The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [Part 4 of 5]

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(02:24):
Hi, everyone, I'm Em, andwelcome to bubble diorama, episode
300, the Lord of the Rings,the Return of the King. This is the
podcast that's all about thehistory and legacy of Movies yous
Know and Movies yous Don't.I'm glad to be with you, dear listener,
here at the end of all things,all things being 300 episodes of
a film history podcast thatliterally just started as a means

(02:46):
to bring me some joy at a verydark time in my life. And it's also
not the end, not of thispodcast, nor this series of episodes,
but it is the final episode ofPeter Jackson's outstanding entries
into the Lord of the Ringscinematic universe. Which wasn't
a thing, but it is now. Andthat, my friends, is worth celebrating

(03:08):
on a podcast that is purelyhere to celebrate the wonders of
the history of film. Welcometo Verbal Diorama. Whether you are
a regular returning listener,whether you are a brand new listener
to this podcast, thank you forbeing here. Thank you for choosing
to listen to this podcast. Iam so overwhelmed, in all honesty,
to have you here for thehistory and legacy of the Lord of

(03:30):
the Rings, the Return of theKing. And just really a huge thank
you to everyone who haslistened to this podcast, continues
to listen to this podcast,maybe even will listen to this podcast
in the future as well. Thispodcast has been going now for six
years and now I can say 300episodes of verbal Diorama exist

(03:54):
in the world. And really, yes,that's down to me, to be honest,
that is down to me doing them.But it's also down to you guys, to
the people who listen to thispodcast, because I would not just
be talking into the ether for300 episodes. I have amazing listeners.

(04:15):
I have incredible people whocontact me on email and social media.
I know there are people outthere who genuinely do listen to
this podcast because they tellme that they do. And I do this for
me, but I also do it for youas well. And I've done it 300 times.
It's crazy. But this podcastmeans so much to me. These movies

(04:41):
mean so much to me, and having300 episodes means so much. I'm not
going to get teary. I promise.I am starting to get a little bit
emotional, but I'm not goingto go all teary on you. I am going
to crack on because I've gotso much to talk about in this episode.
Here we are. It is the 300thepisode. It's the fourth of a five

(05:05):
part episode on the historyand legacy of the Lord of the Rings,
focusing on Peter Jackson'strilogy, but also sandwiched between
the two animated versions.They aren't the only two animated
versions that exist, but theyare the only two that I'm featuring
in this series. Rav Bakshi'sthe Lord of the Rings from 1978 and
last year's the Lord of thethe War of the Rohirrim. That this

(05:29):
movie is the 300th episodeisn't an accident. As I mentioned,
these movies mean so much tome personally. I have been to New
Zealand. I have visited someof the locations for filming. As
I mentioned in the Fellowshipepisode, I've been to Hobbiton. I've
even been at one of theMountains of Mordor. But my love
for these movies has beennothing compared to the love I have

(05:52):
for this podcast for tellingthese histories and legacies of movies
every week. And in many waysthis has been my quest, my journey.
Something that I had to do.Almost like a rite of passage for
me as a podcaster to pushmyself to do the biggest possible
thing I could think of becauseeven the smallest podcast can change

(06:15):
the course of the future. Butalso, selfishly, I'm also hoping
that these episodes maybe willencourage people who haven't listened
before to listen now. Thatmaybe if I push myself to work harder
on these than I ever have onanything else, that I could get a
few more listeners become aGimli sized podcast rather than a

(06:38):
Frodo size podcast. I guessall I can ask of you as you're listening
right now is that if you haveenjoyed this series, if you enjoy
this podcast, if you'veenjoyed previous episodes, please
please please spread the word.Verbal Diorama has lit the beacons.
Verbal Diorama calls for aid.Will you be my Rohan? Will you answer?

(07:02):
Spread the good word aboutVerbal Diorama about what I do. I
would be so grateful and itwould mean the world to me to have
more people listening to thispodcast for the 300th episode. That
would just be so awesome. Ipromise I am going to crack on now,
but if you are new to thisseries, if this is the first episode
out of all of the Lord of TheRings episodes that I've done so

(07:22):
far. Let me go through theepisodes and whether you should listen
to them or not, if you'rereally that interested. So the first
episode on the Ralph Bakshi1978 Lord of the Rings, you don't
technically need to listen tothat, but I would recommend it because
it sets up the story reallywell, including Saul's ain't and
his link to the rights and theestate. What I will say is if this,

(07:45):
the Return of the King, isyour first entry into the Peter Jackson
trilogy of podcast episodes,please go back and listen to the
Fellowship of the Ring and theTwo Towers because you really do
need to have listened tothose. Because obviously that gives
introduction to PeterJackson's part of the story, but

(08:05):
also the way these episodesare structured because the movies
were all filmed together, theepisodes are not really set up as
standard verbal dioramaepisodes. It is one huge self contained
story. This is technically thethird of three interconnected stories
in five episodes where this istechnically the fourth of a five

(08:27):
part complete story. I promisethat does make sense. But in the
Fellowship it talks aboutPeter Jackson's vision for the series,
his dealings with Miramax, themove to New Line and the various
changes he made to the sourcematerial, as well as specifics on
the Fellowship of the Ringincluding casting choices and costume
design. The last episodefocused on the Two Towers, specifically

(08:49):
the Battle of Helm's Deep, theintroduction of and technology surrounding
Gollum, as well as theproduction and art design choices
for the series. And thisepisode goes into everything else.
So it's, it's a lot. The restof the visual effects by Weta Workshop,
the makeup and prosthetics,the music across all of the movies

(09:10):
by Howard Shaw, how it becameone of the biggest Academy Award
winning films of all time, andI was going to talk about the everlasting
legacy of these movies.However, being honest, I feel like
this episode will be prettyhuge. So I am going to move the legacy
part to the next episode,which is going to mostly be around
the recent anime, the Lord ofthe Rings, the War of the Rohirrim,

