Facts you might not know about 'Lord of the Rings'

16/08/2023

They shot all over New Zealand

Jackson, a New Zealand native, decided to shoot the film in his home country. Hey, it’s a lush land, so that makes sense. Plus, Weta Workshop was based there as well. Assorted locations across New Zealand were able to serve as representations of lands and locations from Tolkien’s stories.

08/05/2023

Had a great time at last weekend's Dallas Comic Con. Think this could be considered the new prom pose?!

05/05/2023

Can't wait to see you all in Liverpool on March 7th and 8th! Comic Con Liverpool

05/05/2023

A couple Tolkien veterans joined the project

Jackson hired Alan Lee and John Howe to be the film’s primary conceptual designers. They had the resumé to earn their role. The two had both previously worked as illustrators for Tolkien books. Lee was in charge of creating the looks of some of the lands of Middle Earth, while Howe, an armor expert, focused on that.

05/05/2023

Production began years before the movie hit theaters

Jackson and company began working on preproduction for “Lord of the Rings” in 1997. He storyboarded the whole trilogy, and also hired New Zealand’s Weta Workshop to begin working on the production as well. He was interested in making a realistic movie, frequently citing historical epic “Braveheart” as an influence and talking down fantasy films like “Willow.”

05/05/2023

They changed production companies

The company that bought the two-film adaptation? That would be Miramax. The project was there for a while, but there were a lot of problems there. Eventually, Miramax tried to push Jackson out of directing, and somehow though they could get Walsh to stay on to write a new movie. Jackson made a 35-minute sizzle reel to pitch the movie to other production companies, and New Line Cinema agreed to make the film.

01/05/2023

It was always multiple films, but not three

When Jackson and Walsh began writing a “Lord of the Rings” movie, they quickly realized there was no way to do it in one film. Trying to keep the project manageable, though, they at first opted for two movies. When they first sold the project, it was indeed for a two-movie deal based on the treatment for both movies written by Jackson and Walsh.

01/05/2023

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow!!

01/05/2023

01/05/2023

Peter Jackson had the idea to tackle adapting “Lord of the Rings”

In 1995, Jackson and his wife and producing partner Fran Walsh started thinking about using the improvements in CGI to make a movie in the vein of “Lord of the Rings.” They tried writing one, but every time felt like they were making stories that were too similar to Tolkien’s work. As such, Jackson figured he might as well try to get the rights to “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings” and just go that route.