Lord of the Rings
The Works of J.R.R.Tolkien are revered. Beginning with the children's book
the Hobbit in 1937
. Tolkien had foresight in mind and chose to set up his
Lord of the Rings series in his first book, weaving it in organically without bogging down the story, such as having Bilbo steal the ring from Gollum after being attacked by him.
The Lord of the Rings series followed with Tolkien choosing to cut down on the intense detail of specific objects. Among the changes from OTL are Aragon marrying Éowyn, who is his romantic interest as she was in the original draft(the various draft changes led to this being told in the appendices rather than the book itself. here the story is simplified so that it is built up since the beginning and Arwen is not introduced). Treebeard and the Ents appeared at the last battle in front of the Black Gate, after they act as The Cavalry for Lothlórien. Another divergence introduced are good Orcs, who meet Sam and Frodo, most of them being built up throughout the books by some of the Orcs in the army expressing their displeasure, before they meet and befriend Frodo and Sam and wage a Civil War(the reason why the Orcs start fighting among each other in this version). This is due to Tolkien regretting not depicting sympathetic Orcs afterwards, as being a Catholic, he did not believe a whole species was "Irredeemably Evil".
Tolkien did write another book, but released it as a short sequel story in a collection. He did not want to undo the hardship the characters of the
LOTR series went through by introducing a new villain on the same scale as Sauron, rendering the struggle of the
LOTR protagonists meaningless. As a result the sequel is much shorter. Set 100 years after
LOTR in the Fourth Age, the series a peaceful future where boys play as Orcs and have never seen one. This era is somewhat spoiled. Never having known conflict. The plot revolves around Aragorn's Descendant stopping an evil cult from summoning a new evil into the world. Tolkien also released
The History of Middle-earth which enforced his belief that his stories are the past setting of our world with the renaming of Tol Eressëa into England, setting the story clearly in our world's past.
concept art from Disney's The Hobbit.
Early Adaptations
Even as the trilogy was being completed, there were several efforts to adapt it. The first came from Walt Disney, who wished to adapt
the Hobbit around 1938
. Tolkien did not wish this adaptation as he intended the series to become darker over time.
The Hobbit however, worked as a children's book on its own. Disney did not yet have plans to adapt the darker
Lord of the Rings stories and so a strange sort of deal was struck where Disney would adapt only
the Hobbit, which satisfied Tolkien. Disney's
The Hobbit was released in 1952. Disney would later begin to move towards darker stories and made plans to adapt the
Lord of the Rings in 1985 after their success with
Star Wars. However, these plans never materialized and Disney instead turned their attention to adapting
The Chronicles of Prydian.
In the intervening time in 1956, Forest J Ackerman and Al Brodax approached Tolkien with a proposal for an animated adaptation the rest of the series. The screenplay was written up by an amateur screenwriter named Morton Grady Zimmerman. Ackerman showed artwork by Ron Cobb and Zimmerman's story synopsis to Tolkien, which condensed the story into three hours with two intermissions, and filming locations in California, the latter of which impressed Tolkien. However, he hated everything else. Though he liked the way the film intended to be done, a process involved a combination of Animation, Miniatures and Live Action. Tolkien liked the next batch of concept art by Arthur Rackham style concept art a lot more, however, he refused to hand the rights over until the script be changed. In the original script, Tolkien's objections included that Lothlorien was described to him as a fairy-castle, and the story had been greatly condensed. While Tolkien noted that a film "would be pleasant", he delayed in reviewing the synopsis until urged by Unwin, and once he delivered his initial notes to Ackerman, the agent was granted a six-month option if he could find a producer to finance the project. He intended to make the film with American International Pictures, but president James Nicholson declined, as did other studio heads.
Tolkien was sent a 55-page treatment by Zimmerman, which he still disliked. Keeping his publisher's financial interests in mind (and his own, as he neared retirement), Tolkien was polite but largely criticized the script. He complained of divergences from not only the tone of the book (such as a "fairy-tale" depiction of Lothlórien, as well as elements cut "upon which the book's characteristic and peculiar tone principally depends" but also the character representation (such as Sam leaving Frodo to Shelob and going on to Mount Doom alone). He took issue with dialogue changes as regards to the "style and sentiment" of characters, and with intercutting between the storylines of Frodo and Aragorn. He suggested eliminating the battle of Helm's Deep to better emphasize the defense of Minas Tirith, and cutting characters out instead of diminishing their roles. Tolkien protested against added "incantations, blue lights, and some irrelevant magic" and "a preference for fights".