(09:32):
and the effect the Lord of theRings and the Hobbit have had on
New Zealand's tourism and filmindustries, the retaining of the
rights and the future of thefranchise as well. I also want to
add a couple of caveats forthe huge Tolkien and Lord of the
Rings fans who may belistening to these. Yes, I probably
have butchered somepronunciations over the series and
I apologize for that. And no,I haven't included every fact, every

(09:56):
tidbit, every piece ofinformation that's out there on the
Internet. Because there is alot. The Lord of the Rings is immense.
There is so much informationjust on Tolkien's novels that don't
even relate to the movies andthen there's so much information
on these movies. It's just,it's overwhelming. In all honesty,

(10:17):
anything I mention, there is awealth more information out there
to elaborate further. And ifyou are interested in anything that
I mention and you think, oh,I'd really love to know more about
the production design on theLord of the Rings as an example,
please do, because it'sincredible production design, but
there is so much informationon the Internet. So if you are interested,

(10:39):
please have a look into itfurther. This series of episodes
has been an incredible task.This episode in particular has been
a lot more difficult than mostepisodes, which was actually unintentional
because I didn't realize thehuge tasks that I'd left for myself
until I came to doing thisepisode after doing the other two.

(11:01):
And by that point you can't goback and change the other two. But
like Peter Jackson, he madethe final part the biggest one, so
technically I'm just followinghis lead. Let's jump into it. Sauron's
armies grow stronger and thisepisode is in fear of failing. But
don't worry, the King of theDead owes me a favour and will probably

(11:23):
turn up to give me a hand atediting. No man can kill the Witch
King, but luckily I am no man.Here's the trailer for the Lord of
the the Return of the King For Frodo.

(14:31):
Sauron's forces had laid siegeto Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor
in their efforts to eliminatethe race of Men. The once great kingdom
watched over by a fadingsteward has never been in more desperate
need of its king. But canAragorn answer the call of his heritage
and become what he was born tobe? In no small measure, the fate

(14:51):
of Middle Earth rests on hisbroad shoulders. With the final battle
joined and the legions ofdarkness gathering Gandalf urgently
tries to rally Gondor's brokenarmy to action. He is aided by Rohan's
King Theoden, who unites hiswarriors. Yet even with their courage
and passionate loyalty theforces of men, with Eowyn and Merry

(15:13):
hidden amongst them are nomatch for the enemies swarming against
Gondor. Still, in the face ofgreat losses, they charge forward
into the battle of theirlifetimes tied together by their
singular goal to keep Saurondistracted and give the ring bearer
a chance to complete hisquest. Their hopes rest with Frodo

(15:33):
journeying across treacherousenemy lands to cast the One Ring
into the fires of Mount Doom.The closer Frodo gets to his destination,
the heavier his burden becomesand the more he must rely on Samwise
Gamgee. Gollum and the Ringwill test Frodo's allegiances and
ultimately his humanity. Let'srun through the cast. Pretty much

(15:57):
every single cast memberreturning from the last movie. On
this one, with a couple moreas well, we have Elijah Wood as Frodo
Baggins Ian McKellen asGandalf Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
Sean Astin as Samwise GamgeeAndy Serkis as Gollum Billy Boyd
as Peregrine Took DominicMonaghan as Meriad Doc Brandybuck

(16:20):
John Rhys Davies as GimliOrlando Bloom as Legolas Bernard
Hill as Theoden Miranda Ottoas Eowyn David Wenham as Faramir
Karl Urban as Eomer Liv Tyleras Arwen Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
Christopher Lee as SarumanHugo Weaving as Elrond John Noble

(16:44):
as Denethor and Ian Holm asBilbo Baggins. The Lord of the the
Return of the King has ascreenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa
Boyens and Peter Jackson, wasdirected by Peter Jackson and was
based on the Return of theKing by J.R.R. tolkien. So this is

(17:05):
kind of a big deal. After twoyears of attention and acclaim since
the release of the Fellowshipof the Ring, audience and critical
anticipation for the Return ofthe King was extremely high. Only
maybe Star Wars Episode thePhantom Menace had been more highly
anticipated. The culminationof a remarkable trilogy, the scale

(17:27):
of which no one had ever seenbefore, was coming to fruition. And
after two outstanding entriesin the trilogy, amassing over 1.5
billion at the box office, 19Academy Award nominations, and six
wins, there was no way thiswas going to disappoint. Just like
this episode, maybe. And inthis episode we're going to delve

(17:47):
into the stuff that I've notyet managed to talk about. Basically,
there's things that are thingsthat were and some things that have
not yet come to pass.Unsurprisingly, the film version
of the Return of the King hasseveral significant differences to
Tolkien's original book forpacing, dramatic effect and cinematic
storytelling. Characterchanges included Aragorn more reluctant

(18:10):
about claiming the throne thanhis book counterpart Denethor, more
overtly antagonistic andunstable from his first appearance
Eowyn and Faramir's romancegiven little screen time, as opposed
to it being developing in theHouses of Healing after the battle.
This is, of course, afterEowyn's crush on Aragorn finding
out he's in love with Arwen,and that love triangle being resolved

(18:32):
in the book version of the TwoTowers. Saruman is confronted at
Isengard after Helm's Deep anddies in the Scouring of the Shire,
which is never shown inJackson's films. In the extended
edition, Saruman dies atIsengard when stabbed by Wormtongue.
Apparently, Christopher Lee'sreal experiences of military service

(18:52):
meant he brought a sense ofrealism to Saruman's death rather
than your typical dead. Thearmy of the Dead could only help
defeat the Corsairs atPelagia, then are released in the
book. In the film, they arebrought to Minas Tirith to defeat
Sauron's army directly. In thebook, Aragorn uses the Palantir to

(19:13):
challenge Sauron, but in thefilm this doesn't happen. Frodo and
Sam's journey has addedtension in the movie, including being
tricked by Gollum, leading toSam leaving for a brief period only
to return to save Frodo fromShalob. Gollum also actively fights
with Frodo in Mount Doom,which also doesn't happen in the
books. The writers felt thatsimply having Gollum slip and fall

(19:34):
was anticlimactic. Originally,it was planned that Frodo would heroically
push Gollum over the edge todestroy him in the Ring. But the
production team realized thatthis would make it look as if Frodo
was murdering Gollum, soinstead they had Frodo and Gollum
struggle for possession of theRing. New scenes were added to the
film that weren't present inthe book, including Denethor attempting

