In 2000, in theaters all across America, a one minute and forty-six second trailer played. It began with an unreadable script flowing across a gold band and falling into a hand while the words “One ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them” were spoken. It ended with a close-up shot of eight people walking single file over a hill. It left many audience members confused. What was this movie? Why did it give so little information about what it was supposed to be? But for the select few, this was the equivalent of dropping a grenade in your popcorn bucket right before Remember the Titans or Miss Congeniality started playing. It was the first trailer for the upcoming movie trilogy, The Lord of the Rings.
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| Still of the Ring of Power in The Return of the King |
The Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in three volumes from 1954 to 1955: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King. It was written as a sequel series to The Hobbit, following Bilbo Baggins’s nephew, Frodo Baggins. It became a cult classic and served as a basis—and/or inspiration—for all fantasy works written after. But this entry is about the man who translated this work to the screen, Peter Jackson.
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| Ian McKellan as Gandalf in Fellowship of the Ring |
Like J.R.R. Tolkien, Peter Jackson found himself in a difficult position. When Tolkien penned The Lord of the Rings, high fantasy (ogres, elves, hobbits, etc.) was considered a genre for children; similarly, fantasy was considered farcical in movies in the early 2000s. Most, if not all, of the fantasy movies released in the 1990s were marketed at children, and most, like Dungeons and Dragons and Witches, were box office flops.
Jackson had to balance fan expectation, mainstream appeal, and faithfulness to the source material. The result is a lush, epic, and stunning tale with a soaring soundtrack, intricate costumes, and breathtaking sets. A team of 2,400 crewmembers and 26,000 extras worked on the film for over five consecutive years, as the movies were filmed back-to-back without pause.
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| (left to right) Merry, Frodo, Pippin, and Sam in The Fellowship of the Ring |
In an article fittingly titled, “Only Peter Jackson Could Have Made The Lord of the Rings,” contributor to The Escapist, Darren Mooney writes, “[T]he original Lord of the Rings trilogy benefits greatly from the skills that Jackson honed during his early years as a director of trashy horror movies. The trilogy is expensive and looks amazing, but many of the techniques that Jackson employs are highly stylized and classical. To capture the different sense of scale for the Hobbits as compared to the rest of the cast, Jackson used the classic technique of forced perspective, which lends the movie a heightened aesthetic.”
Peter Jackson got his start in quirky, low-budget horror movies. By using his unique creative flair, he was able to make the films intimidating and eerie, which is critical for the perspective of Frodo. When discussing his creative process, Jackson encourages others to “be selfish” with their creativity. He creates things for himself and ensures that he doesn’t put out products he doesn’t love. He states, “Always create for yourself.”
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| (left to right) Karl Urban, Peter Jackson, and Orlando Bloom on the set of The Two Towers |
Peter Jackson would be an example of Big C creativity, as The Lord the Rings franchise changed how Hollywood viewed and approached high fantasy. It also changed how franchises were made and set the stage for pop culture powerhouses like Game of Thrones and the MCU. Jackson also exemplifies two of Cskiszentmihalyi’s creative dichotomies (1997): humility and pride, and playfulness and discipline. When praised for creating the films, Jackson deflects to the team that helped make the movies, while still maintaining pride and excitement for the work. He also claimed to have a lot of fun making the films and kept the actors in the proper headspace to film with his levity. However, he maintained the schedule and kept the varying departments on track while filming.
The three movies together won seventeen Oscars, with the final film The Return of the King securing eleven of its own (it remains tied with Titanic and Ben-Hur for the most Oscars). This means that The Lord of the Rings has the most Oscars of any film franchise.
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Elijah Wood as Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring |
The Lord of the Rings movies can be found on HBO Max.
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I’ve put off watching the LOTR movies for a while now —I’m pretty stubborn about reading books before watching their film adaptations — but I’m a sucker for behind-the-scenes movie trivia and you’ve convinced me I need to watch the trilogy asap. I had no idea they were filmed back-to-back! That’s an insane amount of project coordination and I do not envy Jackson or the producers.
ReplyDeleteI think lord of the rings is one of the few franchises where the film and the book are equal in terms of story telling and excitement.
ReplyDeleteI remember my brother and I once watched a documentary series on YouTube about the production and behind-the-scenes of LoTR and The Hobbit. We were so fascinated by the insane amounts of detail put into everything- even the chainmail armor was hand-woven by the costume designers! It's hard to not appreciate and admire things like that. I find that it really adds to one's enjoyment of the movie. Great post!
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