Filming Quotes

LOTR Castmember Quotes

Filming
Speaker	Topic	Quote
Andy BBC Newsround, 3/21/03	Actors	I hung out mostly with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin because our story line - a lot of the actors got separated by their story lines. So, for instance, Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies of course are tied together. We were all scattered to the four winds over the North and South islands of New Zealand so you tended to get close to who you were working with on a day to day level. So mine was Elijah and Sean.
Andy BBC Newsround, 3/21/03	Difficulties	I think the very first time when Gollum has just crawled down a cliff and jumps on top of Frodo and Sam. We had to repeat that - well we shot that scene many, many times, it was very physically exhausting for all three of us.
Andy BBC Newsround, 3/21/03	Forbidden Pool	They spent the whole morning before we actually shot that scene - the whole mountain was under cover of snow and the crew had to defrost this entire area using high pressure hoses and wind machines and all sorts of things and then - but the water was still sub-zero - and so when I went into the water it was absolutely freezing, I could hardly move, my whole body froze up and we had to repeat the scene a few times.
Andy BBC Newsround, 3/21/03	Goofs	The funniest thing that happened? I think in one scene I was shooting with Elijah and Sean Astin it's when Gollum's trying to stop them from going through the black gates and I had to dive on top of their backs and pull them backwards and right in the middle of this take I jumped on top of Sean Astin's back and I pulled him back and his whole wig and practically his head came off because I pulled him backwards. And it was the first time ever a wig had come off in a scene and it was a real shock but everybody was in stitches.
Andy BBC Newsround, 3/21/03	High Points	There have been so many high points it would be really, really difficult to pick one out. I suppose I really enjoyed working on that central schizophrenic scene, that was one of the scenes I enjoyed working on most with the writer, Fran Walsh, who's Peter Jackson's partner, she actually spent a lot of time working on Gollum and she directed that scene and it was a really great scene to work on so I think that was the high point for me.
Billy, Dom, Elijah, Sean A	First Day, A Shortcut To Mushrooms	Sean A: This is the first shot we ever filmed on the movie right? Dom: First day of filming. Yeah, Elijah let out a little tommy squeaker. Sean A: Elijah had gas. And let out a great-- Elijah: Pressure gas. Sean A: You mean it wouldn't have come out if Dom hadn't landed on you? Elijah: Yeah exactly. Sean A: But you, I didn't even hear it, I was too busy sort of-- Dom: Concentrating on the scene. Billy: I heard it. I swear it blew a parting in my hair. Sean A: The translation there, it blew a "part" in his hair. Billy: Parting. A parting. Part isn't funny. Elijah giggles Sean A: Oh, this was the first shot we did wasn't it? Dom: No, I thought falling down was. Elijah: No, falling down was the first thing we did. Sean A: Was it? I thought it was coming up over-- Elijah: No we did that later in the day. This is still the first day of shooting. Sean A: Those insert shots of the worms coming out were done months and months and months later where they had the stage with the Lothlorian... Elijah: That's right, they did that on the side Sean A: Coming out on the other side. We were like, what are you doing with these? It was like some sort of National Geographic. Elijah: They had a weta there as well. Dom: I don't know why they've not included more of the spider, because the spider goes over my shoulder and I then put him on my hand and then put him on a log and I don't know why they didn't include that. Sean A: It was uncomfortable under there wasn't it? We were all sort of elbowing each other for space. Billy: It was quite cold as well. I remember because it was the first day. Did we, we didn't have feet on that day I don't think, did we? Dom: Did we? Elijah: Yeah we did. Billy: No we didn't, because I remember you took your boots off SEAN. To get the kind of feeling... Sean A: Oh that's right. Billy: Then I think we all thought, we're Hobbits, we'd better take our boots off. I was really cold. Sean A: I think your feet were colder than anybody's for the duration of the shoot.
Dom	Filming	I won't miss having to stand for two hours at 4:30 a.m. and having freezing cold glue applied to my feet. I won't miss two-hour drives to work or long, long, long, days sitting in my trailer waiting... waiting... waiting. I won't miss glue in my ears. But I would do it all again tomorrow.
Dom	Health	We are all eating well. Everyone is very concerned about our diet and vitamins because we are working 11 or 12 hour days, getting six hours of sleep and then up again at five in the morning.
Elijah	Filming, script changes	We never knew. About a month into the production, it became very obvious that we could not rely on the schedule. It was constantly changing. I've never seen a schedule change so much. Weather was a huge factor. Sometimes actors weren't available yet because they were coming from overseas. The script was constantly changing—and that's a positive thing. Normally when people mention that a script had to be rewritten constantly I think people tend to assume that that's a negative, or that something was wrong. And that wasn't the case with this film. It was just trying to find the right balance with Tolkien and a filmic kind of perspective—trying to include as much Tolkien as possible without making it too obscure.
Elijah	Filming	It was amazing. And it was so much more amazing than it was difficult. But the truth of the matter is that it was one of the most difficult experiences of anyone’s life. I’ve never felt so tired in my life, and the things that were asked of us—physically, mentally, emotionally, constantly—were really extreme. But at the end of the day, it didn’t matter because we were so passionate about what we were a part of.
Elijah	Physical Challenge	The biggest physical challenge was getting through the challenge of the endurance of the schedule, the length of time that we were in New Zealand. The schedule was constantly changing and the hours that we were having to deal with and halfway through the movie, we were doing like six-day weeks. It was just -- there was an intensity to the process that after the first, like, three or four months, it starts to wear you down, and when there is no sign of it letting up, it literally takes quite a lot of strength to push yourself through and keep yourself motivated and passionate about the film.