(19:56):
to burn Faramir alive whilestill conscious, Legolas single handedly
taking down an Oliphant,Arwen's fate being tied to the Ring,
and the extended battlesequences at Minas Tirith and the
Pelennor Fields. Now ofcourse, the book includes extensive
appendices covering the FourthAge and characters fates. There was
no way the film could do this,it was already rather lengthy, so

(20:19):
instead it uses a condensedepilogue showing only the Hobbits
return and Frodo's departure.As I mentioned in the episode on
the Fellowship of the Ring,Christopher Tolkien specifically
wasn't happy with theseadaptations, claiming they trivialized
his father's work, which wasmore philosophical and politically
nuanced with greater emphasison the declining age and passing

(20:41):
of magic. The films are moreaction orientated, with greater focus
on battles and physicalconfrontation and a clear distinction
between good and evil. In manyways, adapting the Lord of the Rings
was always going to be athankless task. You were never going
to please everyone. WhileJackson's changes altered some of
Tolkien's themes and narrativestructure, his adaptation is still

(21:03):
considered one of the morefaithful epic fantasy adaptations
in cinema, capturing theessence of the story while adapting
it to a different medium. TheTolkien estate doesn't agree, but
you adapt an adaptation andthis is a beautifully lavish adaptation
with such care and attentionto detail in every regard. It's really

(21:23):
hard not to love these movieseven if you weren't a film history
podcast, as well as realisingthey age like a fine wine because
of the care and attention andthe reliance on practical makeup
effects and prosthetics. Andthis is a great way to segue into
the wonderful award winninghair and makeup. The team, led by
makeup artist Peter King andhair designer Peter Owen, alongside

(21:47):
special makeup effects artistRichard Taylor and prosthetic supervisor
Gino Azevedo, faced immensechallenges in creating distinctive
looks for various races andcharacters. Pretty much every character
in these movies wears a wigwhich were mostly made from human
hair. Over 10,000 wigs andhair pieces were used across the
trilogy and were oftenelaborately braided or in the case

(22:10):
of the elves, straight out ofa l' oreal hair ad long beards were
also fake. Christopher Lee'swig and beard combo took hours to
apply each day. Ian McKellennot only had a long gray wig and
beard, but also facialprosthetics on his nose and ears
and age makeup also in agedmakeup King Theoden before he's broken

(22:31):
free of Saruman's curse. Thehobbits had large prosthetic feet
and ears. The feet were madefrom lightweight foam latex over
a thin rubber base thatcouldn't be reused after wearing.
Each pair were custom fittedto each actor's foot. Measurements
took up to 90 minutes to applyand extended approximately five inches
beyond the actor's real toes.Each foot was also covered with meticulously

(22:54):
applied synthetic hair andpainted with multiple layers of silicone
based makeup for realisticskin tones. Each hobbit actor had
to change their walking styleto accommodate the shift in their
center of gravity. And whilethe soles were thin enough to allow
ground feel, they were hard towalk on in tough terrain as sharp
rocks could easily break thedelicate foam latex. They also couldn't

(23:16):
get them wet as this would matthe hair and could dissolve the adhesives.
They worked with specialmovement coaches to develop a natural
looking gait and buildtolerance with special exercises
to strengthen their ankles andcalves. Special boots that mimicked
Hobbit feet were used forchallenging terrain. The elves had
pointed ear prosthetics anddistinctive eyebrows with long flowing

(23:38):
wigs, with intricate braidsand ornamentation and illuminating
makeup techniques to make themfeel otherworldly. Dwarfs had prosthetic
noses, foreheads and facialhair. The orcs and Uruk Hai had full
face prosthetics with customteeth and colored contact lenses,
plus full body makeup thattook three to five hours to apply.

(23:59):
Up to 15 makeup artists worksimultaneously during large battle
scenes, and those teamsdeveloped water and sweatproof makeup
techniques for the actionsequences. Throughout these episodes.
I've talked a little about thedetailed set design, the use of dual
scale sets and scale doubles.But what I haven't yet is the vision
effects achieved through setdesign. Basic force perspective involves

(24:22):
precisely positioning actorsat different distances from the camera.
Characters meant to appearsmaller, hobbits and dwarves were
placed further away from thecamera and characters meant to appear
larger. Humans, elves andwizards were positioned closer to
the camera and camera angles,and custom built sets were designed
to hide these distancedifferences. Forced perspective has

(24:43):
been used in film since theearly 1900s with Georges Mallet's
Le Voyage dans la Lune. Usingbasic force perspective to create
the illusion of the spacecraftlanding in the moon's eye. Fritz
Lang's 1927 masterpieceMetropolis is another early and influential
example. Using forcedperspective to create the illusion
of massive cityscapes andarchitecture. The film featured elaborate

(25:06):
miniature sets combined withforced perspective to create the
futuristic city style. AlfredHitchcock was also an early master
of the technique, using itnotably in his 1958 film Vertigo
to create the illusion ofheight and depth in the bell tower
sequences without requiringthe actors to be in actual danger.
Traditional forced perspectiveworks best with static shots. False

(25:30):
perspective is a lot moredifficult in moving shots. For dynamic
scenes, the team created amoving platform system where actors
and camera could move inprecise synchronization. Computerized
motion control rigs thatmaintained proper perspective during
movement were used. Twosimultaneous camera rigs moved in
precise mathematicalrelationship to each other. As the

(25:52):
primary camera moved, thesecondary camera would move at a
precisely calculated differentspeed and trajectory. This maintained
the proper perspectiverelationship between foreground and
background elements. Thissystem could account for dolly moves,
pans, tilts and even complexcombinations. It was quite taxing
for the actors though, whocouldn't interact with each other.

