacefully continues his family life.
Cast
- Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: The
Hobbit who continues his quest to destroy the Ring, which continues to torture him.
- Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee:
Better known as Sam, Frodo's loyal Hobbit companion.
- Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: He must
finally face his destiny as King of Gondor.
- Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White: The
Wizard who travels to aid the Men of Gondor.
- Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc
Brandybuck: Better known as Merry, the Hobbit who becomes an esquire of Rohan.
- Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took: Better
known as Pippin, the Hobbit who looks into the palantír and becomes an esquire of
Gondor.
- Orlando Bloom as Legolas: An Elven
archer and one of Aragorn's best friends.
- John Rhys-Davies as
- Gimli: The warrior Dwarf who continues his friendly rivalry over Orc
kills with Legolas.
- Treebeard (voice), having defeated Saruman in the previous film, muses over the
folly of renegade Wizards.
- Andy Serkis
- voices and provides motion capture for Gollum:
The former Hobbit-like creature and Frodo and Sam's guide into Mordor, though he plans to betray them. His life as Sméagol is
glimpsed in the beginning of the film, and how he murdered his friend Déagol for the Ring before an eternity of loneliness.
- Sméagol
- The Witch-king of Angmar (voice)
- Bernard Hill as Théoden: King of Rohan.
He is preparing his troops for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
- Miranda Otto as Éowyn: Théoden's niece,
who wishes to prove herself in battle.
- Karl Urban as Éomer: Éowyn's brother, and
Chief Marshal of the Riders of Rohan.
- Hugo Weaving as Elrond: The Elven lord of
Rivendell who must convince Aragorn to take up the throne.
- Liv Tyler as Arwen, daughter of Elrond, who
loves Aragorn. She becomes sick with grief.
- David Wenham as Faramir: The head of the
Gondorian Rangers defending Osgiliath.
- John Noble as Denethor: Steward of Gondor and Faramir's father. He has fallen into madness as he lost hope.
- Bruce Hopkins as Gamling: Right hand
man of Théoden and a skilled member of the Royal Guard of Rohan.
- Paul Norell as The King of the
Dead: The cursed leader of the Dead Men at Dunharrow, from whom Aragorn must seek help.
- Lawrence Makoare plays
- Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins: Frodo's
uncle, and ready for one final adventure.
- Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: Elven
lady of Lórien. She is aware the time of the Elves is at an end.
- Sarah McLeod as Rosie Cotton:
The girl of Sam's dreams.
- Sean Bean as Boromir: Faramir's brother, in
a flashback to his death at the end of The Lord of
the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and in the extended cut when Denethor has a hallucination.
The following only appear in the Extended Edition:
There are also cameos from Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, Gino Acevedo, Rick Porras and Andrew Lesnie on the Corsair ship,
although all of them but Jackson only appear in the Extended Edition.[3] Jackson also has another unofficial cameo, as Sam's hand
stepping into view when he confronts Shelob.[3] Jackson's children also cameo as Gondorian extras, whilst Christian Rivers
played a Gondorian soldier guarding the Beacon Pippin lights, and is later seen wounded. Royd Tolkien cameos as a Ranger in
Osgiliath,[4] whilst in the Extended Edition Howard Shore
appears as a celebrating soldier at Edoras. Additionally, four of the designers of The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game featured as Rohirrim at the
Pelennor.[5] At the end of the film, each cast member gets
a sketched portrait by Alan Lee, an idea suggested by Ian
McKellen.[6]
Comparison with the source material
-
The film contains major scenes that occurred in the middle portion of the novel The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
but were not included in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, such as Shelob and the palantír subplot,
due to Jackson realigning the timeline as described in the book's Appendices, but not in the main prose.[7] Saruman's murder by Gríma (seen only in the Extended Edition) is moved into the Isengard visit due to the cutting of the
Scouring of the Shire. In the movie, Saruman drops the palantír,
whereas in the book Gríma throws it at the Fellowship, unaware of its value. The entire Shelob
sequence also takes place at the end of The Two Towers book, rather than within
The Return of the King book.