Nevertheless, Tolkien didn't wish to kill the project. The treatment was looked at and was criticized by Ian Nathan, Tom Shippey and other Script Doctors. Kristin Thompson noted the amateur nature of the enterprise, saying that it never represented a serious attempt to make a commercial film. Zimmerman was fired and a new more professional screenwriter was brought in, changing the script to adapt only the first book. The Project was finally completed and released in 1957 as
The Fellowship of the Ring. Despite its success, Ackerman was forced to let any plans for continuing go as he had fallen behind on payments and the film failed to pay for what he could not afford.
In 1959, Tolkien entered negotiations with Robert Gutwillig for an adaptation of
The Two Towers, hoping for a more faithful adaptation. Tolkien told Gutwillig he had "given a considerable amount of time and thought" to how
Lord of the Rings could better be adapted, noting "some ideas concerning what I think would be desirable" as well as the "difficulties" involved. Tolkien spoke with Gutwillig's agent and producer, Samuel W. Gelfman. Their discussion were amicable. Tolkien found Gelfman intelligent and reasonable, Tolkien directed Gelfman to his publishers and from there a film was made,
The Two Towers being released in 1960 and continuing from the Ackerman film.
Return of the King was then also adapted in 1961.
In 1961, William L. Snyder negotiated the rights to adapt
The Hobbit to animation for his Oscar-winning company, Rembrandt films. He leased
The Hobbit for five years. Due to a mishap in the publishing of the first edition, the book was public domain in the US(which is why Snyder wanted to adapt it). Snyder renegotiated the lease to give Tolkien and Unwin only a $15,000 advance. Tolkien thought Snyder was "sure to perpetrate[...many objectionable things" but leased the rights to the producer in 1962. Snyder commissioned cartoonist Gene Deitch to write a script for a feature-length
Hobbit cartoon; this took liberties with the text, inserting a princess of Dale who goes on the quest with Bilbo and ends up marrying him. Deitch was unaware of
The Lord of the Rings until later, when he incorporated the concept of the Ring of Power into the Gollum (or Goloom, as he's called in the cartoon) episode later in the writing, making a sequel based on
The Lord of the Rings possible. The result was a full length animated film. It was screened in New York in 1967. Soon After the rights to
The Lord of the Rings; were sold back Tolkien for a higher price. However, publisher Sir Stanley Unwin maintained that Snyder continued to hold only the rights to
The Hobbit, and that they were then sold directly to United Artists when they secured the rights to
The Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien negotiated television rights to the books separately. Carole Ward suggested adapting
The Lord of the Rings for television in 1964, to air on the newly launched BBC2. ITV launched a competing offer, according to which the book would be adapted via puppetry, which Tolkien found contemptuous, cancelling the project. Another attempt at purchasing the television rights was made in 1968, which would have put it concurrently with the cinema rights being sold to United Artists.
The idea of live-action fantasy has become fashionable in the early 1960's due to the success of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion productions. By 1967, Gelfman established Katzka-Bernie productions with Gabriel Katzka and entered negotiations with Tolkien to adapt
The Lord of the Rings for United Artists, "with an option for
The Hobbit.(which was less on the table due to its recent adaptation)", believing they could do it justice using Stop Motion for the monsters. As was the case with Snyder, the emerging contracts would provide United Artists with complete creative freedom over the works, and even offered UA first bidding at the television rights, which were negotiated separately but never sold to them. Meanwhile, a couple of American teenagers unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the rights to
The Hobbit from Tolkien himself. Joy Hill, Tolkien's secretary who worked for Allen & Unwin, was said to have contacted Disney for the rights at the time, and it was possible this was done to place United Artists in a competitive position. MGM were also said to have been interested in the rights at the time.
