Peter Jackson’s favorite scene from his beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy is one that he didn’t even write or direct himself!
Peter Jackson, the writer and director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has shared which scene he considers his favorite from all the three films, and it may not be the one you expect.
There are so many iconic scenes to choose from in these movies. Some fans would pick when Gandalf fights the Balrog in The Fellowship of the Ring. Others might choose the epic Battle of Helm’s Deep from The Two Towers, or Sam carrying Frodo to Mount Doom in The Return of the King.
But Jackson’s favorite scene is a quiet one from The Two Towers: when Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are asleep, Gollum (Andy Serkis) creeps away and argues with himself about whether to murder the two Hobbits and seize the One Ring for himself.
Oddly enough, Jackson didn’t even write or direct the scene. That honor went to co-writer and co-producer Fran Walsh, although Jackson did suggest it.
Jackson revealed this on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. According to him, it perfectly “captures the spirit” of the movie.
“A key thing with Gollum, as most people know, is that he’s Smeagol and he’s Gollum; it’s like a split,” Jackson explained. “We hadn’t gotten a scene where you really got the idea, ‘This guy is two people.’ So, we knew that we needed it.”
"And we didn’t have anyone to direct it, so I said to Fran, ‘Well you wrote it, you should go and shoot it.’ So she went in there for a day, and she wrote and directed the scene, which has become kind of pretty famous now."
Moreover, Walsh was able to do this without Elijah Wood or Sean Astin needing to be in it, which was important because of how busy the shooting schedule was. They were just “lumps” asleep, but I never noticed anything amiss!
The almost 20-year-old trilogy still resonates today and will no doubt continue to do so. And now you can get the extended version in a newly-released 4K UHD edition!
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