Denethor, the Steward of Gondor was a more
tragic character in the book. The film only focuses on his overwhelming grief over the death of Boromir as to ignore Sauron's threat (in the book he already lights the beacons), and is driven over the edge by
Faramir's injury. The film only hints at his use of the palantír which drives him mad,
information revealed in the Pyre scene, which is more violent than the book. Jackson also has Denethor jump off the Citadel
instead of burning himself on the Pyre, one of the earliest changes.[8]
Continuing a general addition in the trilogy, Arwen concludes an arc of uncertainty over
leaving Middle-earth or staying with Aragorn. She also
falls ill (a new subplot in the film) finally convincing Elrond to reforge Narsil and makes Aragorn accept his destiny as King of Gondor (the
re-forging of the sword in the book occurred before the Fellowship left Rivendell). Aragorn already goes on the Paths of the Dead
by the time Théoden gathers his army in the book: delayed in the film as Aragorn wishes not to be King at first. In the book
Elrond's sons meet him at Dunharrow but are absent, replaced by Elrond himself to deliver the
sword. The Army of the Dead are also unsure of whether or not to help
Aragorn, unlike the book, the film features the Army of the Dead cleaning up Sauron's forces at Minas Tirith: in the book Aragorn uses
Southern Gondorian soldiers as the undead's main weapon was fear. Jackson got rid of this subplot.
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields is altered: Faramir never goes on a
suicide mission, and is a simplification of the siege of Osgiliath. Generals such as
Forlong and Imrahil are also absent, only leaving Gandalf in
command. The Orcs also never get into the city in the book. The Witch-king enters and stands off against Gandalf before the
Rohirrim arrive, but in the film Orcs invade the city after Grond breaks the Gate. The
confrontation takes place whilst Gandalf journeys to save Faramir in the Extended Edition, during which Gandalf has his staff
broken. A subplot in which the Rohirrim are aided by the primitive Drúedain into entering the
besieged Gondor is also excised. Éowyn's presence to the reader on the battlefield is unknown until she takes off her helmet, but
in the film the audience is aware, due to the difference of film and book as a medium. Théoden's pre-charge speech is spoken by Éomer in the
book, after he encounters his dying uncle and wounded sister on the battlefield. When hope is almost lost, Gandalf also comforts
Pippin with a description of the Undying Lands, which is a descriptive passage in the book's final chapter.[7]
Sam and Frodo's major rift in their friendship, due to Gollum's machinations, never takes place in the book, but the writers
added it because it added drama and more complexity to Frodo.[7] Frodo enters Shelob's lair alone in the movie, whereas in the book he and Sam entered together.
This was done to make the scene more horrific with Frodo being alone, and Sam's rescue at the last minute more dramatic. Also, in
the movie we don't know that Sam has the ring until he gives it back to Frodo, whereas in the book the reader knows that Sam has
the ring. Gollum's fall into the lava of Mount Doom was also rewritten for the film, as the writers felt Tolkien's original idea
(Gollum simply slips and falls off) was anti-climactic. Originally, an even greater deviation was planned: Frodo would heroically
push Gollum over the ledge to destroy him and the Ring, but the production team eventually realized that it looked more like
Frodo murdering Gollum. As a result, they had Frodo and Gollum struggle for possession of the Ring.[7] This results in them both accidentally falling over the ledge and
destroying the Ring, which is more or less consistent with the theme of the scene in the book: the destruction of the Ring was
ultimately due to fate, or rather, the hold of the Ring over Frodo was so great that he could no longer destroy it by the time he
came to Mount Doom, but it was his pity for Gollum, deciding to let him live in The Two
Towers, which ultimately resulted in the Ring being destroyed and the salvation of Middle-earth.
Animatics of Sauron in his angelic (
Maia) form.
There are two changes in the Battle of the Black Gate: Merry is not present there in the book, and Pippin does not kill a
troll as he does in the novel. There was an even larger change planned: Sauron himself would come out in physical form to battle
Aragorn, who would only be saved by the destruction of the Ring. Jackson eventually realized it ignored the point of Aragorn's
true bravery in distracting Sauron's army against overwhelming odds, and a computer generated Troll was placed over footage of
Sauron in the finished film.[7] The ending is
streamlined so as not to include the Scouring of the Shire, which was always
seen by the writers as anti-climactic.[7] It is
referenced, though, in Frodo's vision of the future in Galadriel's mirror in The Fellowship
of the Ring.
