The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (movie)
Note: This entry only discusses the movie. For the Wikipedia article on the books see: The Lord of the Rings and The Return of the King.This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it - especially once the movie is released in late 2003.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a film directed by Peter Jackson. It is due for theatrical release on Wednesday, December 17, 2003. The premiere screening is proposed to be held in Wellington, New Zealand.
It is the third part of a trilogy, following the events portrayed in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, also directed by Jackson.
The film's story is based on later events in The Two Towers and the whole of The Return of the King, the second and third parts of his epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings.
(The Return of the King also served as the basis of an animated film of the same name that debuted on U.S. TV in 1980, featuring the voices of Orson Bean as Frodo Baggins and John Huston as Gandalf.)
The Cast
Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers
According to some newspaper reports Andy Serkis will appear in person in a flashback scene playing Sméagol before his degradation into Gollum. In his degraded state Gollum is "played" in the movies by a CGI character whose movements are derived from a "motion-capture" suit worn by Serkis.
The city of Minas Tirith, seen briefly in The Fellowship of the Ring, will be seen in all its glory. The filmmakers have taken great care to base the city closely upon Tolkien's description in The Return of the King, Book V, Chapter 1. Close-ups of the city will be represented by sets and long shots by a large and highly-detailed model.
This film will almost certainly contain key scenes that occurred in the middle portion of the novel The Lord of the Rings but were not included in the film The Two Towers. These include a confrontation at Isengard in which Gandalf casts Saruman out of the order of wizards, as well as the scene in which the monstrous Shelob attacks Frodo and is wounded by Sam.
Other key events include the Siege of Gondor; the re-forging of the shards of Narsil into Aragorn's new sword Andúril; Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas's journey through the Paths of the Dead; the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (carefully choreographed in advance, a process Jackson describes as like planning a real battle); the confrontation between Gandalf and the Lord of the Nazgûl at the gate of Minas Tirith; Merry and Éowyn's role in the defeat of the Lord of the Nazgûl; the destruction of the One Ring and the final fall of Sauron; Aragorn's assumption of the throne; and the departure of several of the heroes to the Undying Lands.
One sequence that will not make it from the book into the film despite the hopes of many fans, according to repeated statements by Jackson, is the "Scouring of the Shire", in which the Hobbits return home at the end of their quest to find they have some cleaning up to do. The fall of Saruman originally takes place at the end of this scene, so it is not clear where it will occur in the movie.
The end of the book is highly anticlimactic in many respects; following the destruction of the One Ring, most of the second half of The Return of the King consists of scenes that tie up loose ends, which will almost certainly have to be cut or briefly summarized in the film. One wonders how much will remain of Saruman's confrontation with Galadriel, Gandalf's departure from the Hobbits, Frodo's periodic bouts of illness following his return to the Shire, or the later history (from the Appendices) of the characters after the Ringbearers' departure from the Grey Havens.