United Artists were the studio behind several of the lucrative widescreen epics of the decade. In the 1960's, long widescreen epics (presented as a roadshow with an intermission) still proved successful, but few sequels were made in that genre, and therefore Katzka-Bernie commissioned Sir Peter Shaffer to write a treatment for a single, three-hour film adaptation of
The Lord of the Rings, which was deemed "elegant", keeping
The Hobbit in mind as a potential prequel. Merchandizing was of little concern at the time, but the rights to make profit from such products were included in the contract. Tolkien had grown to dislike the idea of condensing the books into one film. United Artists had no desire for a trilogy at the time. Tolkien, feeling the end was near, set-up a trust fund for his grandchildren and his ailing wife so they could remain financially stable as the series was repeatedly adapted.
Two Posters for Lord of the Rings, 1970.
At the time, The Beatles were on a three-picture deal with United Artists. Their previous two features,
A Hard Day's Night(1964) and
Help!(1965), directed by Richard Lester, were successful. When it became clear that the animated
Yellow Submarine(1968) would not count as part of this deal, Denis O'Dell (head of the Beatles' Apple Films) entered negotiations for their third film. He came up with the idea of a
Lord of the Rings "multimedia musical extravaganza", starring the Beatles as the four Hobbits. He learned that United Artists were in negotiations for the rights.
In conversation with studio heads David and Arnold Picker, it was decided that a "star director" was required. O'Dell shortlisted David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, and Michelangelo Antonioni. Lean declined. O'Dell left to India to visit the Beatles, with the books in his suitcase. At the behest of Donovan, the band examined the books and began to think "seriously" about the idea. According to O'Dell, John Lennon fancied the role of Gandalf, but then wanted to swap for Frodo. Ringo Starr wanted to play Sam, while Paul McCartney coveted Frodo. It then changed as Lennon wanted to be Gollum instead, Ringo still played Sam, and Harrison would play Gandalf. Donovan was keen on Merry, and they wanted Twiggy for Galadriel.
Kubrick, just off the success of the special effects pioneering
2001: A Space Odyssey(Part of this is
Space Odyssey, being different, not as slow and less vague, turning it more into a film akin to
Alien)
, accepted the role as the studio promised to fund him dream Project
Napoleon. Though the resulting
Lord of the Rings film was bizarre(OTL Kubrick called Lord of the Rings unfilmable, though many agree that he was right...for the time)it is artistically surreal. It is filled with the songs by the Beatles and is not accurate to the book(not like that ever stopped Kubrick before). The plot essentially turned the Beatles(and their characters) into the protagonists, as such Gollum is more prevalent since Lennon plays him, essentially joining the fellowship once Frodo meets him, which consists largely of the four Beatles, though they are joined by others (OTL the best films to compare it to would be a cross between the 1967
Casino Royale for how surreal and bizarre it is and
Excalibur though improved by Kubrick's presence). The film condenses the trilogy into one narrative and includes parts of
the Hobbit to streamline the story(for example Gandalf recruiting Frodo has shades of
the Hobbit where he recruits Bilbo, and the first meeting between Frodo and Gollum borrows from the Bilbo and Gollum interaction in
The Hobbit. This change was brought about by John Boorman, who acted as Producer. The scene also has several psychedelic scenes, including Frodo and Galadriel having a romantic relationship and even sex.
Producer John Boorman during Production of the 1970 Lord of the Rings.
Other changes brought about by Boorman included the removal of huge parts of the story from the second and third books, removing Tom Bombadil, Bree, several elven characters, the Watcher in the Water, Lórien (Galadriel and her people appeared in a tent by a lake), the Ents, all which happens in Rohan and Isengard save for Edoras (with Saruman appearing in another place), Faramir, a lot of the Battle of the Pelennor, Minas Morgul, Cirith Ungol (Shelob would appear in Barad-Dur), the Eagles and the Scourge. The Council of Rivendell included a musical performance to explain the story of Sauron and the rings using kabuki puppets and the medieval circus act. Elrond was given a beard, Legolas wore an outfit made of leaves and feathers, Éowyn healed Frodo's shoulder from the Nazgul wound, though Elrond would have got Gimli ready to chop Frodo's arm to stop the black magic from spreading should the spell fail. The Nazgul had blind, skull-like faces, and the Witch King's flying steed was replaced by a zombie horse. There was a bounty placed upon the Hobbits, which forced Frodo to use the ring to escape some paupers. Gimli(whom the fan nicknamed " Hobbeatles" met on the road) was put in a hole and beaten by the Orcs in order to retrieve the password to Moria from his ancestral memory(Apparently, Boorman and his scriptwriter wrote this part because they loved Gimli, which makes one wonder what would have they come up with if they didn't). Aragorn came to blows with Boromir over the pieces of Narsil, which remained unfixed through the film, but Éowyn stopped them to make them share the sword, performing a magic ritual that made Boromir weep and kiss Aragorn. Gandalf and Saruman fought a duel of verbal magic portrayed with wordplay. Gandalf started shouting "I am the snake about to strike!"(shot of an actual snake), Saruman replied "I am the staff that crushes the snake!"(shot of a wooden staff crushing a snake) and so on. Frodo and Galadriel had sexual intercourse in order for him to gaze into her mirror, as Celeborn didn't exist here. Both Legolas and Boromir attempted to seduce Galadriel too, the former by doing a tribal dance and the latter by flexing his muscles. There was a scene where, after eating some strange mushrooms, the Hobbeatles started having hallucinations, including golden flowers, naked children running around, and sinister living scarecrows, which led to a trippy song. Aragorn's healing of Éowyn would have taken place on the battlefield and given sexual overtones(As a result of this film being made, Boorman does not make
Excalibur ITTL which used plot devices and effects from the cancelled film).