Harry	Battle Scenes	"[Bob Anderson]'s this elderly dude, but he was fantastic. He showed me a thing or two," laughs Sinclair. "It was great. I did some huge battle scenes, like 700 people on a mountainside. And the New Zealand Army were some of the extras. They'd yell "CUT," but some of these guys just kept hackin' away at each other," Sinclair raises his arms and begins slashing them about as if they were gilded shafts of steel, laughing all the while.
Karl	Best Memory	One night Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli had early calls for a dawn shot of them running along the plain, so we all decided to camp out,” he says, as if recalling a dream. “We went fishing, built a fire pit, roasted up some steaks and just had this lovely evening out under the stars. Producer Barrie Osborne sat around telling tales of The Cotton Club. I think for me, looking round that fireplace, that was the most cherished memory of the whole production.
Karl	Experience	Phenomenal. Much similar to Harry's, you know huge battle sequences, ummm, incredible, it was amazing just to be part of it.
Karl	Horses	Lots of riding. I spent a whole month, five days a week, every week, doing horse riding lessons because Eomer is of Rohan, a horse nation.
Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz)	Fight scenes	The battle scene was choreographed by the stunt coordinator and the sword-master, Bob Anderson, who did Star Wars, among many other [films]. I had to remember it all because when I had my contact lenses in, I couldn't see anything—just an outline of where my opponent was. [One day] hey got a stuntie [to stand in for Mortensen]—luckily, because I actually made contact with his face on a punch, and I don't punch lightly. At least that's what the stuntie said afterwards! That really threw me into shock. I didn't mean to do it, but these things happen. I was glad they got a stuntie in to replace Viggo. I don't know what would have happened if I had hit Viggo!
Mark Ordesky	Filming	Yeah, there was an amazing kind of esprit de corps when you're working for 15 months, 274 shooting days. It's going to be a 10-year odyssey for Peter and Fran. Barrie and I will have been on the movies for six years by the time it's done. It's pretty unreal.
Peter	Weather	It became a sort of dark expectation that whenever we turned up on a new location the weather would turn bad -- and sure enough, the locals would announce: "Hasn't rained like this in 16 years!"
Sean A	Scale	When I agreed to do fifteen months making LOTR, I don't think I really understood what an awesome commitment of time it was. While we were making the movie, I read 40 books and Elijah Wood and I probably played 4000 hours of Sony Playstation. It was two birthdays for my daughter. The only way to describe the experience is how close people become, I imagine, when they're in the military overseas together -- that's how it felt for us.
Sean A	Chronology, Flood	We thought that we were going to be filming scenes roughly chronologically. But six weeks in, when we were on the south island, there was a day where we were supposed to go film on the river Anduin. There was a river that the Department of Conservation had set aside that we could use. And there was a massive flood, like 100 year flood, in Queenstown. It did all sorts of damage and that portion of the river that we were going to film on, was washed away. So the next thing we knew, we were driving to a Ramada Inn-type hotel and there were some polystyrene rocks set up on the tennis court and we started filming one of the climactic scenes from the third movie! Elijah and I looked at each other that morning and were like, "Uh, we're not ready yet." Somehow, through the make-up process and through the sheer terror that we both felt, we found a way to get there. We filmed one of our sides, meaning one of our close ups, that day. Then we ended up filming the other side of that scene like thirteen months later. I remember thinking, "Wow, we're so much better now, can we go back and do the other side?" "No, it's good!"
Sean B	Moria	We were shooting a lot at night, and the scene where we fight the serpent in the water, that was really hard. That was tough because it was really cold in New Zealand at the time - it was winter and the water wasn't heated and we were in our costumes for a night shoot that went 12 or 14 hours. That was tough. That was really tough. I thought I was going to be required the following evening and I was like 'Oh God, I've got to do it again in that f**king cold.' But then I got a call saying, 'Hey Sean, it looks like we might not need you tonight. We're going to do this digitally. 'I thought, 'Oh, that's great.' But I think just the sheer excitement and thrill of being involved in such a thing just carried you through the days when you're tired. It's only afterwards, when I was finished and had gone home to England, that it just hit me and I felt exhausted.
Sean B	Weather	They sucked so much power out of you, physically as well as mentally. Mostly physically. We fought with snow and ice cold water in the winter, and heat in the summer, always wearing heavy equiptment, carrying sword and shield during long battle scenes. You fed off the adrenaline.
Viggo	Play	As difficult and exhausting as this project was for everyone, there was an element of play, like kids in a game. But I wasn't seven years old in my backyard with a wooden sword pretending I'm in a deep, misty forest with monsters coming at me. I was actually there. I was wet and tired, and there were a hundred guys coming at me full blast. If I didn't remember the choreography, I knew I was really going to get whacked. But I loved it.
Viggo	Stunts	I'm surprised that more things didn't happen to us, or to the stunt people playing our adversaries. Part of the reason was that we got to know each other so well that it was like a dance partner. Even beneath the masks, I'd know who it was just by their size and movement. We developed this physical shorthand with each other that helped us push it more and more. As you will see in the second and third movies, some of the fighting moves faster and is more risky. It's not "The Matrix" or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"; we were really doing it. It's down and dirty, and rough and messy.

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