"Fantasy should be as realistic as possible": The Lord of the Rings film franchise

On December 10, 2001, the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, based on the work of John Tolkien, took place. The story of the hobbit Frodo's journey to Mount Doom won four Academy Awards. This film was followed by two more tapes, then the franchise was supplemented with the prequel "The Hobbit". Despite the fears of critics, the adaptation of Tolkien's novel has become one of the most successful projects in world cinema.

Twenty years ago, on December 10, 2001, the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of the film franchise based on John Tolkien's universe, took place.

According to the plot of the picture, the wizard Gandalf arrives at the hobbit settlement.

The reason for the appearance of the magician is the birthday of his old friend Bilbo Baggins.

During the celebration, Gandalf mentions a mysterious ring found by the hobbit many years ago: the jewelry is the source of the power, thanks to which its owner can enslave all of Middle-earth.

Previously, the ring belonged to Sauron - a dark lord who wants to regain power.

To prevent Sauron from obtaining the ring, Baggins gives the jewelry to his nephew Frodo, who must travel to Mount Doom and destroy the item.

Epic novel by John Tolkien

The plot of the first film and subsequent film adaptations was based on John Tolkien's epic novel The Lord of the Rings.

This is not the first work of an English writer: the book was a continuation of the story about Bilbo Baggins "The Hobbit, or There and Back", published in 1937.

It was the success of the first book that led publishers to become interested in other works of the author - according to him, he began work on The Lord of the Rings in the 1930s, immediately after The Hobbit.

It took the writer more than ten years to create a complex and elaborate universe inhabited by hobbits, elves and dragons.

And even when the text was completed in 1949, a long editorial work followed, including correcting inaccuracies, rewriting and building the logic of the narrative.

“I remember I really cried while working on the denouement. But then, of course, there was a huge amount of processing. I printed the entire novel twice, and many times (I printed it myself -

) on a bed in the attic. Of course, I could not afford typing services. There are still errors in the text. It's funny to say this, but now, I suppose, I am in a position where the opinion of others on my account no longer plays any role. There were some terrible grammatical mistakes, and the fact that they were made by the professor of English language and literature is simply amazing, "Tolkien wrote.

In his letters, he notes that the novel The Lord of the Rings has turned out to be more elaborate and “adult” than the novel The Hobbit, or There and Back: “In some places and in some respects, this book turns out to be much better than the previous one;

but that does not mean at all that I consider it more appropriate and more tailored for the respective audience.

If only because she, like my children (and all rights, of course, are theirs) have pretty much “matured”.

In the novel, Middle-earth is an expanded, thoughtful and skillfully written world with understandable geography, laws and conflicts.

To give the work depth, John Tolkien, a philologist and professor at Oxford University, used the knowledge of the medieval epic, relied on images and archetypes from Scandinavian folklore and Icelandic legends.

The author needed to create a detailed map of Middle-earth in order to visualize a fictional world, and then build a chronology of its development, come up with inhabitants and the language they speak.

According to some researchers of the writer's work, he knew much more about the space invented by him than he told: that is why the universe of the hobbits seems so real and voluminous.

“Of course I had cards.

If you have a complex plot, you just need to work with the map, otherwise you will never be able to draw it up later, "Tolkien argued.

The novel was conceived as a single work, but was published in several parts: the publishers felt that the lengthy text required separation.

As a result, The Lord of the Rings was split into six books and printed in three volumes - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

The first book was published on July 29, 1954, and the second appeared in November of the same year.

Less than a year later, the third and final volume was published.

First adaptations

The Lord of the Rings trilogy became widely known in the 1960s, when book sales skyrocketed.

Tolkien became a favorite author of creative youth, who were very interested in the fantasy world with an anti-militaristic overtones.

The popularity of the novel led to multiple adaptations of the plot: a series of programs based on The Lord of the Rings was shown on British radio, then several animated films appeared, including in the USSR.

Even musicians from The Beatles wanted to present their version of Tolkien's novel (McCartney was supposed to get the role of Frodo, and Lennon would play Gollum).

