Director Peter Jackson and co-writers (with Jackson) Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens envisioned this as a trilogy from the start. Filming never stopped until all three were done, allowing for a sequel every year. Based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkein, the first movie is centered on hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), nephew of Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo had acquired a powerful ring composed of pure evil in "The Hobbit" (see below), and now Frodo must go on a quest to take the ring to Mt. Doom, where it can be destroyed. But its evil creator wants it back, so a fellowship is formed to protect the little ring-bearer (hobbits are not a warrior race; they're almost like a cross between humans and rabbits, “Adventures make one late for dinner”).This 3-hour first installment stays closer to the original novel than previous efforts, and is the first live-action version. There is enough action and special effects/visuals, you won’t notice that three hours have gone by and will probably want to see this movie more than once. It blends live action and special effects even better than the Robert Zemeckis film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In fact, Jackson worked with producer Zemeckis in “The Frighteners” (in which conman Michael J. Fox and his ghost friends including John Astin go up against a real, evil spirit plaguing a town. It was the New Zealand writer/director’s first U.S. film). This is the kind of epic Hollywood used to make (think Gone With The Wind or Lawrence of Arabia). Whether it’s the high-angle tracking and helicopter shots of Saruman (Christopher Lee) building his army of Orcs; or the original, huge battle (told as a flashback) in which Bilbo participated; or simply the scene in which our heroes are running through the underground dwarf ghost town. When Gandalf (Ian McKellan) is visiting Bilbo (Ian Holm), and uses a bit of sorcery during an argument, it would be a big deal in any normal movie, but is still nothing compared to even bigger scenes in this movie.
Additional cast:
Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Andy Serkis, Marton Csokas, and Orlando Bloom of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl and the sequel
178 minutes rated PG-13
Lord Of The Rings movie trailer on Yahoo.com
Lord Of The Rings trilogy books, videos and DVD, as well as soundtrack music available from Amazon.com
Set just after the last one, Frodo and Samwise are still making their way to Mordor. Gollum is following, though not really helping their progress. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli join forces with the people (and creatures) of Rohan to fight Christopher Lee’s army of Orcs. Gandalf is back with his magic, as are more epic battles. Frodo has a battle of wills with Gollum – and himself.
Orson Bean (no relation to British actor Sean Bean of the above Rings trilogy) is the voice of Bilbo Baggins in this prequel to the Trilogy, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel “The Hobbit.” Bilbo journeys through Middle Earth and encounters its other creatures. He and his new friends battle evil beings and creatures in his quest involving the ring composed of pure evil. Note from IMDB.com: The 2001 DVD release by Warner Brothers omitted a number of sound effects from the original Sony VHS release: The sound when characters die; when Sting attacks the Spiders in Mirkwood; Smaug's screams as he attacks Lake Town; the flapping of the Thrush's wings in all scenes; when the arrows bounce off of Smaug and when the Black Arrow pierces Smaug's belly; and the howling of the Wargs during the Battle of Five Armies.
Orson Bean returns as the voice of both Bilbo, and Frodo Baggins, as Frodo sets off on the quest (with his faithful servent), opposed by “Orcs, Gollums and other ooky creatures.” Directed by Bass & Rankin, lyrics by Bass
* Elijah Wood dressed up in breeches and a flowing shirt and went out into the hills to shoot his audition tape. His friend George Huang, directed the video. His first movie was a bit part in Back To The Future, Part 2 (1989)
* Ian McKellen based Gandalf's accent on that of Tolkien himself. Gandalf's painful encounter with a ceiling beam in Bilbo's hobbit-hole was not in the script - Ian banged his forehead against the beam accidentally, not on purpose. But Peter Jackson thought McKellen did a great job "acting through" the mistake, and so kept it in.
* Some of the physical inspirations for Gollum's wiry frame were resident artist (and Tolkien expert) John Howe and rock singer Iggy Pop.
* Gollum/Smeagol is a CGI character, but Peter Jackson wanted the character to be performer-oriented, so actor Andy Serkis, the voice of Gollum, played the character in a motion capture suit. Serkis also played scenes with Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Sean Astin (Sam) on set to give the actors a focal point. On those occasions when Serkis was actually in shot Gollum was composited over him in post production. Perhaps Jackson got this idea from a previous movie he assisted on, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," in which the voice of the animated character wore a rabbit suit onset in order to do his off-screen dialogue in character to Bob Hoskins
* John Rhys-Davies, also provided the voice for Treebeard in the 2nd and 3rd movies, though he is only credited for this in the 2nd movie's credits. Before getting the role of Gimli, he auditioned for the role of Denethor. Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, auditioned for the role of Denethor's other son, Faramir. In Helen of Troy, Rhys-Davies played Priam, and Bloom played Paris, Priam's younger son. Will there be a 4th Indiana Jones movie? "Every three or four years the rumours start again, but any new script has got to be approved by Steven, and by George, and by Harrison. Everyone would like to do one, but the script has got to be better than the other three. Every year Paramount must send boxes of goodies to all three, saying 'please please please make us another one.....'"