Production
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is unusual in that it is, to date, the only one whose separate installments were
written and then shot simultaneously (excluding pick up shoots). Jackson admitted The
Return of the King was the easiest of the films to make, because it contained the climax of the story, unlike the other two
films.[10] The Return of the King was originally the
second of two planned films under Miramax from January 1997 to August 1998,[11] and more or less in its finished structure as the first film
was to end with The Two Towers' Battle of Helm's Deep.[12] Filming took place under multiple units across New Zealand, between October 11, 1999 and December 22,
2000, with pick up shoots for six weeks in 2003 before the film's
release.
Design
-
Middle-earth as envisioned by Jackson was primarily designed by Alan Lee and John Howe,
former Tolkien illustrators, and created by Weta Workshop, who handled all the trilogy's weapons, armour, miniatures, prosthetics
and creatures, as well as the Art Department which built the sets. Richard Taylor headed Weta, whilst Grant Major and Dan Hennah
organized the planning and building respectively.
The city of Minas Tirith, glimpsed briefly in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is seen fully in this
film, and with it the Gondorian civilization. The enormous soundstage was built at Dry Creek Quarry, outside Wellington, from the Helm's Deep set. That
set's gate became Minas Tirith's second, whilst the Hornburg exterior became that of the Extended Edition's scene where Gandalf
confronts the Witch-king. New structures included was the 8m tall Gate, with broken and unbroken versions, with a working opening
and closing mechanism, with its engravings inspired by the Bapistry of San Giovanni. There were also four levels of streets with
heraldic motifs for every house, as inspired by Siena.[13]
A fraction of Minas Tirith under construction.
There was also the Citadel, the exterior of which was in the Stone Street Studios backlot, utilizing forced perspective. It contains the withered White
Tree, built from polystyrene by Brian Massey and the Greens Department with real branches, influenced by ancient and
gnarled Lebanese olive trees. The interior was within a 3 story former factory in Wellington, and colour wise is influenced by
Charlemagne's Chapel, with a throne for Denethor carved from stone and
polystyrene statues of past Kings. The Gondorian armour is designed to represent an
evolution from the Númenóreans of the first film's prologue, with a simplified sea bird motif.
16th century Italian and German armour served as inspiration,[14] whilst civilians wear silver and blacks as designed by Ngila Dickson, continuing an
ancient/medieval Mediterranean Basin look.[15]
Minas Morgul, the Staircase and Tower of Cirith Ungol as well as Shelob's Lair were designed by Howe, with the Morgul road
using forced perspective into a bluescreened miniature. Howe's design of Minas Morgul was inspired from the experience of having
wisdom teeth pulled out: in the same way, the Orcs have put their twisted designs on to a
former Gondorian city.[16] Cirith Ungol
was based on Tolkien's design, but when Richard Taylor felt it as "boring", it was redesigned with more tipping angles.[17] The interior set, like Minas Tirith, was built
as a few multiple levels that numerous camera takes would suggest a larger structure.[13]
The third film introduces the enormous spider Shelob. Shelob was designed in 1999,[17] with the body based
on a tunnelweb spider and the head with numerous growths selected by Peter
Jackson's children from one of many sculpts. Jackson himself took great joy in planning the sequence, being an arachnophobe himself.[14] Shelob's Lair was inspired by sandstone and sculpted from the existing Caverns of
Isengard set.[13]
The Return of the King also brings into focus the Dead Men of Dunharrow and the evil Haradrim from the south of Middle-earth,
men who ride the Mûmakil. The Dead Men have a Celtic influence, as well as lines and symmetry to reflect their morbid
state,[13] whilst their underground city is
influenced by Petra.[16] The Haradrim were highly influenced by African culture, until Philippa Boyens expressed
concern over the possibility of offensiveness, so the finished characters instead bear influence from Kiribati, in terms of weaving armour from bamboo, and the Aztecs, in use of jewellery. Also built was a single
dead Mumak.[14] Other minor
cultures include the Corsairs, with an exotic, swarthy look, and the Grey Havens, Elven structures adapted to stone, with
influence from J. M. W. Turner paintings.[17]
Principal photography
The Return of the King was shot during 2000, though Sean Astin's coverage from Gollum's attempt to separate Frodo and
Sam was filmed on November 24, 1999, when floods in
Queenstown interrupted the focus on The Fellowship of the Ring.[3] Some of the
earliest scenes shot for the film were in fact the last. Hobbiton, home of the Hobbits, was shot in January 2000 with early
scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring, with the exterior shot at a Matamata farm,
whilst interior scenes shot at Stone Street Studios in Wellington,[18] shared with the Grey Havens sequence. Due to the high emotions of filming the scene, the cast were
in despair when they were required to shoot it three times, due to a costume continuity flaw in Sean
Astin's costume, and then negatives producing out-of-focus reels.[3] Also shared with the previous films was the Rivendell
interior in May.