However, the most famous adaptations of Tolkien's works are still the screen version of New Zealand director Peter Jackson.

The director calls the shooting of "The Lord of the Rings" his destiny - so much the implementation of the project depended on luck and chance coincidences.

According to other experts in the world of cinema, Jackson's film is a hopeless bet that played.

Risks and solutions

Jackson's first acquaintance with Middle-earth happened at a young age, on a train to Oakland.

Tolkien's novel greatly impressed the future director, and from then on he hoped to see a film adaptation.

“When I was young, I was looking forward to seeing someone make a movie based on The Lord of the Rings, because I really wanted to see such a movie.

But nobody filmed, so in the end I decided to do it myself, ”recalls Peter Jackson.

Since 1976, the rights to film Tolkien's work belonged to producer Saul Zaenz, director of the 1978 animated film The Lord of the Rings and winner of three Oscars.

However, the seasoned filmmaker gave the license to a young director who had previously worked only on low-budget local projects (Celestial Creatures, Meet The Fibla).

With a passion for The Lord of the Rings, Jackson succeeded in convincing Zaenz of his ability to bring Tolkien's work to the screen while preserving the features of the book. According to Zaenz, at that time he did not believe that he could tell the story of Middle-earth better: “This animated film is the only work of mine that I am not happy with. We just couldn't find a suitable shape. Now there are technical possibilities, but digital effects are no longer my profile. Of course, they are used to enhance the picture in conventional filmmaking. For The Lord of the Rings, computer animation is vital. I'm already at that age when it's too late to learn how to make films like that. I don’t want to. And the film got a vision of Peter Jackson. "

The project was implemented by the New Line Cinema studio.

Initially, Peter Jackson and screenwriter Fran Walsh presented The Lord of the Rings as a dilogy: it seemed to them that no organization would be ready to sign a contract for three films at once.

However, when they arrived at New Line Cinema, the studio not only appreciated the idea, but also initiated filming in three parts.

The filmmakers took a serious risk by signing up for lengthy and costly filming under the direction of a director who had not previously worked on such a scale.

Moreover, at the time of the start of work, many were convinced that the failure of the film at the box office would lead not only to the bankruptcy of the studio, but also to the collapse of some international distributors cooperating with New Line Cinema.

Nevertheless, the director of the studio decided to take the risk and agree to Jackson's project - even when it became clear that all three films had to be filmed at the same time.

“It was a risk that I was ready to take - those who make decisions about the production (of films -

) have to make

such a choice all the

time.

You weigh the risk and (possible -

) reward, and if there is a significant advantage in your favor, you jump from the tower.

This is how the movie business works, ”said Bob Shea.

Love Line and the Ring as a character

Remembering the work on the film adaptation, Peter Jackson calls the script the most difficult stage.

The director had to turn 1,008 pages of text into three films, preserving the special charisma and spirit of Tolkien's world.

At the same time, Jackson from the very beginning refused to literally reproduce the novel.

According to the director, "a completely reliable film adaptation is an extremely vague concept."

“And our trilogy cannot be like that.

You can't just pick up a book and make a movie on it, ”says Jackson.

Thus, the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings differs in many respects from the original source and does not coincide with the three original books.

Peter Jackson changed the chronology of some events, reshuffled episodes, selectively working with characters and scenes.

Filmmakers continually chose what to leave out and what to emphasize and bring to the fore for a dynamic and engaging experience.

For example, the writers "found" the love line between Aragorn and Arwen in the appendices to Tolkien's text and introduced it into the main plot in order to attract a large audience to the picture.

As a result, the relationship between the mortal and the elf became one of the audience's favorite storylines.

The absence of an obvious antagonist in the plot - Sauron is invisibly present in the story, which is bad for cinematography - was made up for with a ring, which becomes a full-fledged character.

“We made The Ring (full -

) a character,” explains Peter Jackson.

- It speaks, sings, calls.

We have always shot the Ring in close-up, filling the entire screen with it to create a sense of presence. "

Perfect Frodo

John Rhys-Davis, who plays the gnome Gimli, noted that Jackson did a tremendous job in casting: “He chose the actors perfectly.

