Lord of the Rings star John Rhys-Davies: Treebeard is the “hardest part I’ve ever done”
By Ashley Hurst
John Rhys-Davies fought his way into our hearts as Gimli in The Lord of the Rings movies, but he struggled with his OTHER iconic role from that trilogy.
John Rhys-Davies has had a lot of stand-out roles over the years, from playing Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise to Arturo in Sliders. Almost two decades ago, he played two big roles in Peter Jackson’s epic Lord of the Rings trilogy: Gimli the dwarf and Treebeard the Ent. Apparently, his portrayal of Treebeard, the giant walking tree from The Two Towers, was the single hardest part he’s ever had to play.
Rhys-Davies made the admission while speaking with Literary Joe’s Inner Child podcast to promote his upcoming sci-fi film G-Loc. “I love Gimli,” he said. “Treebeard is one of the very few parts that I’ve had, that I wake up in a sweat at night, thinking, ‘I don’t know how to play this.'”
"It’s the hardest part I’ve ever done, and I don’t know how to play it, and it’s not right. It’s not the way it is in the book, but I could find no way of doing it. How the hell do you voice something that has no lungs?"
There is indeed no blueprint for playing a tree, but I’m sure we can all agree that he voiced Treebeard perfectly!
Despite how popular both Treebeard and especially Gimli are, Davies didn’t cite either when asked about his most recognizable roles. “Well, it depends on what the fashion is of the day, you know?” he said. “This week, on the Isle of Man, Sliders is being screened, so I’m Arturo again. So it comes and goes, it comes and goes.”
Outside Lord of the Rings, Davies recently told Syfy that it has suddenly become much harder for him to secure roles in movies due to his age and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “I’ve just lost two films on the grounds that they can’t get insurance for older actors against COVID-19,” he said. “I’m just at the bottom end of that 75 to 90 [age] range that has apparently got three-quarters of a foot in the grave — or actually up to the knees in the grave.”
For now, however, we can all enjoy John Rhys-Davies in action again in his latest sci-fi movie G-Loc!
G-Loc is out now on Digital, On-Demand, and DVD!
Next. A Beginner’s Guide to Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. dark
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels