60 Fun Facts About Return of the King

Who directed The Return of the King (2003)?

Peter Jackson directed all three films, shot back to back in his native New Zealand, and won the Academy Award for Best Director for this final instalment.

Which actor plays Frodo Baggins?

Elijah Wood plays Frodo Baggins; he was 18 when cast in 1999 and won the part after sending in an audition tape of himself dressed as the hobbit.

Which actor plays Aragorn, the ranger who must claim the throne of Gondor?

Viggo Mortensen plays Aragorn; he sings on screen at the coronation and famously headbutted the stunt team goodbye when his shooting wrapped.

Who provides the performance for Sméagol and Gollum?

Andy Serkis provides the performance for Sméagol and Gollum; the film's prologue shows him on camera as Sméagol, strangling Déagol for the Ring before his decline into Gollum.

How many Academy Awards did The Return of the King win at the 76th Oscars?

The Return of the King won 11 Academy Awards from 11 nominations at the 76th ceremony in February 2004, the largest clean sweep in Oscar history.

With which two films does The Return of the King share the record for most Oscar wins?

Ben-Hur and Titanic are the only other films to win as many Academy Awards as The Return of the King; Bernard Hill, the film's Théoden, had also played Captain Smith in Titanic.

In which city was the film's world premiere held on 1 December 2003?

Wellington, home to the production and the Weta effects houses, hosted the world premiere on 1 December 2003, ahead of the film's general release later that month.

Which studio financed and distributed the film?

New Line Cinema financed and distributed the trilogy after Miramax, which had developed it as two films, put the project into turnaround in 1998.

Who composed the film's score?

Howard Shore composed the score, as he did for the whole trilogy, and won two Academy Awards for this film, for Best Original Score and Best Original Song.

Which singer performed the end-title song "Into the West"?

Annie Lennox sang "Into the West" and shared its Academy Award for Best Original Song; the lyric was partly inspired by Cameron Duncan, a young New Zealand filmmaker who died of cancer in 2003.

Which actor plays Denethor, the Steward of Gondor?

John Noble plays Denethor; the Australian actor, later Walter Bishop in Fringe, has his steward gorge on tomatoes while Faramir's men charge hopelessly at Osgiliath.

Which character slays the Witch-king of Angmar at the Pelennor Fields?

Merry helps by stabbing the Witch-king first; in the book readers do not know Éowyn is on the field until she removes her helmet.

Which hobbit secretly lights the beacons to call Rohan to Gondor's aid?

Pippin climbs up and lights the beacon at Gandalf's urging; the sequence was invented for the film, since in the book Denethor had already ordered the beacons lit before Gandalf arrived.

Which giant spider traps Frodo in her lair?

Shelob is the giant spider who stings Frodo in her lair; her attack closes Tolkien's Two Towers but was moved into the third film.

What is the name of Aragorn's sword, reforged from the shards of Narsil?

Andúril, the Flame of the West, is the sword Elrond brings to Aragorn at Dunharrow; the reforging of Narsil was originally planned for The Two Towers and moved into the third film.

Which actor's only scene was cut from the theatrical release, prompting a fan petition to restore it?

Christopher Lee's sole scene as Saruman, his death at Orthanc, was cut from the theatrical release and restored in the Extended Edition; Lee said he would never understand the decision.

Which animal's cry was used to create the giant spider's shriek?

The shriek in turn inspired Weta's animators as they worked on the creature's movements.

The sound of the mûmakil is made from the beginning and end of which animal's roar?

For the siege, construction workers dropped real two-ton stone blocks from a crane to record the sound of missiles hitting the city.

How long is the theatrical cut of The Return of the King?

The theatrical cut runs 201 minutes, the longest of the three theatrical releases, against 178 for The Fellowship of the Ring and 179 for The Two Towers.

The Battle of the Black Gate was filmed at which location, a former minefield?

The Rangipo Desert, an army training ground in the central North Island, stood in for the plain before the Black Gate; New Zealand soldiers were hired as extras while guides watched for unexploded mines.

Which New Zealand mountain served as the exterior of Mount Doom?

Ruapehu, an active volcano on the North Island's central plateau, provided the slopes of Mount Doom for the scenes of Frodo and his companions struggling up the mountain.