(26:14):
And complex shots like Gandalfand Frodo together on Gandalf's cart
would often take dozens oftakes to get right. For those shots,
two separate carts were builtat different scales with each mounted
on a motion control rig. Asthe camera tracked alongside, both
carts moved at preciselycalculated different speeds. The

(26:34):
background landscape wascarefully designed to hide the seam
between scales, particularlyin Bag End. Custom built split sets
with sections at differentscales were positioned side by side
with characters performing ontheir respective set with a precisely
aligned dividing line betweenthe sets hidden by careful set design.

(26:54):
The two sections were thenfilmed simultaneously and then seamlessly
composited. The Return of theKing would not just feature the return
of the actual king, butseveral more standout scenes and
creatures. Shalob, the giantspider was created through a combination
of practical effects, puppetryand cgi. Her inspiration came from

(27:15):
several real world spiderspecies. New Zealand's tunnel web
spider for body structure,black widows for the distinctive
abdomen shape, huntsmanspiders for leg movement patterns,
and various tarantula speciesfor the overall hair texture. They
wanted Shalob to bebiologically plausible and not just
something fantastical. Andlet's be honest, she is absolutely

(27:37):
terrifying. Her practicalparts included a full size physical
model of Shelop's head andfangs for close up shots, mechanical
legs that could be manipulatedby puppeteers, detailed practical
models of Shelob's eyes andpartial body segments of specific
shots where Frodo interactswith the spider. Her webbing was
Made from a specializedelastic silicon material and was

(28:00):
woven filling tunnels andpassages, making escape difficult
for her prey. The VFX teamcreated specific light interaction
for when webbing wrappedaround characters. The digital Shalob
contained over 300,000individual hair strands. Custom animation
systems were developed for hereight legged movement and surface

(28:21):
texturing, includingtranslucent areas that showed internal
organs in certain lighting,including when she is stabbed with
sting. The spider's bodyrealistically glows with the sword's
blue light and something Iforgot to mention last episode and
it was kind of importantHorses. There were many of them in
battle scenes, includingHelm's Deep, but also just for general

(28:43):
riding by both the heroes andthe villains. The production employed
approximately 70 to 80 horsesthroughout filming which were trained
specifically for the filmsover several months. Many of these
horses were Andalusians,chosen for their powerful build and
flowing manes. Differenthorses were trained for specific
actions, riding, standing,falling, etc and professional horse

(29:06):
wranglers and riders wereemployed throughout production. The
American Humane associationdid have concerns over some of the
horses treatment, includingDemero, the light grey horse that
played Gandalf's horseShadowfax, who was purchased with
a known diagnosis of melanoma.His condition meant he was retired
as soon as his scenes for theFellowship of the Ring were completed

(29:27):
under veterinary advice toreceive ongoing care. Demero is not
featured in any sequel and wasreplaced by Blanco and Demero was
alive and well on thepublication of the American Humane
Association's investigation.Some horses were euthanized though
due to injuries sustained onset, and four horses died of illnesses.

(29:50):
But then on the other hand,some horses formed such a close bond
with their actor that theywere then adopted by them, which
is what happened with ViggoMortensen and his on screen horse
Brego, played by horse actorsUraeus and Kenny, both of whom Mortensen
bought after filming ended.Karl Urban's spear flip while riding
was him performing the stuntand it took him ages to perfect it

(30:12):
and he did that while thehorse was moving too. He and Miranda
Otto performed many of theirown riding stunts. Bernard Hill,
who played King Theoden, alsolearned to ride horses for the role
and of course the Rahirrimrelied on their horses. The real
life horse cavalry was 60strong, many ridden by professional
riders. Digital horses wereadded to increase the size of the

(30:35):
group. Wetter Digital createdhundreds of CGI horses for the stunts
that real horses couldn't do,including falls and visible injuries
and the scenes of horses beingattacked by fell beasts. I mentioned
last episode, the massivesoftware used for crowds during battle.
It was also used for horseswith horse behavior AI for horse

(30:55):
crowd stimulation. The Nazgulstart riding horses and then upgrade
to Fell beasts which wereinspired by prehistoric pterosaurs,
bats, vultures, reptiles anddecomposing corpses for their skin
textures. The productionwanted to avoid comparisons to traditional
dragons, but also made themplausibly capable of flight. Weta

(31:16):
Workshop created dozens ofconcept sketches and paintings and
detailed maquettes. Full scalehead and neck models for reference
and carried out anatomicalstudies to ensure believable movement.
All nine Fell Beasts would beseen launching from Minas Morgul,
then attack Osgiliath and inthe Pelennor Fields. And the creature's
design evolved significantlyduring pre production. Early versions

(31:39):
had more dragon like featuresbefore settling on the more bat or
pterosaur inspired final look.The digital fellbeasts had their
own rigging systems for thewing mechanics and physics based
simulations for wing membranemovement. Practical heads were built
for close ups and a mechanicalbook rig was created for shots of
the Witch King mounting thecreature. Other creatures such as

(32:01):
Trolls, the Watcher in theWater, the Balrog, the rest of the
Ents, the Wargs and theMummakil were completely cg. Each
one went through months ofcreation and variation as sketches
before approved designs weresculpted into five foot maquettes
and scanned into a computer.Animators then rigged skeletons and
muscles before animation andfinal detailed coloring scanned from

(32:23):
painted maquettes. Along withthe creatures, Weta created realistic
digital doubles for manyminiature long shots. You think Legolas
really slid down the trunk ofan oliphaunt? Tolkien named them
Olifaunts. Gondor calls themMumak. Mumakil is the plural. The
more you know. Anyway, theseCG human doubles were scanned from

(32:44):
having actors performmovements in a motion capture suit
with additional detailscreated using zbrush. Speaking of
Gondor, I hear the beacons arelit and Gondor calls for aid. And
remarkably, many of thebeacons were practical sets. The
production team scouted aseries of spectacular mounting locations
across New Zealand's southisland that could represent the Beacon

(33:05):
Hills, including Mount Gunn,Remarkable's mountain range near
Queenstown, Benohou Range nearLake Pukaki and various peaks in
Fiordland National Park. Realbeacon fires were constructed and
lit on accessible mountainlocations. Some mountaintop beacons
were physically built aspractical sets. Helicopter crews