At the time, Marvel Comics was considering adapting either
Conan the Barbarian or
Lord of the Rings. The Release of a new
Lord of the Rings film convinced them to go with that idea, However, the film was very different from the source material, being too bizarre and so the comic itself was very strange, Marvel having difficulty adapting the various musical scenes. The Comic Adaptation would become an old shame as Marvel shifted to adapting the
Conan stories instead. For his 400th episode, Comic Reviewer Linkara did a review of the Comic Adaptation of the Beatles's
Lord of the Rings, complete with parody versions of the song and a minor cameo by Paul McCartney(Basically replaces the OTL adaptation of the
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film).
In 1972, animators Rankin and Bass wanted to adapt Tolkien's works to animation as part of their series of television specials. Rankin thought adapting the whole
Lord of the Rings completely in stop motion was impossible and that the audience "wouldn't sit still for it." He decided "that the Tolkien property that they could handle was 'The Hobbit'," although portions of
The Lord of the Rings were optioned as a sequel given pressure from the network. At $2 million to produce, the special would prove the costliest made up to that time, and starred John Huston, a fan of the book, as Gandalf. They contacted Tolkien's Estate, who declined, but Rankin pointed out that the books were public domain in the US. The Estate, along with Saul Zaentz who had since purchased the film rights, tried to stop the production through a lawsuit, but it instead "became authorized through a series of settlement agreements" which allowed the special to air in Canada, where the books weren't public domain. Abandoning the stop motion, Ralph Bakshi, wanted to adapt the series since 1957, United Artists allowed him to adapt the Hobbit first. Rankin and Bass was looking for animators and Bakshi stepped in, adapting
The Hobbit in 1977.
Ralph Bakshi
Poster for the first Lord of the Rings film by Bakshi.
In 1957, Ralph Bakshi sought to obtain the rights for an animated version, aiming to make a Tolkienesque fantasy film "in the American idiom". This led to the animated film
Wizards. After Tolkien's death in 1973, Bakshi started an "annual trip" to Medavoy, proposing that United Artists produce
The Lord of the Rings as two or three animated films, with a
Hobbit prequel. Medavoy offered him a script by Boorman a few times but Bakshi refused, saying that Boorman "didn't understand it" and that his movie was a cheap product like "a Roger Corman film". Bakshi was given
The Hobbit as a test run by Rankin and Bass. When the film proved successful, Bakshi was given the greenlight to produce an animated trilogy of films.
In 1977, Bakshi and Dan Melnick, then-president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, made a deal with United Artists to purchase the film rights for $3 million (covering the cost of Boorman's screenwriting), and Bakshi started pre-production and writing, enlisting Chris Conkling to research the script. With $200,000 spent, Dan Melnick was fired from MGM. Bakshi persuaded Saul Zaentz to produce
The Lord of the Rings. Zaentz had recently produced the Academy Award-winning adaptation of
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, distributed by United Artists, and agreed to buy the project. UA stayed as the distributors. Zaentz was only able to offer a humble budget of $8 million. Since Bakshi was primarily interested in Tolkien's more adult-oriented novel, Zaentz's Fantasy films procured the rights to
The Lord of the Rings. The rights to distribute the prequel of
The Hobbit remained with United Artists. Bakshi later clarified that he thought the film could "make some money" to save his studio after his previous film,
Coonskin, tanked.