What is the running time of the Extended Edition released on DVD in December 2004?

The Extended Edition runs 252 minutes and restores the Mouth of Sauron, Saruman's death and the Houses of Healing; its closing credits list the official fan club's charter members.

Which film beat The Return of the King to a $1 billion worldwide gross?

Titanic was the first film to pass $1 billion worldwide, in 1998; The Return of the King became the second when it crossed the mark early in 2004.

Which actress plays Éowyn?

Miranda Otto, an Australian actress, plays Éowyn, and unlike the book's Dernhelm disguise the film lets viewers see her ride openly into the battle with Merry beside her.

Which actor plays Faramir, head of the Rangers defending Osgiliath?

David Wenham plays Faramir; in the Extended Edition his character falls in love with Rohan's shieldmaiden in the Houses of Healing, a subplot largely cut from the theatrical release.

Sean Astin's real daughter appears in the final scene as which character?

Elanor Gamgee, the eldest child of the Gamgee household, is played by Alexandra Astin in the final scene, running to greet her father on his return from the Grey Havens.

Who drew the sketched portraits of the cast that appear in the closing credits?

Alan Lee, the trilogy's conceptual artist, drew the pencil portraits of the cast shown beside their names in the closing credits; he shared the film's Academy Award for Art Direction.

What grade did audiences polled by CinemaScore give the film?

It was the highest grade in the trilogy, and the film also holds a 94 on Metacritic.

The giant spider's body was modelled on which type of real spider?

Her lair was inspired by sandstone and sculpted out of the existing Caverns of Isengard set.

The huge set for Gondor's capital city was built at which quarry, out of the Helm's Deep set?

Dry Creek, a working quarry near the production's base, housed the Helm's Deep set and then the towering set for Gondor's capital, whose design drew on Mont Saint-Michel.

Who wrote the lyrics for "Into the West"?

Fran Walsh wrote the lyrics for "Into the West" and shared its Best Original Song Oscar; she is also one of the trilogy's three credited screenwriters and the director's partner.

Which soprano sings as Arwen has a vision of her future son?

Renée Fleming, the American operatic soprano, sings on "Twilight and Shadow" over Arwen's vision of her son, and again on "The End of All Things" inside Mount Doom.

Which flautist plays as Frodo and Sam climb Mount Doom?

James Galway, the Irish flautist, performed the flute and tin whistle solos on the score, heard as the hobbits climb Mount Doom and again when they return to the Shire.

In the Extended Edition, who kills Saruman?

Gríma stabs Saruman in the back atop Orthanc and is immediately shot by Legolas; Saruman's body falls onto a spiked wheel below.

Which actor plays the Mouth of Sauron in the Extended Edition?

Bruce Spence, the lanky New Zealand-born actor who was the Gyro Captain in Mad Max 2, plays the Mouth of Sauron; his mouth was digitally enlarged for the role.

Which actor plays both the Witch-king of Angmar and the Orc commander Gothmog?

Lawrence Makoare, the Māori actor who was Lurtz in the first film, plays both the Witch-king and the deformed Orc commander Gothmog, whose voice was provided by Craig Parker.

In what year was Tolkien's The Return of the King first published in the UK?

It appeared on 20 October 1955, completing a novel Tolkien had conceived as a single work in six books.

Which title did Tolkien prefer for the third volume, feeling the published one revealed too much?

Tolkien suggested The War of the Ring, feeling the published title gave away the ending; publisher Rayner Unwin, who had split the novel into three volumes, kept The Return of the King.

Which chapter of Tolkien's novel was left out of the film entirely?

The Scouring of the Shire, in which the returning hobbits free the Shire from Saruman's ruffians, was dropped because the screenwriters saw it as anticlimactic after the Ring's destruction.

In the book's appendices, how many consecutive terms does Sam serve as Mayor of the Shire?

Seven consecutive terms, each of seven years: Appendix B records Samwise becoming Mayor for the seventh and last time in S.R. 1469, ending his service in 1476 aged ninety-six.

In the book, who is crowned King of Rohan after Théoden's death?

