Trivia for Squiggle #XXIII
In a continuation from the last Trivia for Squiggle, here is some The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers trivia:
551. Bernard Hill would spend up to nine hours in make-up to become the aged Theoden. He wore contact lenses to give his eyes the milky look that very old people can have, but it wasn't sufficiently successful so his eyes were later tinkered with digitally.
552. As the Orcs have black blood, it was only natural that the inside of their mouths should not be pink but black as well. To achieve this, the Ork actors had to swill a liquorice-based mouthwash prior to each of their scenes.
553. The animatronic puppet of Treebeard was 14 feet high.
554. Peter Jackson and producer Barrie M. Osbourne actively campaigned for Andy Serkis to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Gollum. Academy regulations however forbid an actor to be nominated when he is not physically to be seen on screen, despite Serkis' active input into the role.
555. The Helms Deep battle took four months to shoot, all of it at night.
556. When Gollum eats a whole fish, it's actually Andy Serkis chewing on a fish-shaped lolly.
557. The scene where Gandalf calls for his horse and Shadowfax comes galloping across the fields and straight up his master was achieved in the very first take.
558. Andy Serkis was pitched the role of Gollum by his agent who rang him up and asked him if he wanted to do three weeks' voiceover work in New Zealand.
559. Miniature photography for the trilogy took up a total of 500 days.
560. When Merry and Pippin are being carried off on the back of the Uruk'hai, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan are in reality being carried on the backs of two stuntmen wearing oversized costumes and a false enormous head to give the impression of height disparity.
561. Viggo Mortenson now owns the horse that his character Aragorn rides in the film. To build up the level of trust between man and beast, Mortenson would occasionally sleep in the stables with his horse.
562. There were never more than 100 Uruk'hai at any time; the rest were all computer generated.
563. They couldn't recruit enough men in the 6 foot height area to play Uruk'hai so men from 5 foot high were cast as well. They were affectionately nicknamed the Uruk'Low.
564. The Battle of Helms Deep features hundreds of spears made of cardboard tubes so that none of the charging horses would be injured.
565. The swooping camera that pulls back over the thousands of Orc and Uruk'hai soldiers is inspired by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will".
566. Forced perspective was just one of the tricks used on the Helms Deep "bigiature" to make it look like the real thing. This also involved filling parts of the model with Action Man dolls to make it look like it was filled with humans.
567. The Dead Marshes were actually a water-filled parking lot, the same one that had doubled up for outside the mines of Moria in "The Fellowship of the Ring". Passengers in passing trains on the adjacent railway line were able to see Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and Andy Serkis performing onset.
568. When Gollum spits in disgust at Sam's cooking of rabbits, that is Andy Serkis' very own spittle flying through the air.
569. The Orc battle cries for the Helm's Deep battle sequence were provided by a stadium of 25,000 cricket fans, who screamed the war chants, spelled out on the Diamond Vision screen, with Jackson himself leading the crowd.
570. The battle at Helm's Deep was edited down from twenty hours of footage, shot over a three month period with the rain machine battering down on the cast.
571. Viggo Mortensen broke two toes while kicking the steel helmet by the orc pyre, and that take is the one that actually appears in the movie. Peter Jackson said that was really impressed with the shout of pain Aragorn cried out for the fate of the two hobbits, realizing only later that it was pain already, but for his two toes instead. He was also impressed by the fact that Mortensen continued acting even if so seriously injured.
572. To make the many sparkling lights in Galadriel's eyes, the crew put white Christmas lights behind the camera.
573. Movie theater prints of The Two Towers were labeled "Grand Tour" on the film can and the actual reels. (NOTE: This is a common occurrence in the industry with major, highly anticipated films where the title is disguised to prevent theft and piracy. For example, "Star Wars: Episode III" was secretly known as "Sand Dog.")
574. Andy Serkis said that he based Gollum's voice on the sound of a cat coughing up a hairball.
575. In each film in the trilogy, the subtitle of the film is incorporated as dialogue. In this instance- Saruman: "Who now has the strength to stand against the armies of Isengard and Mordor, and the union of the two towers?"
“He was twitching because he's got MY AXE BURIED IN HIS NERVOUS SYSTEM!”
551. Bernard Hill would spend up to nine hours in make-up to become the aged Theoden. He wore contact lenses to give his eyes the milky look that very old people can have, but it wasn't sufficiently successful so his eyes were later tinkered with digitally.
552. As the Orcs have black blood, it was only natural that the inside of their mouths should not be pink but black as well. To achieve this, the Ork actors had to swill a liquorice-based mouthwash prior to each of their scenes.
