John Rhys-Davies is an incredibly talented actor whose range is best demonstrated by the fact that the majority of audiences fail to recognize that the same person who plays Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise also plays Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As such, the actor has no shortage of experience when it comes to big-budget blockbuster fare.
But when it comes to the world of Middle-earth, Rhys-Davies experienced a unique challenge that physically impacted him, as fans of the movies likely know. As the actor recently shared with Collider at Fan Expo Boston, the prosthetics and makeup for the Lord of the Rings trilogy were a huge pain. And, no, it was not due to an allergy.
John Rhys-Davies remembers terrible makeup and prosthetics process
“It's a misconception that it was an allergy,” Rhy-Davies says, clarifying a long-standing rumor about the actor’s experience with the Gimli makeup. “We were using medical adhesive for the prosthetic, and medical adhesive is hypoallergenic. It won't give you an allergic reaction. The only slant is that it's a very strong adhesive that sort of bonds to the outer cells of the skin, and it's not designed to be taken on and taken off at a daily basis. It takes a tiny bit of cellular life with it as you take it off.”
Things got so bad that production began to alter their daily shooting schedules so as to better accommodate Rhys-Davies’ recovery time. As he detailed:
“In the end, I would lose all the skin around my eyes. And then of course you'd get a histamine response as your body is pumping fluid through to repair it, so your eyes get swollen and horrid. And quite simply I would walk in sometimes and they would look at my eyes and say, 'John we cannot put the prosthetic on you today. There is nothing we can stick it to.'"
To this end, the actor is not exactly chomping at the bit to don the make-up once more. However, Peter Jackson has made a very concentrated move away from practical effects and embraced cutting-edge digital technology over the course of the past several decades, utilizing CGI for The Hobbit films and even early iterations of AI-fueled audio technology on Get Back.
But he is still open to returning to Lord of the Rings
Because of this, the actor previously noted that he would be wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to returning in the upcoming Hunt for Gollum films, produced by Jackson and directed by Andy Serkis, if new technology was utilized to realize Gimli’s appearance.
"Well, I’m known to not want to put that prosthetic on again, but out of deference to Andy [Serkis], whom I love and admire and again who has grown so much, if they invited me…oh god, could I dare to put on that make-up again and lose my skin? Maybe with CGI," Rhys-Davies shared in a 2024 interview with Collider. "Before when they asked me to do The Hobbit, for instance, I said no. No, not at all. Times have moved on and technology has moved on; if I don’t have to spend eight hours a day for three years of my life in a make-up chair, I might indeed do it. The other thing is, physically, I am no longer capable of putting eighty pounds of extra armor and stuff on and climbing up mountains."
More recently, the actor shared similar sentiments in an interview with ScreenRant: “If I don’t have to spend eight hours a day for three years of my life in a makeup chair, I might indeed do it.”
Here’s hoping that the beloved actor gets the chance to appear once more as Gimli in the new films, in whatever form makes him most comfortable and confident in his abilities. Lord knows that he has earned it.
More Lord of the Rings:
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter, and check out our YouTube channel.