With Conkling, Bakshi considered how to divide the story. They decided on a three-film structure and settled on three 150-minute films.
The Fellowship of the Ring was released in 1978.
The Two Towers was released in 1980. Peter S. Beagle was brought in to do rewrites from Boorman's second
Lord of the Rings script. Bakshi consulted with Tolkien's daughter Priscilla. Beagle's changes included the correction of the pronunciation of Saruman's name(which is inconsistent at times in the OTL film, sometimes pronounced as Aruman). Bakshi constantly revised the story at the behest of anxious fans, and was approached by Mick Jagger and David Carradine for roles in the film. Carradine even suggested that Bakshi do it in live-action, but Bakshi said he'd "always seen it as animation." Both received roles. Bakshi also got Led Zeppelin to perform the soundtrack.
Bakshi went to England to recruit a voice cast from the BBC Drama Repertory Company, including Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, Anthony Daniels, and John Hurt. Bakshi then shot character actors playing to the recording in empty sound stages, and then rotoscoped the performances. Bakshi used the source footage as a guide rather than tracing over it(which he later wished he had done OTL). Live-action footage for crowd scenes was shot in Death Valley and in Spain. To cut costs, cinematographer Timothy Galfas suggested solarizing the crowd scenes, to create a pseudo-animated look. The film was animated in the United States by Bakshi's studio. Bakshi had only four weeks to edit the film, of which little was reportedly left on the cutting room floor. The whole project from pitch to release lasted about two years. The first film cost $5 Million Dollars to produce but made $40 Million.
Arthur Krim, who had supported the film, was kept on at United Artists(not being replaced by Andy Albeck as OTL) and would continue to support it. The second film ended with Frodo and Sam being led into a trap by Gollum. The first film was released without any indication that a second part would follow, over Bakshi's objections(though it would receive a second film after all when it did well). Rated PG, it was the longest animated film made at the time, and cost $8–12 million to produce; it grossed $30.5 million at the box office. The first film won the Golden Gryphon at the 1980 Giffoni Film Festival, but critical reaction was mixed; Roger Ebert called Bakshi's effort a "mixed blessing" and "an entirely respectable, occasionally impressive job ... which still falls far short of the charm and sweep of the original story." The final part,
Return of the King, was released in 1982, and did the best of all the films. The BBC's 1981 radio adaptation recruited veterans of Bakshi's voice cast, Michael Graham Cox and Peter Woodthorpe to reprise their roles (Boromir and Gollum, respectively) from the film. Sir Ian Holm (later to become Jackson's first choice for Bilbo Baggins before Sylvester McCoy) voiced Frodo.
Other nations outside the US and UK had their own adaptations of the works of Tolkien. In 1971, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television aired
Sagan om Ringen, a short broadcast in two parts, consisting of live-action actors against animated backgrounds. It was based on
The Fellowship of the Ring, and directed by Bo Hansson, who previously made a music album based on
The Lord of the Rings, with license from the Tolkien Estate. It was based on the then recent Beatles version of the film and incorporated songs. The short can no longer be viewed outside of Sweden.
Screenshot from The Fabulous Journey of Mr.Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit.
In 1985, Russia aired
The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit (Russian: Сказочное путешествие мистера Бильбо Беггинса Хоббита), a television special based on the events of
The Hobbit. Shot in 1984 as a teleplay and produced in the framework of the children's television series
Tale after Tale (Russian: Сказка за сказкой), it featured actors such as Zinovy Gerdt as Narrator (Tolkien), Mikhail Danilov as Bilbo Baggins, Anatoly Ravikovich as Thorin and Igor Dmitriev as Gollum.
In 1993, the Finnish broadcaster Yle produced a live-action miniseries called
The Hobbitit (
"The Hobbits"). Despite the name it was based on
The Lord of the Rings rather than
The Hobbit; but it included only the parts of the story that the hobbits had witnessed themselves (hence the title). The nine episodes were aired on Yle TV1. The series was written and directed by Timo Torikka. Toni Edelmann composed the soundtrack. Actors included Pertti Sveholm as Sam, Taneli Mäkelä as Frodo, Martti Suosalo as Bilbo, Matti Pellonpää as Saruman, Vesa Vierikko as Gandalf, Ville Virtanen as Legolas, Kari Väänänen (as Aragorn and Gollum at the same time) and Leif Wager as Elrond. It aired again in 1998.
Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson on the set of Lord of the Rings.
Peter Jackson would direct Four live-action feature films released by Warner Bros. The series is due to be expanded with a prequel TV series produced by Prime Video in cooperation with Warner Bros. Jackson first pitched the idea of adapting
The Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit to Miramax in 1995. He'd seen Bakshi's
Lord of the Rings in 1978, enjoyed it and "wanted to know more", reading a tie-in version of the book (following it up with
The Hobbit and
The Silmarillion), and listening to the 1981 BBC radio adaptation and the films. He realized the series was never adapted faithfully, in live action and completely by one company. Jackson watched and enjoyed (but didn't think very highly of) the fantasy films and space operas of the 1980s and other adaptations. He later read Tolkien's letters and learned that Forrest Ackerman, who appeared in Jackson's
Bad Taste, had adapted the stories as well.
While he was aware that "three films would obviously be the more natural way to do"
The Lord of the Rings and that
The Hobbit would better be split across two films, he made a more modest offer of a trilogy: one film based on
The Hobbit which, if proven successful, would be followed by two
Lord of the Rings installments, released six months apart. Jackson and Walsh re-read
The Hobbit and even commissioned their workshop at WETA for some concept art, the rights to
The Hobbit proved difficult because they were split between Zaentz and United Artists but Jackson succeeded. Jackson truthfully admitted he was more interested in adapting
Lord of the Rings than
The Hobbit, but agreed to make the prequel first.
The Hobbit was released in 2001 as the first film in Four.
Lord of the Rings followed with the release of
The Fellowship of the Ring in 2002,
The Two Towers in 2003, and
Return of the King in 2004. Jackson also later made remarks about potential spinoff films and even half-joking remarks about television spin-off shows.
The Hobbit cast Christopher Plummer as the voice of Smaug(he couldn't handle much travelling at his age but doing a voice was just fine). Smaug had been given four legs in addition to his wings. Tom Baker played Tom Bombadil, who has a minor role as a kind host who throws the Dwarves a feast and a respite from their travels(Jackson couldn't think of a place to put him in
Lord of the Rings but he fit better into the lighter tone of
The Hobbit though he replaces another character for this to work). Richard Harris, who lobbied heavily to play Gandalf, played him in
The Hobbit. He passed away before
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was released(he'd dropped out of the role due to poor health)and recast with Sir Ian McKellen, while many mourn Harris's passing, many also see it as improving the film as McKellen's performance in the trilogy is seen as excelling Harris's. McKellen was also able to carry out more scenes of Gandalf fighting, which wasn't shown in
the Hobbit and Richard Harris wouldn't have been able to do so at his age. It also allowed the much kinder Gandalf to suddenly become more serious and intense with the change in tone for the series and the years that passed in universe(So this is basically the TTL version of Harris playing a famous fantasy wizard before passing away and being replaced by another actor, although here is makes a bit more sense and is not as jarring as Michael "Harrydidyouputyurnameinthegobletoffiyah!" Gambon since McKellen can play a kind Gandalf as well as an intense one). Other actors included were Ian Holm as Bilbo. Bill Bailey as the dwarf Glóin. David Tennant played Thranduil.
When it came time to cast
The Lord of the Rings, the older Bilbo was now played by Sylvester McCoy(there being no Radigast the Brown ITTL). The Films also cast Ashely Judd and Mira Sorvino in prominent roles(OTL Miramax executives lied and said they were difficult to work with when the truth was they had rejected Harvey Weinstein's sexual advances. Weinstein isn't in the picture here). Vin Diesel, a huge Tolkien fan, played Aragorn. He would later provide the voice of Melkor in
The Silmarillion. Kevin Conway played King Theoden(OTL he chose to do
Gods and Generals, which doesn't exist OTL, though he acknowledged this was a bad decision but disliked the long process the role would entail). Tom Wilkinson was also cast. Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman played Faramir and Éowyn. David Bowie was cast as Elrond. Lucy Lawless was cast as Galadriel.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy plot is largely the same as OTL despite the cast changes with some added or different scenes. The Balrog is shown after falling in the water with its fire gone out and covered in slime, his fall scaring away several tentacled monsters similar to the Watcher in the Water. There was also a river rapids scene with the Fellowship(the equipment being damaged undoing the attempt to film this scene OTL). During the battle of Helm's Deep a few orcs got through, only to be caught and defeated by Éowyn who was helping a pregnant woman give birth. Most of the material that humanized the other races was kept in such as the Southron(seen in the extended edition and done by Faramir) or the conversations with orcs.
