Comments on: Ha! Knew it!

By: stu_n

stu_n — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 06:30:00 +0000

Jackson's always said that the Scouring wouldn't be in the film. He says in one of the FOTR commentaries that the bit with the mill Frodo sees in Galadriel's Mirror is his 'homage' to the Scouring.

As far as I understand it, ROTK ends with Frodo leaving the Shire. Which is, of course, where the book ends as well.

The AICN story was that they've also cut Saruman being cast from the order and chucked out of Orthanc, because it detracts from the thrust of the plot (with Sauron as the villain of the piece rather than Saruman). Jackson said it meant there was 20 minutes before Gandalf & Pippin got moving towards Minas Tirith and that was too long for a cinema cut — the audience would just assume that Saruman was no longer a threat after the Ents destroyed his workings at Isengard. That scene will be restored for the extended cut DVD, though.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:47:55 +0000

Jackson’s letter explains the cut, and I think he makes sense. Shitty that Lee had to find out about it on the jungle drums, but if you don’t do the scouring, Saruman’s part ends at Isengard…

By: admin

admin — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:46:43 +0000

Oh, I’m sure they’ll end the film with scenes in Hobbiton, just to show them coming how to their little pastoral idyll, but there’s just not the space for a half hour sequence there, especially without strong connection to the main narrative.

By: dj_alexander

dj_alexander — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:37:02 +0000

I heard they had made three seperate endings, a la Planet of the Apes, so that nobody will know how it ends until it is released. Rumor has it that in one of the ending Frodo sells the ring and retires to Barbados where he sits on a porch all day smoking pipeweed.

In other news, Saruman has been cut from the final film leaving Christopher Lee a little bit peeved, especially as he found out initially through internet sources!

By: yaruar

yaruar — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:35:57 +0000

I noticed in the papers today that Christopher Lee is in a strop with the producers because he's been cut entirely from the film for "artistic" reasons.
Now, I never actually read the third book, but this does seem a bit odd.

By: wmute

wmute — Thu, 13 Nov 2003 03:23:15 +0000

All I know is, it was filmed. Or at least, they filmed some Hobbiton scenes for RotK. They told me that when I was there.