The Lord of the Rings (film series)

The Lord of the Rings is a movie series consisting of three films. The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. they are three live-action films which were directed by Peter Jackson and based upon the books by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Principal photography for all three films took place in New Zealand over a continuous eighteen-month period — the first time that three films had ever been shot together in this way, although some pairs of films had. There were several later "pick-up" shoots over the following months and years as the films were edited, special effects were added and the script was honed and revised.

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

[edit] Differences from the book

The films for the most part follow the storyline of the book (see J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings); however there are some major deviations as detailed within the entry for each film.

[edit] Cast

Principal actors and actresses include:

[edit] Facts and figures

• Amount of film shot during production: Over 6 million feet (over 1,800 kilometers)
• Swords, axes, shields and makeup prosthetics created: 48,000
• Background actors cast: 20,602
• Costumes produced by the wardrobe department: 19,000
• New Zealand cricket fans enlisted to create the Orc army's grunts: 10,000
• Behind-the-scenes crew members: 2,400 at the height of production
• Pairs of prosthetic Hobbit feet created: 1,600
• Most real horses in one scene: 250
• Computer special-effects artists employed: 180
• Total speaking roles: 114
• Locations in New Zealand used as backdrops: 100
• Tailors, cobblers, designers, et al. in the wardrobe department: 50
• Actors trained to speak fictional dialects and languages: 30
• Total years of development for all three films: 7
• Combined running time of the series (extended DVD editions): 680 minutes (11 hours and 20 minutes)
• Combined worldwide box-office gross: US$2,916,544,743 (source)
• International all-time box office rankings: 2 (Return of the King), 5 (Two Towers), 7 (Fellowship of the Ring)[1]

[edit] Academy Awards

If all three films are counted as one, the trilogy was nominated for 30 Academy Awards, of which it won 17.[2]

The Awards were as follows (A Win is marked by a "W"):

• Art Direction [Fellowship, Two Towers, King (W)]
  
• Cinematography [Fellowship (W)]
  
• Costume Design [Fellowship, King (W)]
  
• Directing [Fellowship, King (W)]
  
• Film Editing [Fellowship, Two Towers, King (W)]
  
• Makeup [Fellowship (W), King (W)]
  
• Music (Original Score) [Fellowship (W), King (W)]
  
• Music (Original Song) [Fellowship: "May It Be", King: "Into the West" (W)]
  
• Best Picture [Fellowship, Two Towers, King (W)]
  
• Sound [Fellowship, Two Towers]
  
• Sound Editing [Two Towers]
  
• Sound Mixing [King (W)]
  
• Supporting Actor [Fellowship: Ian McKellen ("Gandalf")]
  
• Visual Effects [Fellowship (W), Two Towers (W), King (W)]
  
• Writing (Previously Produced or Published) [Fellowship, King (W)]
  

Notes

References

[edit] External links

• Official website