During a recent interview with Screen Rant at Fan Expo, Rhys-Davies reveals that the trilogy filming in New Zealand wasn’t without its challenges, recalling one occasion in which the Lord of the Rings’ production was halted due to some extreme rain. The actor highlights the immense size of the production in terms of its cast and crew before sharing some touching praise for Jackson and how he not only navigated these specific weather challenges, but how he guided the entire endeavor creatively and logistically. Check out Rhys-Davies’ comment below:
The real test came when we went down to South Island to film a sequence and it started raining. When I say it started raining, it didn’t actually stop… That was the magnificent day when the call sheet went out, “There will be no filming today because the lake is underwater.” It actually was that on the call sheet. Not only the lake, but about a hundred square miles around it as well. It was impossible.
We had all the hobbits, we had the entire cast – all nine [of us], and we had about 200 horses. We had 200 crew members, we had quite a lot of ancillaries, and we had canoes and everything that you need with horses like horse boxes, trailers for the actors, everything. South Island, New Zealand at that time did not have many places to stay in. It was a tourist attraction, yes, but not anything like the tourist attraction it is now.
The real genius of the production was demonstrated when we did not work the next day. But the day after that, we traveled to another place up in North Island, and the day after that we recommenced shooting a different scene in a different part of the country. That means all those people had to be moved, found accommodation, suddenly just like that. That is what made Lord of the Rings one of the greatest productions of all time.
It is, in the end, the thought, planning, and genius of a man who not only knew how to film an unfilmable book, but how to create a film industry to enable him to do it and how to put around him the most bright, intelligent, willing, helpful, creative people that I have ever had the privilege of working with. He’s a genius. God bless you, Peter Jackson.
What Peter Jackson Meant For The Lord Of The Rings
Middle-earth Came To Life With New Zealand
As Rhys-Davies’ story highlights, Jackson was crucial to The Lord of the Rings‘ trilogy’s success. All three movies were critically acclaimed and massive successes at the box office. The trilogy is still widely considered the gold standard when it comes to fantasy adaptations. Jackson’s decision to shoot the entire thing in his native country of New Zealand was ultimately a crucial ingredient for success.
The first two Lord of the Rings movies found some success at the Oscars, but The Return of the King won all 11 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Prior to 2001, Middle-earth had never been rendered on-screen in live-action. New Zealand’s dramatic landscapes, in combination with boundary-pushing practical and visual effects, gave the Lord of the Rings trilogy a different, breathtaking look, setting it apart from the fantasy movies that had come before it. Jackson’s decision to shoot his trilogy in New Zealand didn’t just affect these three films, however, and it actually kickstarted the nation’s film production capabilities.
Jackson would return to New Zealand to film King Kong and his more divisive Hobbit trilogy, but the nation also became a production hub for other projects. Notably, the nation now serves as the production base for James Cameron’s Avatar sequels, but movies like Alien: Covenant and Evil Dead Rise were also filmed there, partially in the case of the former and fully for the latter.
Our Take On Rhys-Davies’ Lord Of The Ring Story
Will Rhys-Davies Return As Gimli?
It’s heartwarming that, even more than 20 years later, Rhys-Davies has such positive things to say about his experience making The Lord of the Rings. His experience was so positive, in fact, that he recently told Collider that he would consider returning for Andy Serkis’ upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum movie, so long as VFX is used to make the role less physically taxing. Though it remains unclear whether Jackson will ever return to Middle-earth as a director, Rhys-Davies is evidently thankful to have worked with him all those years ago.
