20 facts you might not know about 'Lord of the Rings: Return of the King'

As we’ve noted, Jackson shot these three movies back-to-back-to-back. It was all one big film shoot. Being a part of “Lord of the Rings” meant a lot of time dedication, and a lot of time in New Zealand. It started before filming, by the way. The cast spent six weeks together learning sword fighting, horseback riding, and boating. This was also a chance for them to bond, and for them to get accustomed to living in New Zealand before shooting began.

After the shoot, and all that time together, the Fellowship decided to commemorate things. The nine actors who made up the Fellowship of the ring got a tattoo of the Elvish symbol for the number nine. Well, eight of them did. John-Rhys Davies declined to get the tattoo. Instead, his stunt double stepped in and got the tattoo.

As you may know, Jackson returned to Middle Earth for a trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” A couple cast members from that trilogy were originally found when the director was casting these films. Billy Connolly was considered for Gimli, and ended up playing Dain Ironfoot. Meanwhile, Sylvester McCoy was in the mix for Bilbo, and ended up played Radagast.

Speaking of Bilbo Baggins, Ian Holm ended up with that role. He wasn’t new to the world of Middle Earth either. In 1981, Holm actually voiced Frodo Baggins in a radio play version of “Lord of the Rings.”

At the end of the film we see Samwise and Rosie and their kids. Their older daughter, Elanor, is played by the daughter of Sean Astin, who of course plays Sam.

Hey, hundreds of extras were used during filming the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Jackson may have just merely been filling out the cast. After cameoing during the Battle of Helm’s Deep in “The Two Towers,” Jackson has a cameo in “Return of the King” on the Corsair ship.

In the closing credits, the cast members have sketches of themselves that morph into actual photographs. The sketches were done by Alan Lee, who was a production designer on the film and had done illustrations for Tolkien books in the past. The idea for the sketches, though, came from Gandalf himself, Sir Ian McKellen.

We haven’t touched on it a ton in our facts about this trilogy, but Jackson did move stuff around in the story. There is a significant difference that manifests itself in “Return of the King,” though. It is in this film that Frodo is attacked by Shelob, the giant spider. However, in the books, that takes place in “The Two Towers.”

Frodo and Sam, the best of friends, have a fight and go their separate ways during “Return of the King.” This actually does not happen at all in the books. Jackson included it to add drama and to further deepen Frodo as a character. Personally, we think it was a wise decision.

Shelob is probably the freakiest aspect among all others of these films. Her body is based on a tunnelweb spider, and Jackson let his kids pick out the head to use. Jackson, by the way, is apparently majorly afraid of spiders himself, but channeled that into enjoying planning the Shelob scenes.

The massive Battle of the Black Gate was filmed in the Rangipo Desert in New Zealand. The location had been a minefield once upon a time. Soldiers in the New Zealand Army served as extras, but there was a secondary need for having savvy people on set. There were guides there to look out for unexploded mines just in case.

Rhys-Davies had it the hardest of anybody working on the film, as Gimli is in all three movies and also required him to wear extensive prosthetics. By the time he was done, the actor was fed up. The cast were given props to take home after filming was complete. Rhys-Davies didn’t do that. Instead, he burnt his Gimli prosthetics.

The place where the Battle of the Pelennor Fields was shot was home to a ton of rabbits (a notoriously prolific species). Rabbits, though, mean rabbit holes. Rabbit holes are a concern when, say, shooting a movie scene involving a ton of horses, horses that could step into a hole, fall, and cause chaos, damage, and injury. As such, the production had to thoroughly inspect the field and fill every single rabbit hole.

Shelob’s shriek did not come from a spider, of course. Instead, Jackson put the rivalry between New Zealand and Australia behind him. That shriek is the sound of a Tasmanian devil. The real animal. Not the cartoon character.

Shooting for months together in New Zealand led to plenty of quality time for the cast and crew. One night some of them were out at karaoke, and co-writer Philippa Boyens noticed that Billy Boyd, who played Pippin, had a nice singing voice. Boyens remembered that there was a song in the books sung by all four of the main Hobbits, and decided to write it into the film for Boyd, who came up with the tune.

While Jackson made some changes to Tolkien’s books, there is one thing he saved that, if he had his druthers, would have been nixed. Personally, the director found the Army of the Dead to be simply too unbelievable. However, Jackson knew many of the books passionate fans would be unhappy if he nixed the Army, so he kept that in the film.

By the time “Return of the King” was to be released, the series was hugely popular, and also synonymous with New Zealand. The film’s premiere was held in the country’s capital of Wellington. The stars were there, as were a ton of people. Reportedly, over 100,000 people filled the streets for the premiere. That is more than a quarter of the popular of Wellington.

“The Return of the King” was the culmination of a massive moneymaking endeavor. It made $377 million domestically, but worldwide it made $1.1 billion. This made it the second-ever film after “Titanic” to cross the billion-dollar mark. It ended up being the second-highest-grossing film of the 2000s, behind only “Avatar.” Man, James Cameron really threw his weight around, huh?

“Return of the King” is one of the all-time Oscars success stories. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards (none of them for acting, interestingly enough). The movie won every single one of them, including Best Director and Best Picture. “Return of the King” is tied with “Ben-Hur” and, ahem, “Titanic” for the most wins ever. However, in one way “Return of the King” stands alone. It is the most successful “clean sweep” movie. Previously, the record for the most wins with a 100 percent success rate was nine.

Jackson’s Extended Editions of his “Lord of the Rings” movies are massive undertakings. They also included, on occasion, shooting new footage. Jackson shot one small scene for this film of skulls on the floor in the Path of the Dead, which he shot in 2004. Specifically, he shot it three weeks after the Academy Awards, the very awards show where “Return of the King” won Best Picture.