It’s never happened before that at the first reading I looked around and recognized every one of the characters: "This must be Frodo ... This is the elf Legolas ... And this is Sam."

The main role in "The Lord of the Rings" was played by American actor Elijah Wood.

Since he was in America at the time, and director Peter Jackson was based in New Zealand, the applicant for the role of Frodo had to audition on video.

Instead of just memorizing the hero's lines and recording the words on camera, Elijah Wood decided to act out a few short scenes from the book.

The actor found a suit that, in his opinion, would suit the hobbit Frodo, chose a location for filming and asked a friend to film his production.

“I wanted, - said Wood, - that something would allow me to convey my passionate love for the role and films, to show myself in the form of a hobbit.”

When Peter Jackson saw this video, he had no doubts (despite the American accent and the not quite accurate costume) that it was Wood who should play the role of Frodo.

For the exact embodiment of the characters, Peter Jackson was ready for a long search.

So, the role of Aragorn was offered several times to Daniel Day-Lewis, but he refused it even after the increase in the fee.

Then this hero was offered to Steward Townsend, who, however, was fired a few weeks later.

In the end, the role went to Viggo Mortensen, which, according to Jackson, was a miracle.

“I've never seen anyone get into character as much as he did,” says the director.

Difficulties arose with the search for Gandalf.

First, New Line suggested that Peter Jackson consider Sean Connery, but the actor turned down the role.

The next contender was Ian McKellen: for his sake, the filming schedule was moved three days so that he could complete work on the X-Men project.

The film adaptation also starred Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler and others.

Large-scale locations and the creation of hobbits

For Peter Jackson, a native of Wellington, it was crucial to shoot The Lord of the Rings in his homeland.

Middle-earth sprawls across New Zealand, with filmmakers working in over 150 locations.

In the geography of the film, the village of hobbits - Hobbiton is especially notable.

It was built on the territory of the Alexander family farm and is still available for visiting.

To turn the land into a habitable settlement, filmmakers began cultivating the fields a year before filming began.

All films of the trilogy were shot in the same time period.

Occasionally, to save time, Peter Jackson rode his bike from stage to stage on set.

The shooting was so intense that, according to the director, sometimes he just hoped for the best.

“Honestly, there were days when I just relied on the actors and hoped they were a little less tired than me. I pointed my camera at them in the hope that we would get good material, ”Jackson recalls.

When working on the picture, special effects were actively used.

Nevertheless, in solving the main difficulty of the production - the reflection of the small stature of the hobbits - the director was not guided by them.

To make the characters look almost half shorter than the others, Peter Jackson used the usual perspective distortions: the actors were positioned in a certain way relative to each other, and a special spatial illusion arose in the frame.

Appropriate sized props, such as oversized and downsized chairs, cups and other household utensils, also helped.

Those scenes where the hobbits did not interact with other characters directly were filmed in parts, and then assembled in post-production, taking into account the size of the characters.

The main part of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was filmed between October 1999 and December 2000.

During this time, filmmakers used 21 cameras and more than 1.3 billion cm of film.

For the film crew, 30 km of roads had to be built.

At the same time, full immersion in the process - and sometimes the shooting day stretched for 14-15 hours of uninterrupted work - had its advantages.

Some actors became so close that, according to Sean Astin, they even called themselves "hobbits".

“We became lifelong friends,” said the artist, whose family was with him throughout the filming.

- For my daughter, they (Wood, Monaghan and Boyd. -

) were like uncles.

Art imitated life, or life imitated art, something like that. "

Special effects, colorful characters and nature

In late 2001 and early 2002, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in many countries and received rave reviews from critics and fans of Tolkien's books.

The experts noted above all the impressive special effects, impeccable cast and competent production.

According to the author of The Guardian Xan Brooks, Peter Jackson has managed to make his own significant contribution to the story, while at the same time not straying too far from the original source.

The journalist also noted the visual component of the picture.

"The film was a real triumph: the scenes in the cute interiors are a decorator's dream, and the incredible nature footage is an advertisement for tourism in New Zealand," Brooks writes.