(33:26):
filmed actual New Zealandmountain ranges for background plates.
The first beacon at Amundinwas a full scale practical set built
on location. But then digitalfires were also used mostly for distant
beacons or locations thatcouldn't be practically filmed. Mountain
ranges were also extended andenhanced digitally or with matte

(33:46):
paintings with CGI used tocreate the appearance of vast distances
between peaks. Weather effectsand atmospheric conditions were digitally
controlled for consistency.The sequence, which lasts just over
two minutes in the final film,took several months to complete,
from conception to finalcomposite. It's considered a signature
example of how Peter Jackson'svisual storytelling taking what was

(34:10):
a brief mention in Tolkien'sbook and transforming it into a visually
spectacular moment thatcommunicates the vast scale of Middle
Earth and demonstrating howpractical filmmaking techniques can
be seamlessly combined withdigital technology to create scenes
of breathtaking scope andemotional resonance. Oh, and also

(34:30):
the army of the Dead,primarily CGI creations with their
spectral blue green glow. Theyneeded to be clearly human, clearly
dead, clearly incorporeal basecharacter models were created with
detailed anatomy and periodappropriate armor. Specialized shader
programs gave them theirtranslucent ethereal quality. And

(34:51):
each ghost had subtlevariations in appearance and armour
design. The King of the Deadwas given additional detail and screen
presence. The Paths of theDead was a practical cave set with
digital extensions. And theSkull Avalanche combined practical
and digital elements. 1000skulls were created just for this
scene. And honestly, we haveso much to get through. I feel like

(35:14):
I should have talked aboutsome of these in a previous episode,
but I want to focus a bit onthe eye of Sauron, because it differs
quite a bit from Tolkien'soriginal descriptions in his writings.
The eye is primarilymetaphorical or spiritual rather
than physical. It's describedas the Eye or the Great Eye rather
than a literal physical organ,and represented Sauron's awareness,

(35:38):
will and attention rather thanhis physical form. It was a manifestation
of his power, something thatcharacters sense rather than see.
It was never explicitlydescribed as an actual flaming eye
atop Barador. Peter Jackson,possibly wisely for a film adaptation,
chose to create a massivephysical eye of fire suspended between

(36:02):
two spikes. The eye isconstantly visible, with flames perpetually
emanating from it. When theeye is searching for something or
someone, it projects a visiblesearchlight beam and it can rotate
physically to direct its gaze,a distinct primary physical manifestation
of Sauron's power. Sauron'sphysical form is only seen in the

(36:23):
prologue. The eye is Sauron inthe movies, and it's a permanent
fixture of Barad Daw's summit.To make the eye, they filmed flames
practically using specialistlighting and photographed real eyes
for reference before combiningthem with a digital structure created
using fluid dynamicsimulations. Custom particle systems

(36:43):
generated the swirling flamesand the Cat like slit pupil was rendered
separately with its ownanimation system. Subtle pupil dilation
and contraction conveyedattention and focus, which became
most intense and aggressive asthe ring came closer to Mordal. The
eye also needed to appear asthough it was physically mounted
atop the dark tower. Digitalmodels of Barad Daw were designed

(37:07):
with a special platform forthe eye. Architectural elements were
created that framed the eyelike a socket. And specialised lighting
simulated how the eye's glowwould illuminate the surrounding
tower. The resulting visualbecame one of the trilogy's most
memorable images. A perfectvisual shorthand for Sauron's malevolent
presence and watchfulness. Anda physical embodiment of what happens

(37:30):
once the ring is finallydestroyed in Mount Doom. You will
notice I'm trying to segueinto everything I need to talk about.
So let's talk about MountDoom. The real world mountain used
as the main visual for MountDoom was Mount Nauruhoi in New Zealand's
Tongariro National Park. It'san almost perfect symmetrical volcanic

(37:51):
cone that stands at 2,291meters or 7,516ft. It is an active
stratovolcano and thatdistinctive conical shape made it
an ideal foundation for MountDoom. But there are restrictions
on filming on Mount Nauruhoi.While Mount Nauruhoi was used as

(38:12):
a reference and appears insome distant shots, the production
team wasn't actually permittedto film directly on the mountain
itself. The mountain is sacredto the local Maori people and filming
permission was not granted forthe actual slopes. So instead of
filming on the actualmountain, the production used wide
landscape shots of Tongarironational park with Mount Nauruhoi

(38:34):
visible. They're filmed onnearby volcanic terrain. To capture
the barren landscape ofMordor, terrain I have actually visited,
they constructed sets for thebase of the mountain and the path
leading up to it and usedthose bigotures I mentioned last
episode to for certain anglesand close ups. Many close up exterior
shots of our heroes on theslopes of Mount Doom were actually

(38:57):
filmed on sets built at StoneStreet Studios in Wellington which
featured practical rockformations and ash covered ground
and were surrounded by bluegreen screens for background replacement.
They also digitally enhancedMount Doom to make it more menacing
with digital lava flows, ashand smoke. The broader region of
Mordor was filmed in theRangipo Desert. The where the Black

(39:19):
Gate of Mordor scenes werefilmed and the Taquino ski field
where Frodo Sam and Gollumlook out over the gates of Mordor.
And the Wakapapa ski fieldwhere Isildur cuts off Sauron's finger
in the opening scenes of theFellowship of the Ring, and where
Mordor's armies leave MinasMorgul on the Orc road. And considering
this movie is basicallyAragorns in name, it's no surprise

(39:42):
that the leader of Men alsobecame the de facto leader of the
cast, mostly due to hisincredible work ethic, his rugged
good looks, his completeencompassing of the Aragon character,
and literally being the mosthandsome man in all eternity. I mean,
come on, seriously, men likeViggo Mortensen actually exist in

(40:03):
the world, and they adopthorses and break bones for their
art and are just apparentlythe loveliest men. Bernard Hill and
Orlando Bloom shared a makeuptrailer with Mortensen, and they
formed a club with a name Icannot say because this is a family
friendly podcast, but it wasbasically the Sea Bago Club, which

(40:24):
was a gossip and Pass it Onclub, also featuring Sean Bean and
Liv Tyler, and they coveredeverything from fashion, current
affairs and Hollywood. Andwhat's so wonderful about these movies,
and this trilogy inparticular, is that the cast maintain
a close relationship to thisday, regularly appearing at conventions
and just being shining beaconsof perfect casting, going from heroes

(40:48):
to villains. Peter Jackson'sextremely unpleasant experience in
dealing with Harvey and BobWeinstein when the film was being
developed at Miramax wouldlead to that shared executive producer's
credit at the end of thisfilm, appearing over a pencil sketch
of a man fighting off twooversized trolls. This is no accident.