Éomer, Théoden's sister-son, is hailed as King of the Mark by the dying Théoden on the Pelennor Fields and succeeds him; in the film the king's last words go to his niece instead.

Which critic's Observer review dismissed the completed novel as a juvenile adventure story?

Edwin Muir, a Scottish poet-critic, wrote the Observer review that found Tolkien's heroes juvenile when the final volume appeared; Tolkien shot back in a letter about Muir's 'delayed adolescence'.

Which poet's New York Times review called The Lord of the Rings a "masterpiece of the genre"?

W. H. Auden, who had heard Tolkien lecture on Beowulf as an Oxford undergraduate, reviewed the volumes warmly in The New York Times and became one of the novel's most prominent defenders.

According to the appendices, what surname do Sam's children take?

Gardner is the name Samwise's descendants bear in Appendix C's family tree, his son Frodo Gardner among them, a surname drawn from his calling as gardener of Bag End.

Which company's RealFlow software was used to simulate the lava of Mount Doom?

Next Limit Technologies, a Madrid-based software developer, makes RealFlow, the fluid-simulation package used to animate the lava of Mount Doom around Gollum's fall into the Crack of Doom.

The film's record $125.1 million five-day Wednesday opening was beaten the following May by which film?

Shrek 2 opened on Wednesday 19 May 2004 and took the five-day record; The Return of the King had itself taken it from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace five months earlier.

In the film, how many years after Weathertop does Frodo sail from the Grey Havens?

Four: finishing the Red Book, Frodo remarks that it has been "four years to the day since Weathertop" and the Morgul wound has never really healed; he sails soon after with Bilbo and Gandalf.

Which actor burned his final Gimli prosthetic when shooting wrapped?

Rhys-Davies also voices Treebeard, so he plays two members of the alliance against Sauron.

Which actor plays Déagol in the film's prologue?

Thomas Robins plays Déagol, the Stoor who pulls the One Ring from the river on a fishing trip and is strangled for it by Sméagol in the film's prologue.

Which Weta Workshop co-founder ran the film's armour, creature and prosthetics work?

Richard Taylor co-founded Weta Workshop, which built the film's armour, weapons, creatures and prosthetics; he won two of its Academy Awards, for Makeup and for Costume Design.

Which character marries Rosie Cotton after the hobbits return home?

Sam marries Rosie Cotton on the hobbits' return; Tolkien's appendices give them thirteen children, and the film's final scene shows the young family greeting him at the door.

In which city is Aragorn crowned king in the film?

Minas Tirith hosts the coronation; the film stages it in the Citadel at the city's summit, whereas in the book Aragorn is crowned before the city gate, Gandalf setting the crown on his head.

What object does Gandalf retrieve from Saruman at Isengard, which a hobbit later dares to look into?

A palantír, one of the seeing-stones, is fished from the water at Orthanc's foot; the hobbit's later look into it shows a burning white tree, warning that Gondor is Sauron's next target.

In the Extended Edition, which character's arrow kills the director's Corsair cameo?

Legolas looses an arrow at the Corsair ships as Aragorn demands their surrender, killing the boatswain played by the director himself, a cameo found only in the Extended Edition.

Roughly how many people were estimated to have lined the streets for the world premiere?

Over 100,000 people were estimated to have lined the premiere route through the host city, cheering the director and many of the stars on their way to the screening.

At which Wellington venue did The Return of the King hold its world premiere on 1 December 2003?

The Embassy Theatre, a restored 1924 cinema at the end of Courtenay Place, hosted the premiere; the film reached US cinemas on 17 December.

John Howe's design for Minas Morgul was inspired by what personal experience?

The idea was that the Orcs had forced their twisted design onto a once-beautiful Gondorian city.

Why were all of the Witch-king's scenes re-shot during the 2003 pick-ups?

Weta also created the new 'über Orc' Gothmog after Jackson judged the Mordor Orcs pathetic next to the Uruk-hai.

How long was the assembly cut of the film that editor Annie Collins completed before post-production?

Théoden's charge alone went from 150 minutes of takes down to a finished 90 seconds.

How much music per day did Howard Shore have to write to keep pace with the film's schedule?

The score gives the Gondor theme its full introduction, crowned with an ascending coda unique to this film.