Film critic Kenneth Turan, in a review for the Chicago Tribune, emphasized that the film "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" found a place for a variety of events and emotions.

“This is an incredible story in which ingenuity, character charisma and adventure flow over the edge. The heroes are on the verge of death, show courage in the face of terrible evil, fight in fierce battles and show tender feelings, for example, in a scene with the words: "I would rather share one mortal life with you than live all the ages of the world alone" - the expert wrote. He noted that the main idea of the plot is very simple: nine heroes hope to save the world. What makes the story interesting, however, is the conditions in which the characters find themselves, as well as the nature of the world shown on the screen.

In his review, Turan recalls that Tolkien created a universe inhabited by many creatures, and managed to think it over in such detail that readers practically believed in it. According to the critic, Jackson managed to convey the spirit of the work, having worked out everything from the characters of the characters to the smallest detail.

“As a director and one of the producers and screenwriters (who worked on the film. -

), Jackson did everything to better present the story, to make it more realistic.

Therefore, some dialogues, when appropriate, sound in one of the Elvish languages (with subtitles), for filming in the most remote and surprisingly picturesque corners of New Zealand - Jackson's homeland - up to nine separate film crews were involved, and a year before filming began in place chosen for the hobbits' settlement, 5,000 cubic meters of appropriate vegetation were planted, ”writes Turan.

The film is currently rated 92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Viewers rated the tape even higher - 95%.

In addition, the first part of the famous trilogy closes the top ten in the rating of the best films according to IMDb users' reviews and is one of the five leaders in the Kinopoisk rating along with two sequels of the trilogy, as well as such cult films as The Green Mile and Escape from Shawshank ".

For the first weekend at the box office in the United States, the tape earned more than $ 47 million, and its total gross, taking into account the restarts, amounted to almost $ 897.7 million. In subsequent years, interest in the franchise did not fade away - the collection of the sequels "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ”exceeded the income of the first part.

In total, the trilogy grossed nearly $ 3 billion, becoming the highest grossing ever.

The Lord of the Rings Legacy

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring not only made a splash with numerous vivid special effects, action scenes and images of the wizarding world in general, but also set a high bar for subsequent films in the genre of epic fantasy and cinema in general.

The film won four Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Special Effects, Makeup and Original Soundtrack.

The second part got two statuettes in technical nominations, and the third received 11 awards, including the best film.

In addition, the adaptation of The Lord of the Rings had a positive impact on tourism in New Zealand - despite the fact that many other famous films were shot there before Peter Jackson's work.

Many spectators were impressed by the beautiful views and wanted to see the nature of the country with their own eyes.

In response to demand, companies began organizing tours of The Lord of the Rings filming locations. Most travelers who for one reason or another come to New Zealand seek to get at least some experience in the country associated with Jackson's films.

The Lord of the Rings franchise was not limited to the popular trilogy. In the 2010s, three more films by Peter Jackson were released, based on the works of Tolkien. This time, the story "The Hobbit, or There and Back" was taken as the primary source, which takes place before the events of "The Lord of the Rings". It tells about the adventures of the inhabitant of Middle-earth, the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. The main role in all three films of the series - "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" and "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" - was played by Martin Freeman ("Love Actually", "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). Ian McKellen also appeared in the paintings, returning to the image of Gandalf. The films were nominated for an Oscar, but did not receive any statuettes. Nevertheless, the trilogy proved to be very popular with the audience: in total, the films earned more than $ 2.9 billion at the box office.

In November 2017, it became known about the intentions of the copyright holders of Tolkien's books to release a series based on the novel "The Lord of the Rings".

Its action will unfold several millennia before the events described in the original trilogy.

About $ 465 million has been allocated for the production of the first season, making the series the most expensive in history.

The premiere is scheduled for September 2, 2022.

In the summer of 2021, a full-length anime based on the John Tolkien universe was announced.

Its action will unfold 260 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings.

"Fantasy should be as realistic as possible": The Lord of the Rings film franchise - 20 years