553. The animatronic puppet of Treebeard was 14 feet high.
554. Peter Jackson and producer Barrie M. Osbourne actively campaigned for Andy Serkis to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Gollum. Academy regulations however forbid an actor to be nominated when he is not physically to be seen on screen, despite Serkis' active input into the role.
555. The Helms Deep battle took four months to shoot, all of it at night.
556. When Gollum eats a whole fish, it's actually Andy Serkis chewing on a fish-shaped lolly.
557. The scene where Gandalf calls for his horse and Shadowfax comes galloping across the fields and straight up his master was achieved in the very first take.
558. Andy Serkis was pitched the role of Gollum by his agent who rang him up and asked him if he wanted to do three weeks' voiceover work in New Zealand.
559. Miniature photography for the trilogy took up a total of 500 days.
560. When Merry and Pippin are being carried off on the back of the Uruk'hai, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan are in reality being carried on the backs of two stuntmen wearing oversized costumes and a false enormous head to give the impression of height disparity.
561. Viggo Mortenson now owns the horse that his character Aragorn rides in the film. To build up the level of trust between man and beast, Mortenson would occasionally sleep in the stables with his horse.
562. There were never more than 100 Uruk'hai at any time; the rest were all computer generated.
563. They couldn't recruit enough men in the 6 foot height area to play Uruk'hai so men from 5 foot high were cast as well. They were affectionately nicknamed the Uruk'Low.
564. The Battle of Helms Deep features hundreds of spears made of cardboard tubes so that none of the charging horses would be injured.
565. The swooping camera that pulls back over the thousands of Orc and Uruk'hai soldiers is inspired by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will".
566. Forced perspective was just one of the tricks used on the Helms Deep "bigiature" to make it look like the real thing. This also involved filling parts of the model with Action Man dolls to make it look like it was filled with humans.
567. The Dead Marshes were actually a water-filled parking lot, the same one that had doubled up for outside the mines of Moria in "The Fellowship of the Ring". Passengers in passing trains on the adjacent railway line were able to see Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and Andy Serkis performing onset.
568. When Gollum spits in disgust at Sam's cooking of rabbits, that is Andy Serkis' very own spittle flying through the air.
569. The Orc battle cries for the Helm's Deep battle sequence were provided by a stadium of 25,000 cricket fans, who screamed the war chants, spelled out on the Diamond Vision screen, with Jackson himself leading the crowd.
570. The battle at Helm's Deep was edited down from twenty hours of footage, shot over a three month period with the rain machine battering down on the cast.
571. Viggo Mortensen broke two toes while kicking the steel helmet by the orc pyre, and that take is the one that actually appears in the movie. Peter Jackson said that was really impressed with the shout of pain Aragorn cried out for the fate of the two hobbits, realizing only later that it was pain already, but for his two toes instead. He was also impressed by the fact that Mortensen continued acting even if so seriously injured.
572. To make the many sparkling lights in Galadriel's eyes, the crew put white Christmas lights behind the camera.
573. Movie theater prints of The Two Towers were labeled "Grand Tour" on the film can and the actual reels. (NOTE: This is a common occurrence in the industry with major, highly anticipated films where the title is disguised to prevent theft and piracy. For example, "Star Wars: Episode III" was secretly known as "Sand Dog.")
574. Andy Serkis said that he based Gollum's voice on the sound of a cat coughing up a hairball.
575. In each film in the trilogy, the subtitle of the film is incorporated as dialogue. In this instance- Saruman: "Who now has the strength to stand against the armies of Isengard and Mordor, and the union of the two towers?"
“He was twitching because he's got MY AXE BURIED IN HIS NERVOUS SYSTEM!”
posted by Scott at 10:11 AM
3 Comments:
It's not? Hmmmm...
After the Helms Deep battle, Gimli sits on the dead body of on Uruk, his axe lodged in its head.
Legolas: Final count, forty-two.
Gimli: Forty-two? Oh, that's not bad for a pointy-eared elvish princeling. Hmph! I myself am sitting pretty on forty-THREE.
Legolas takes out an arrow, and shoots the Uruk that Gimli is sitting on.
Legolas: Forty-three.
Gimli: He was already dead!
Legolas: He was twitching.
Gimli: He was twitching because he's got MY AXE BURIED IN HIS NERVOUS SYSTEM!
Gimli rattles the handle of his ax, and the Uruk's arms and legs twitch.
IWHNHO!
Sorry, Cindy. Scott's right. However, he's only right if you watch the extended version of the Two Towers.
"569. The Orc battle cries for the Helm's Deep battle sequence were provided by a stadium of 25,000 cricket fans, who screamed the war chants, spelled out on the Diamond Vision screen, with Jackson himself leading the crowd." - I know someone who was at that cricket match! =]
Cindy: It just goes to show that Scott's a geek! =]
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