Production of The Lord of the Rings film series
He created around 100 leitmotifs to represent themes (such as the Ring), cultures, and characters, a record in the history of cinema, resulting in a long, complex and award-winning film score.
Tolkien's novels The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), set in Middle-earth, were the subject of many early failed attempts to bring the fictional universe to life in screen.
Filmmakers and producers interested in an adaptation included Walt Disney,[6] Al Brodax, Forrest J Ackerman,[7] Samuel Gelfman, Denis O'Dell (who contacted David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Michelangelo Antonioni to direct),[8] and Heinz Edelmann.
He assumed that Disney or filmmakers like George Lucas or Steven Spielberg would eventually produce one for him to see, but realized it would have been impossible to adapt at the time.
While he and his lawyer were unsure whether he was contractually obligated to bring his pitch to Miramax first, Jackson decided to do so out of courtesy, only to realize upon calling Harvey Weinstein that he had recently rescued Zaentz' production of The English Patient, and could therefore leverage the rights from him.
[15] When Universal cancelled King Kong in 1997,[20] Jackson and Walsh immediately received support from Weinstein and began a six-week process of sorting out the rights.
[21][16] Between the synopsis and the treatment, Jackson decided to cut Gildor, Crickhollow, the Old Forest, Tom Bombadil, the Barrow-wight, Bill Ferney, Radagast, Lothlorien and Ghan-Buri-Ghan.
[21][22] In this treatment, Farmer Maggot and Glorfindel are present; Gwaihir and Gandalf visit Edoras after escaping Saruman, and Eowyn and Eomer help him find Shadowfax against the wishes of a possessed Theoden.
[21] Jackson agreed that "As an exercise in reducing The Lord of the Rings to one film, it demonstrated a lot of common sense",[21] but was upset by the idea of "cutting out half the good stuff.
[28] A fan of the books, New Line CEO Robert Shaye was enthusiastic about the concept ever since he heard Miramax landed it, but initially refused Mark's inquiry on account of the percentage that the Weinsteins demanded.
[35] Desiring complete realism and plausibility in his vision of Middle-earth, Jackson hired Wētā Workshop to create the armour, weapons, prosthetics and monsters seen in the trilogy.
Brian Massey led the Greens Department, and even wrote a booklet on tree growth when he complained of the props "being too coney" for Lothlórien when the time came to film Fangorn Forest.
[34] The numerous props within the trilogy were all originally designed at different scales, and many craftsmen were hired, including Jens Hansen Gold & Silversmith to create 15 replicas of The One Ring.
A former bank worker, Daniel Reeve, was hired to write the numerous books, spines, documents, maps, diagrams and even Orc graffiti that appear in the trilogy.
[44] Jackson hired longtime collaborator Richard Taylor to lead Wētā Workshop on five major design elements: armour, weapons, prosthetics/make-up, creatures and miniatures.
[34] The backstories of the cultures depicted in the films had to be shown through subliminal glimpses on screen, while for the Elves and Gondorians, fictional histories were presented by changing styles of armour.
Jackson directed the whole production, while unit directors included Alun Bollinger, John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy, Fran Walsh, Barrie Osborne and Rick Porras.
Due to the remoteness of some of New Zealand's untamed landscapes, the crew carried survival kits in case helicopters could not reach the locations to bring them home in time.
Liv Tyler generally came to New Zealand for stunts, and spent five days on a barrel for Bruinen while her riding double Jane Abbott did the horseback scenes.
In this period's later part, Jackson moved to London to supervise the scoring and to continue editing, while having a computer feed for discussions to The Dorchester Hotel, and a "fat pipe" of Internet connections from Pinewood Studios to look at the special effects.
Jackson continued editing when that part of the schedule officially ended, resulting in some scenes, including the reforging of Andúril, Gollum's backstory, and Saruman's demise, being moved to The Return of the King.
[34] This scene, and a flashback to Arwen and Aragorn's first meeting, was cut during a revision of the film's plot; the Elves' appearance was explained with a telepathic communication between Elrond and Galadriel.
[74] Filmed for The Return of the King were two scenes present in the book: Sam using the Phial of Galadriel to pass the Watchers at Cirith Ungol, and further epilogue footage, with endings for Legolas and Gimli, Éowyn and Faramir's wedding and Aragorn's death and funeral.
Even the actors Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto (extended cuts only for the latter two) and Peter Jackson (for a single gong sound in the second film) contributed to the score.
The third film's end song, "Into the West", was a tribute to a young filmmaker Jackson and Walsh befriended named Cameron Duncan, who died of cancer in 2003.
[37] The music for the series turned out to be a success and has been voted best movie soundtrack of all time for the six years running, passing Schindler's List (1993), Gladiator (2000), Star Wars (1977), and Out of Africa (1985) respectively.
Ranging from prosthetics and props to creatures almost entirely made through computer graphics, the process of making the film series has been praised as having advanced the field of cinematic visual effects.
[80] Notable examples include the Argonath, Minas Tirith, the tower and caverns of Isengard, Barad-dûr, the trees of Lothlórien and Fangorn Forest and the Black Gate.
[92] Weta developed a variety of software approaches, including the MASSIVE crowd simulation for battle sequences, to create the many special effects used in the films.
[81] To give a "painterly" look to the films, cinematographer Peter Doyle worked on every scene within the computer to strengthen colours and add extra mood and tone to the proceedings.