The Battle of the Black Gate was filmed in April[19] at the Rangipo Desert, a former minefield. New
Zealand soldiers were hired as extras whilst guides were on the look out for unexploded mines. Also a cause for concern were
Monaghan and Boyd's scale doubles during a charge sequence. In the meantime, Wood, Astin and Serkis filmed at Mount Ruapehu for the Mount Doom exteriors. In particular, they spent two hours shooting Sam lifting Frodo
on to his back with cross-camera coverage.[3]
Scenes shot in June were the Paths of the Dead across various locations, including Pinnacles.[19] In July the crew shot some Shelob scenes, and in August and September time was spent
on the scenes in Isengard. Monaghan and Boyd tried numerous takes of their entrance, stressing the word "weed" as they smoked
pipe-weed. Christopher Lee spent his part of his scene mostly alone, though McKellen and Hill
arrived on the first day for a few lines to help.[3]
Edoras exteriors were shot in October. The Ride of the Rohirrim, where Théoden leads the
charge into the Orc army, was filmed in Twizel with 150 extras on horseback. The Battle of the
Pelennor Fields has more extensive use of computer-generated imagery, in
contrast to the more extensive use of live action in the Battle of Helm's Deep in
the second film. Also filmed were the attempts by Faramir to recapture Osgiliath,[20] as were scenes in the city itself.[21] At this point production was very hectic, with Jackson moving around ten
units per day, and production finally wrapped on the Minas Tirith sets, as well as second units shooting parts of the siege. Just
as the Hobbit actors' first scene was hiding under a Ringwraith, their last scene was the bluescreened reaction shot of the inhabitants of Minas Tirith bowing to them.[3]
Pick-ups
The 2003 pick ups were filmed in the Wellington studio car
park, with many parts of sets and bluescreens used to finish off scenes, which the design team had to work 24/7 to get the right
sets ready for a particular day.[13] The shoot
continued for two months, and became an emotional time of farewells for the cast and crew. The film has the most extensive list
of reshoots given for the trilogy. Jackson took his time to reshoot Aragorn's coronation, rushed into a single day under second
unit director Geoff Murphy on December 21, 2000. Jackson also
reshot scenes in and around Mount Doom,[3] and Théoden's death, right after Bernard Hill was meant to wrap.
There was also the new character of Gothmog. This was a major new design addition for the film, as Jackson felt the Mordor
Orcs were pathetic compared to the Uruk-hai of the second film after watching assembly cuts,
and thus Weta created grotesque new über Orcs, as antagonists for the audience to focus on.
Christian Rivers also redesigned the Witch-king and all of his scenes were reshot, due
to confusion from non-readers over whether or not Sauron was on the battlefield.[14]
With the positive response to Orlando Bloom, Legolas was given a fight with a
mûmak,[22] and
Howard Shore also got a cameo during Legolas and Gimli's drinking game at Edoras.[23] The final scenes shot were Aragorn escaping the
Skull avalanche, and Frodo finishing off his book. The cast also received various props associated with their characters,
although in the case of John Rhys-Davies, he burnt his final Gimli prosthetic.