(41:10):
The trolls were designed tolook like both Weinsteins. After
he was indicted for sexualmisconduct in 2018, Jackson retrospectively
called Harvey Weinstein a realbully who ruined through mafia thuggery.
And to be honest, this isnothing new. I've mentioned on this
podcast several times aboutthe stuff that Harvey Weinstein did

(41:33):
that was common knowledge inHollywood at that time, but thankfully
he is getting all of thecomeuppance that is coming his way.
And I have to finish thissection with the main character of
this movie. No, not Frodo, notSam, Aragorn, Gandalf, or indeed
Sauron, but the ring itself.The One Ring was created and designed

(41:58):
by Jens Hansen's Goldsmiths,AKA the makers of the world's most
famous ring. They're locatedin Nelson in New Zealand. They created
the One Ring used in the Lordof the Rings and the Hobbit films.
Jens Hansen and his songoldsmith thorkild Hansen submitted
15 prototypes before thedesign of the One Ring was chosen.

(42:20):
They made more than 40variations of the One Ring for the
movies. After being contactedby the production. And these rings
were scaled for differentscenes and size to suit its various
owners, from smaller solidgold versions that perfectly fit
Hobbit's fingers to the 8 inchring seen in the Lord of the Rings
prologue, spinning and turningthrough the air. Should you want

(42:42):
your own one ring, which is alittle bit oxymoronic, they sell
Jens Hansen official replicaone rings on their website for just
over US$2,000, along withother elvish jewelry, including signet
rings designed by DanielReeve, the calligrapher for the movie
series. Did I say Reeve? Thatsounds a bit like Reeves. And this

(43:06):
is the perfect way to segueinto the obligatory Keanu reference
for this episode. And if youdon't know what that is, it's where
I link the movie that I'mfeaturing with Keanu Reeves for no
reason other than he is thebest of men and elves and dwarf and
hobbits and everything,basically. Now, obviously, this movie
is about Aragorn, son ofArathorn, the King of men. He has

(43:30):
a luscious hair and beardcombo. And who does that remind you
of? Why, Keanu Reeves, ofcourse, who is actually the King
of Men. And it's just a hugecoincidence that these two men are
both perfect in every possibleway, and they both have the luscious
hair and the luscious beards.And I'm sure there probably was a

(43:50):
way that I could officiallylink Keanu Reeves to this movie,
and I have done for the othertwo by linking the Matrix with these
movies. However, I couldn'tpass up linking the hair and beard.
Now, for the past twoepisodes, I've mentioned that this
episode I wanted to talkspecifically about Howard Shaw's
music. And so I haven't talkedabout the music much at all, apart

(44:13):
from Enya's Let It Be in theFellowship of the Ring. And Howard
Shaw's score is really one ofthe most epic scores ever created
for film. Shaw was so muchmore than a composer for hire. He
collaborated with PeterJackson for almost four years, and
he wanted the score to be asmuch of the narrative force as the

(44:33):
script, that you could playthe tracks back to back and trace
the art of the story. And justlike in the movie and Frodo's trip
to Mordor. Trip. I make itsound like he's booked a package
holiday. Frodo's quest toMordor, I should say. Shaw was on
his own epic operatic filmscore quest. American composer James
Horner and Polish composerWojciech Killer had been considered

(44:57):
to be the composers for theMovie. Howard Shaw visited the set
in 1999 and composed a versionof the Shire theme and Frodo's Theme.
Before Jackson began shooting.Shaw watched the assembly cuts of
the Fellowship of the Ring andthe Return of the King in 2000 and
he included over 50 leitmotifsto represent the different characters,

(45:18):
cultures and places. Thereare, for instance, multiple leitmotifs
just for the Hobbits and theShire. Jackson and Shaw would meet
each year for Jackson toadvise on the school, which took
six weeks minimum. The greatmajority of the lyrics used in the
libretto are in the inventedlanguages of Middle Earth, representing
the various cultures and racesin Tolkien's writings. These languages

(45:40):
include Quenya and Sindarinfor the Elves, Andunaik and Rahirric
for Men, and Khuzdul for theDwarves. And yes, I probably have
butchered all of those wordsand I am sorry. While parts of the
score for the first film wererecorded in Wellington, New Zealand,
virtually all of the trilogyscore was recorded in Watford Town
hall in London and mixed atAbbey Road Studios for the soundtrack.

(46:03):
The score was primarily playedby the London Philharmonic orchestra,
ranging from 93 to 120 playersthroughout the recording. The third
film's end song, into thewest, was written by Annie Lennox,
Fran Walsh and Howard Shaw andperformed by Annie Lennox, and that
would go on to win the AcademyAward for Best Original Song, the

(46:23):
Golden Globe Award for BestOriginal Song and the Grammy Award
for Best Song Written forVisual Media. It was inspired by
and dedicated to 17 year oldMiri filmmaker Cameron Duncan, who
Jackson and Walsh befriended.Duncan died of cancer in 2003. There's
also diegetic music too, notcomposed by Howard Shaw but orchestrated

(46:46):
by him, such as Bilbo'sFarewell Party, which includes music
by Plan9, a group who'dpreviously worked with Peter Jackson
and Fran Walsh. A few of thediegetic songs are settings of poems
by Tolkien interspersed in thetext of the Lord of the Rings, including
the Road Goes Ever on, sungsoftly by Ian McKellen when Gandalf

(47:06):
arrives in Hobbiton in hisfarm cart. The funeral of Theodred
in the extended version of theTwo Towers was composed by Plan 9
and performed by Miranda Ottoplaying Eowyn, but the words themselves
are not Tolkien's. The seriesmusic became the most successful
of Shaw's career, earningthree Oscars, two Golden Globes and

