The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Trivia: When Sam's cooking the rabbit stew, Sam says, "Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish," and Gollum spits. Andy Serkis is very proud that something of his is on screen, because it is his spit we see, not a CGI like the rest of Gollum's body. Appendices of extended DVD. (01:42:20)

Super Grover

Trivia: Viggo Mortensen was so impressed with the horse his character Aragorn was riding in the movies, that he bought it from its owner. It had to be flown back to New Zealand for reshoots. While filming, he would sometimes sleep in the stable with the horse, to earn its trust. Trust was particularly important for the scene when the horse kneels and lies near him at the river.

Trivia: Almost certainly not deliberate, but the scene where Saruman is making gunpowder and Grima Wormtongue leans over with a candle, so Saruman gently edges him backwards, is almost identical to a scene in "Army of Darkness."

Trivia: Viggo Mortensen's son, Henry, makes a brief cameo as one of the children preparing for battle at Helm's Deep. Before Aragorn addresses Haleth, son of Hama, Henry Mortensen is the boy with the helmet, standing beside Haleth. (00:56:40)

Trivia: It is Christopher Lee's voice mixed with Ian McKellen's that is heard when Gandalf speaks while he's hidden by the white light in Fangorn Forest. It is also Lee's voice heard when King Theoden is speaking to Gandalf, while he is still under Saruman's power. Confirmed on the commentary.

Super Grover

Trivia: Gimli's prosthetic forehead had become detached by the time they were to shoot him in this scene. The senior prosthetics supervisor got on his stomach behind Gimli and pulled on a rope that was attached to the back of the prosthetic in order to pull the wrinkles out of Gimli's forehead and keep it in place. Art Director Ben Price is the very dead twitchy Uruk-hai that Gimli is sitting on. Commentary, extended DVD. (01:38:50)

Super Grover

Trivia: The filming of the Battle of Helm's Deep was so long and grueling (months), that by the end of the shoot, the actors, crew and extras had T-shirts made up that read, "I survived Helm's Deep," but with the letter "m" crossed out.

Super Grover

Trivia: In the scene at Helm's Deep when Legolas is talking about how Rohan will definitely lose the battle, there are two men to the left of Aragorn. One is conceptual artist Alan Lee, and the other is art director Dan Hennah.

Trivia: In the Extended Edition, when Merry and Pippin begin to grow, Merry says "But I've always been the tall one," Monahan and Boyd said in the commentary that quite often that is how the crew referred to them because they kept confusing Monahan and Boyd so they were the "tall one" and the "short one."

Jack's Revenge

Trivia: Andy Serkis' role as Gollum was initially intended to be 3 weeks of voice over work. Peter Jackson was so impressed he then used Serkis' physical performance too.

Trivia: Andy Serkis (Gollum) did the voices of three Uruk-hai and Orcs in the scene outside Fangorn. Some of the lines he says are, "We ain't had nuthin but maggoty bread for three stinkin' days," and "Why can't we have some meat. What about them? They're fresh." (00:28:40)

Super Grover

Trivia: 1,000 Hobbit feet were created. Each pair only lasted for two days.

Trivia: Most of the actors who played the Rohirrim were women. Orcs were mostly the NZ army.

Trivia: Elijah Wood's (Frodo) sister Hannah, is in the film. She's the lone, blonde, lost-looking girl, clutching her shawl with her left hand, at the beginning of the shot in the Glittering Caves, at Helm's Deep when the women and children go in. She is also on the stairs for Theoden's return. (00:51:55)

Trivia: To get the cheering and shouting for the Orcs at the battle of Helm's Deep, the producers recorded the 25,000 strong crowd at a New Zealand/England cricket match.

Trivia: John Rhys-Davies who plays Gimli the Dwarf also provides the voice for Treebeard the Ent. No effects were used beyond the actor speaking as low as possible and using a wooden megaphone.

Trivia: In one of the takes while filming the scene where Frodo and Sam are about to run to the Black Gate, and Gollum pulls them back, Andy Serkis (Gollum) pulled so hard on them both that he ripped off the wig worn by Sean Astin (Sam).

Scrappy

Trivia: Usually when the people in charge of the scenery need to make a life-size model of something, they create the smaller version and then create the life-size one as much like it as possible. However, it was the other way around with Helm's Deep: the life-size model was built first (with an easily collapsible wall) and the miniature for it was built later.

Trivia: In Helm's Deep, when women and children retreat to the caves, look closely at the children. They're the same actors as the Hobbit children listening to Bilbo's story of the trolls at his birthday party in "Fellowship" and they're in RotK as well. They're the children of director Peter Jackson and writer Fran Walsh.

Continuity mistake: As Faramir holds the Horn of Gondor, the rope is attached to metal loops on the smaller half of the horn - without the mouthpiece. However, in FotR, when Boromir is hit with the third arrow and the Horn of Gondor is cloven in two, the rope is attached to the metal loops on the half with the long mouthpiece. (There are only two metal loops and they are permanently affixed.) (00:31:50)

Super Grover

More mistakes in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Sam: It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.

More quotes from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Answer: Most likely to emphasize the power of the ring to corrupt men. It shows that Faramir was actually the stronger brother, because he was able to resist its power.

You mean that Faramir should have joined the Fellowship? Because I think if he joins the Fellowship, he would be corrupted. Or Is Faramir more stronger than Boromir?

DFirst1

Boromir is most motivated by glory for Gondor, whereas Faramir is most motivated by honor. Boromir was therefore more susceptible to the Ring's corruptive influence than Faramir was as the Ring has great power which Boromir believes Gondor could use to defeat Sauron. Faramir understands that the Ring must be destroyed at all costs, any other course of action is futile, and therefore dishonorable. Hence, he is able to resist the Ring's influence.

Phixius

More questions & answers from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

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