Viggo Mortensen headbutted the stunt team
goodbye.[3]
Pick-ups ended on June 27, 2003.[22]
Scenes shot afterwards included various live-action shots of Riders for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and a reaction shot
of Andy Serkis as Gollum finally realizing Frodo intends to destroy the Ring, shot in Jackson's house.[24] For the Extended DVD, Jackson shot a few shots of skulls rolling over
for the avalanche scene in March 2004, the final piece of footage ever shot for the
trilogy.[25]
Editing
Post-production on The Return of the King began in November 2002, with the
completion of the 4 1/2 hour assembly cut of the film that Annie Collins had been
completing over 2001 and 2002, from 4 hour dailies. For example,
Théoden leading the charge went from 150 minutes of takes to a finished 90 seconds.[26] Jackson reunited with longtime collaborator Jamie Selkirk to edit the final film. Like The Two Towers, they would have to deal with multiple
storylines, and Jackson paid attention to each storyline at a time before deciding where to intercut. Most importantly they spent
three weeks working on the last 45 minutes of the film,[24] for appropriate intercutting and leaving out scenes such as the Mouth of Sauron, and the fates of
characters like Legolas, Gimli, Éowyn and Faramir.[7] The film inherited scenes originally planned to go into the second film, including the reforging
of Narsil, Gollum's backstory, and Saruman's exit. But the Saruman scene posed a structural problem: killing off the second
film's villain when the plot was Sauron as the main villain.[24] Despite pick-ups and dubs, the scene was cut, causing controversy with fans and Saruman actor
Christopher Lee, as well as a petition to restore the scene.[27] Lee nonetheless contributed to the DVDs and was at the Copenhagen premiere, although on the other hand he says he will never understand the reason for the cut and
his relationship with Jackson is chilly.[28] Jackson only
had a lock on 5 out of 10 reels, and had to churn out 3 reels in 3 weeks to help finish the film. It was finally done on
November 12.[29] Jackson never had a chance to view the film in full during the hectic schedule, and
only saw the film from beginning to end at the December 1 Wellington premiere.[25]
Visual effects
The Return of the King contains 1,488 visual effect shots, nearly 3 times the amount of the first film, and almost 2
times the amount of the second film. Visual effects work began with Alan Lee and Mark Lewis
compositing various photographs of New Zealand landscape to create the digital arena of the
Pelennor Fields in November 2002. Gary Horsfield also created a digital version of the
Barad-dûr during his Christmas break at home by himself, for the film's climax. In the meantime, Jackson and Christian Rivers used computers to plan the enormous battle up until February 2003, when the shots were
shown to Weta Digital. To their astonishment, 60 planned shots had gone up to 250, and 50,000 characters were now
200,000.[30] Nevertheless they
pressed on, soon delivering 100 shots a week, 20 a day, as the deadline neared within the last two months, often working until
2a.m.[29]
For the battle, they recorded 450 motions for the MASSIVE digital horses (though
deaths were animated), and also had to deal with late additions in the film, such as Trolls bursting through Minas Tirith's gates
as well as the creatures that pull Grond to the gate,[14] and redoing a shot of two mûmaks Éomer takes down that had originally taken six
months into two days. On a similar note of digital creatures, Shelob's head sculpt was scanned by a Canadian company for 10 times
more detail than WETA had previously been able to capture.[30]
Like the previous films, there are also extensive morphs between digital doubles for the actors. This time, there was Sam
falling off Shelob, where the morph takes place as Astin hits the ground. Legolas attacking a mûmak required numerous
transitions to and fro, and Gollum's shots of him having recovered the One Ring and falling into the Crack of Doom were fully
animated.[30] The King of the Dead
is played by an actor in prosthetics, and his head occasionally morphs to a more skull-like digital version, depending on the
character's mood. The Mouth of Sauron also had his mouth enlarged 200% for unsettling effect.[13]
The Return of the King also has practical effects. In the Pyre of Denethor sequence, as the Steward of Gondor throws
Pippin out of the Tomb, John Noble threw a dwarf named Fon onto a lying Billy Boyd, who immediately pushed his head into camera
to complete the illusion. A few burning torches were also reflected onto a mirror and into the camera for when Gandalf's horse
Shadowfax kicks Denethor onto the Pyre. Due to Jackson's requirement of complete realism with his fantasy world, numerous
miniatures were built, such as 1:72 scale miniature of Minas Tirith, which rises 7m high and is 6.5m in diameter. 1:14 scale sections of the city were also required, and the Extended Edition scene of the collapsing
City of the Dead has 80,000 small skulls, amounting in total to a single cubic meter.[16] The miniatures team concluded in November with the Black Gate, after
1000 days of shooting, and the final digital effects shot done was the Ring's unmaking, on November 25.