(47:27):
three Grammys, among othernominations. Some of his themes or
leitmotifs, like the Shiretheme became individually popular.
He invited the musicologistDoug Adams to observe the composition
and document it in what becamethe 2010 book the Music of the Lord
of the Rings Films. And Ithink we can agree that the score
for the Lord of the Rings isis probably one of the greatest scores

(47:49):
ever made for any movie seriesever. Each composition is unique,
memorable and just perfectlyencapsulates the scene it is in.
I think you can go on YouTubeand just listen to 12 hours worth
of Howard Shaw score shouldyou want to. And while there are
some standout themes likeconcerning hobbits, pretty much every

(48:11):
single one, it will just takeyou to that scene in the movie. And
I absolutely adore this score.It is genuinely one of my favourites
of all time. The Lord of thethe Return of the King premiered
at the Embassy Theatre inWellington, New Zealand on 1 December
2003. It was estimated thatmore than a quarter of the city's
population lined the streetsof Wellington for the premiere. It

(48:33):
was released to extremely highanticipation on 17 December 2003,
where of course it hit numberone at the US box office even with
its traditional Wednesdayrelease. The Lord of the Rings loves
a Wednesday release. Now SomeThings Gotta Give also came out the
same week and I could haveused that as the obligatory Keanu
reference because Keanu is soperfect in that movie and you'd never

(48:56):
choose Jack Nicholson overhim. But I digress and never mind
The Return of the King stayedat number one for five weeks and
was eventually dethroned. Getit? King Dethroned in its sixth week
by Along Came Polly. It wouldstay in the top 10 for 10 weeks and
return to the top 10 in its13th week, dropping out again in
its 15th week on a productionbudget of $94 million, the Return

(49:20):
of the King grossed 377million domestically in the US and
741.9 million internationallyfor a total worldwide gross of $1.1
billion, making it the highestgrossing film of 2003, the second
highest grossing film of the2000s behind James Cameron's Avatar.

(49:41):
It set a Wednesday openingrecord with $34 million. It was the
highest December opening dayeventually surpassed by its stable
mate the Hobbit. An UnexpectedJourney. It set opening day records
in many countries, includinghere in the UK Germany, Austria,
Belgium, the Netherlands,Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden,

(50:03):
Finland, Norway, Denmark,Mexico, Chile and Puerto Rico in
the trilogy's beloved NewZealand, where literally every part
of this magical, perfecttrilogy came together. The film set
opening day, opening weekend,single day, Friday gross, Saturday
gross and Sunday gross recordswith $1.7 million in four days. The

(50:24):
Lord of the Rings trilogywould go on to become the highest
grossing motion picturetrilogy worldwide of all time with
over $2.9 billion, beatingother series such as the original
Star wars trilogy, and becameNew Line Cinema's highest grossing
release. New Line Cinema tooka punt on Peter Jackson's ambitious

(50:44):
idea and it paid off individends. It's estimated that the
gross income from non boxoffice sales and merchandise has
been at least equal to the boxoffice for all three films. Now,
while concrete figures arehard to come by, in that case, the
total gross income for thetrilogy is could be in the region

(51:04):
of $6 billion following NewLine Cinema's initial investment
of $300 million. And thatdoesn't even include the returns
from tourism, which I'll getinto next episode. Now, not only
is this a huge financialsuccess for a trilogy and for a series
of movies, and for this moviein particular, it was also a huge

(51:26):
critical smash as well. Itholds a rating of 94% on rotten tomatoes
with a critical consensusreading. Visually breathtaking and
emotionally powerful, the Lordof the Rings the Return of the King
is a moving and satisfyingconclusion to a great trilogy. The
Return of The King received 11Academy Award nominations for Best

(51:48):
Picture, Best Director, BestAdapted Screenplay, Best Original
Score, Best Original Song,Best Best Visual Effects, Best Art
Direction, Best CostumeDesign, Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing
and Best Film editing at the76th Academy Awards in 2004. The
film won all of the categoriesfor which it was nominated, and it

(52:08):
shares the record for thehighest Academy Award wins total
along with Titanic, which alsostars Bernard Hill and Ben Hur and
holds the record for thehighest clean sweep at the Oscars,
surpassing the nine awardsearned by both Gigi and the Last
Emperor. The Return of theKing also won four Golden Globes

(52:29):
including Best Picture forDrama, Best Director, Best Original
Score and best original song,five BAFTAs for best film, Best Screenplay,
Adapted Best Cinematography,Best Visual Effects and the Orange
Film of the Year Award. TwoGrammy Awards, nine Saturn Awards,
the New York Film CriticsCircle Award for Best Picture. The
entire cast won the ScreenActors Guild Award for Outstanding

(52:51):
Cast Motion picture. Out of337 award nominations, the Return
of the King won 258 awards. Intotal, the series received 475 awards
out of 800 nominations, makingthe films the most awarded film series
in cinematic history. Andfantasy is not historically a genre

(53:14):
that does well at big awardsceremonies, especially the prestigious
Oscars. And yet as a trilogy,it received 30 Oscar nominations
with 17 wins. There are acouple of reasons cited on the Internet.
For this, the first is justthe outstanding technical excellence
on screen, the revolutionaryvisual effects, the groundbreaking

(53:35):
motion capture technology forGollum, meticulous attention to detail
in the production and setdesign, costumes, hair and makeup,
Howard Shaw's epic andcomprehensive score. It was a level
of achievement that the Oscarssimply couldn't not recognize. It
also carried significantcultural weight. Being based on highly

(53:55):
respected literature withacademic credibility, J.R.R. tolkien's
work was already considered aclassic and not just mere fantasy.
It was long thought of asunfilmable. But Jackson's trilogy
treated the source materialwith reverence and seriousness, avoiding
the campy elements that hadstigmatized fantasy, but also injecting