Frodo's transformation into a Gollum like creature.
During the scene in Ithilien when Faramir attempted to take the Ring from Frodo (only to be stopped by Sam), Frodo has a moment where he changed into a hideous Gollum-like appearance, as Bilbo did in Rivendell. Smegol's flashback was placed in
The Two Towers, right after Frodo calls him by his real name. The flashback ending when he put on the Ring for the first time. It was still used as the opening of
The Return of the King as a variation of Previously On… (same with Gandalf's fight with the Balrog). The song at the end of
The Two Towers was sung by Björk. The Wood Woses appear in
The Return of the King, with Maori actor Wu Kuki Kaa playing their chieftain Ghan-Buri-Ghan. Aragorn personally dueled Sauron in the end of the film. Among the scenes included in
The Return of the King, are the extended edition scene of Sarumon and Grim Wormtongue's deaths, less jokes at Gimli's expense, and an explanation for the Eagles(who saved Gandalf in
Lord of the Rings when he was imprisoned by Sarumon). The Eagles outright say the ring will corrupt them if they are near it and their King refuses to allow them to become involved until the ring is destroyed(when it is in
Return of the King, is when the Eagles arrive and begin to turn the tide of the battle). There are also less endings to the trilogy.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring went onto win Best Picture in 2002(replacing the OTL winner of
Chicago).
Ghan-Buri-Ghan in the film.
Guillermo del Toro's
The Silmarillion was released in 2012. Rather than serving as an adaptation of the titular book. It is instead a combination of sorts of many of the ideas from the stories, used to tell one singular story of Middle Earth's ancient past and the battle with Malkor(voiced by Vin Diesel). Among the cast are Brian Blessed, Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Martin Freeman and Ian McShane as the first dwarf. Peter Jackson considered his work for New Line Cinema done. Del Toro had originally been a possibility to direct the Hobbit. With that film completed he was instead given the rather dense
Silmarillion, which he chose to take ideas from rather than directly adapt. Now all that remains of what once was is the potential Amazon Series expected to be helmed by Peter Jackson. Ironic that a book series with one of the most troubled productions has finally found a solid place, leaving an indeniable mark in pop culture. What was once a book trilogy thought unfilmable has become a Film trilogy thought unsurpassable.
Tolkien Adaptations
The Hobbit(1952)-Walt Disney(Walt Disney Pictures)
The Fellowship of the Ring(1957)-Forrest J. Ackerman
The Two Towers(1960)-Robert Gutwillig
Return of the King(1961)-Robert Gullwillig
The Hobbit(1967)-William L. Snyder(Rembrandt Films), Sir Stanley Unwin.
The Lord of the Rings(1970)-Directed by Stanley Kubrick(United Artists). Starring the Beatles.
Sagan om Ringen(1971)-Sveriges Television(Swedish)
The Hobbit(1977)-Directed by Ralph Bakshi(Rankin & Bass)
The Fellowship of the Ring(1978)-Directed by Ralph Bakshi(Rankin & Bass)
The Two Towers(1980)-Directed by Ralph Bakshi(Rankin & Bass)
Return of the King(1982)-Directed by Ralph Bakshi(Rankin & Bass)
The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit (Russian: Сказочное путешествие мистера Бильбо Беггинса Хоббита)(1985)
The Hobbitit (
"The Hobbits")(1993)- Yle(Finnish)
The Hobbit(2001)-Directed by Peter Jackson(Warner Bros)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring(2002)-Directed by Peter Jackson(Warner Bros)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers(2003)Directed by Peter Jackson(Warner Bros)
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King(2004)Directed by Peter Jackson(Warner Bros)
The Silmarillion(2012)Directed by Guillermo Del Toro(Warner Bros)