Movies - The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

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	Movies - The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy comprises three live action films, directed by Peter Jackson and released by New Line Cinema. For the most part, they follow the storyline of the books (see J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
). However, there are some major deviations as detailed within the entry for each film.

Principal photography for all three films was conducted concurrently in New Zealand from October of 1999 through December of 2000, while post-production for each took place consecutively in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Extended versions of the films were post-produced in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Pick-up shoots were conducted annually from 2001 to 2004.

Peter Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh, began inquiries about the Lord of the Rings rights in 1995 and struck a deal with copyright holder Saul Zaentz and Miramax Films the following year. The trilogy began pre-production as a two-film deal similar to a few other projects. Then Miramax, citing budget concerns, decided to condense the project into one film, before selling it off altogether to New Line Cinema in 1998. Robert Shaye, head of New Line Cinema, immediately decided to expand the project to three films (with a budget of $270 million), as his studio had a history of not being able to get sequels made to some of its more successful movies.

Peter Jackson described the production as a defining period, in that he now divides his life into three chapters: before Lord of the Rings, during Lord of the Rings, and after Lord of the Rings. Fran Walsh described the production as "laying the track down front of a moving train" (paraphrased). Production was complicated by the use of scale doubles and forced perspective on a level never seen before in the film industry. Most props, costumes, and some entire sets had to be made twice: once regular size and once 1.38 times bigger. (Even the raw materials, such as threads in costumes, had to be manufactured at two different sizes.) Filming was further complicated by the use of a highly detailed photo-realistic computer-generated image serving as a lead character — only the second time this was ever done (the first being Jar Jar Binks of Star Wars).

The entire film project took over eight years from start to finish.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
was released December 19, 2001. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation of 2001.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
was released December 18, 2002 and was nominated for the the Academy Award for Best Picture.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
was released December 17, 2003, and won all 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including the Academy Award for Best Picture of 2003.

Each successive film made more money at the box office than the last both internationally and in North America — the reverse of what normally happens to a film series. The success of the theatrical cuts brought about Extended Editions, with new editing, added special effects and music. These versions were originally released on DVD, but they have played at movie theaters.

The Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
was released on DVD November 12, 2002.
The Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
was released on DVD November 19, 2003.
The Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
was released on DVD December 14, 2004.

Cast

Frodo - Elijah Wood
Gandalf - Ian McKellen
Aragorn - Viggo Mortensen
Sam - Sean Astin
Merry - Dominic Monaghan
Pippin - Billy Boyd
Legolas - Orlando Bloom
Gimli/Voice of Treebeard - John Rhys-Davies
Boromir - Sean Bean
Faramir - David Wenham
Denethor - John Noble
Saruman - Christopher Lee
Bilbo - Ian Holm
Elrond - Hugo Weaving
Galadriel - Cate Blanchett
Arwen - Liv Tyler
Gollum - Andy Serkis
Theoden - Bernard Hill
Eomer - Karl Urban
Eowyn - Miranda Otto
Wormtongue - Brad Dourif
Witchking/Gothmog/Lurtz - Lawrence Makoare
Mouth of Sauron - Bruce Spence

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy ]

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