(54:16):
moments of humor, levity,compassion and romance that ultimately
it wasn't just good versusevil, but also how evil corrupts
over time, friendship andsacrifice. Filming three massive
movies simultaneously was notonly impressive, but monumental.
And the fact that the qualityremained consistent probably meant

(54:37):
there was accumulated goodwillfor the trilogy that the Return of
the King then received for theentire trilogy, despite the previous
two movies also receivingtechnical recognition. While it wouldn't
lead to a breakthrough offantasy movies receiving nods at
the Oscars, it did open up tofuture wins by movies like the Shape
of Water, Black Panther, MadFury Road and Avatar, which were

(55:01):
all genre films that aren'tthe usual Oscar fare. While no out
and out fantasy film hasrepeated the Lord of the Rings comprehensive
Oscar dominance, it suggeststhat the trilogy transcended its
genre rather than permanentlychanging academy attitudes towards
fantasy. The combination ofliterary prestige, technical excellence,

(55:22):
emotional resonance, and theunprecedented three film achievement
created an unique situationthat's unlikely to ever be replicated.
And like all of these movies,there is an extended version with
50 minutes of new material,added special effects and music,
four commentaries and sixhours of supplementary material,

(55:42):
plus 10 minutes of fan clubcredits. The theatrical version is
201 minutes, the extendedversion 251 minutes. The series as
a whole runs for 9 hours, 18minutes in the theatrical version
and 11 hours 26 minutes in theextended version. But although long
for a film trilogy, this wasnothing compared to Tolkien's work

(56:05):
which has a circa 660 hourrunning time for the complete audiobook
series. And there was no onewho could world build like Tolkien.
He believed in a persontapping into their own beliefs and
understandings of the realworld to create a rich, diverse fictional
world. His primary focus wasalways telling a good story, but

(56:28):
there that story also comeswith rich characters, languages,
genealogy and history. Itwasn't necessarily something entirely
new, but based on the world welive in his own faith. And those
fantasy tropes of good versusevil, the struggle between the light
and the dark, and that evengood can become corrupted by evil

(56:48):
Realism, not fantasy, is thegroundwork of this trilogy. Despite
the fantasy setting and builtin mythology, Peter Jackson and his
team didn't set out to make afantasy movie. They set out to make
something completely real,completely believable, and completely
perfect. These movies areexactly what verbal Diorama is here

(57:08):
for. And 24, 23 and 22 yearslater, they hold up exceptionally
well because of the practicalwork, the bigotes, the makeup and
the groundbreaking cgi. Theseare movies that will stand the test
of time that people will betalking about in 80 years time. Like
we currently talk about thewizard of Oz. Timeless perfection.

(57:31):
Maybe a little bit lessasbestos on the sets and maybe a
little bit less carcinogenicmakeup, though. Peter Jackson proved
unfilmable material was notonly filmable, but that he could
create a cinematic trilogymasterpiece with an inimitable legacy
that even he himself couldn'tmatch again. But I'm gonna come back

(57:52):
to the Hobbit series verybriefly next episode and I am going
to leave it there because wedo have one more episode to finish
this huge five episode seriesof episodes. That doesn't make sense.
I'm gonna go with it. So thankyou for listening as always. I would
love to hear your thoughts onthe Lord of the Rings, the Return
of the King and as always,thank you for your continued support

(58:13):
of this podcast. If you wantto get involved and help this podcast
grow, you can find me. FollowMe on social media I am at Verbaldiorama
where you can share posts likeposts, comment on posts. It all helps
with visibility and hopefullysharing the love for this podcast.
You can leave a rating orreview wherever you found this podcast.

(58:35):
So Apple Podcasts, Spotify,podchaser I believe most apps now
have an ability to star ratepodcasts. So if you have that ability
in your podcast app pleaseplease 5 stars would be lovely. Thank
you very much. But please showyour support for leaving a rating
or review or simply just tellyour friends and family about this

(58:56):
podcast, about this episodeand about where they can get this
podcast and this episode from.So the next episode is the final
episode of this five partseries and it's going to be primarily
on the Lord of the Rings, theWar of Thorough Heron, but also on
the everlasting Legacy of theLord of the Rings and basically what
came next and what happensnext for the series. If you do enjoy

(59:20):
what I do for this podcast oryou simply just want to support an
indie podcaster who doesliterally everything on her own and
you have some spare funds youcan financially contribute to the
upkeep of this podcast. Now,you are under no obligation. This
podcast is free and it alwayswill be free. But if you do enjoy
what I do and you get valueout of what I do, there are a couple

(59:41):
of ways that you can help. Ifyou wish, you can make a one off
donation@verbaldiorama.comtips or you can go to verbaldiorama.com
patreon and you can join thePatreon for this podcast. All money
made goes back into thispodcast for paying for things like
software subscriptions,website hosting or new equipment.

(01:00:01):
Huge thank you to theincredible patrons of this podcast,
many of whom have been with mefor years and years. I am so appreciative
of their support. They areClaudia, Simon, Laurel, Derek, Kat,
Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael,Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Jack,
Dave, Stuart, Nicholas so Kev,Pete, Heather, Danny, Ali, Stu, Brett,

(01:00:22):
Philip M. Xenos, Sean, Rhino,Philip K, Adam, Elay, Kyle, and Aaron.
If you want to get in touch,you can email verbaldioramail.com
you can say hi. You can givefeedback or suggestions. I do try
and reply to every singleemail I receive and I do love to
receive your emails. So if youdo enjoy this podcast or you're just

(01:00:43):
a big fan of the Lord of theRings and you just want to point
out something that I didn'tsay, or you just want to get in touch
and wax lyrical about Lord ofthe Rings, then you can email me
directly or you can go toverbal diorama.com and fill out the
little contact form. Andhopefully you will join me next week
for the final part of this300th episode Lord of the Rings extravaganza.

(01:01:06):
I can't believe this is the300th episode. I can't believe I've
done this 300 times now. ButI'm genuinely so grateful for you
listening to this podcast andfor supporting this podcast. So thank
you very much and hopefullyyou will join me next week. And finally.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Breakfast Club

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [Part 4 of 5]

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Breakfast Club

All Episodes

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [Part 4 of 5]

Stuff You Should Know