The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, consisting of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, were first released in 2001 to 2003 and were based on the beloved books by JRR Tolkien which were written in the 1950s. The films are set in Middle-earth, a world full of humans, elves, dwarves and hobbits. The story follows a fellowship, a group of heroes, on a quest to destroy the One Ring as it is the key to the Dark Lord’s power. The trilogy has made nearly 3 billion dollars in the box office, which makes it one the most popular film trilogies of all time. Millions of people have seen these films, and if you have, you’ve spent twelve hours of your life immersing yourself in the epic story.  You may know a lot about the trilogy already but perhaps not as much as you think. Here are my top 20 favourite facts about the Lord of the Rings right here. 

 

1. Nicholas Cage was originally going to play Aragorn. 
2. John-Rhys Davies, who plays Gimli the Dwarf, is the tallest actor in the fellowship. 
3. The last scene shot for the trilogy was done after the final film was released and is included in the extended edition. 
4. The carcass of the oliphaunt (an elephant creature in Middle-earth) in Return of the King was the largest prop ever made for a film. 
5. Aspects of Gollum’s character is based on Grendel from Beowulf, which is an Old English poem. 
6. Christopher Lee wanted to play Gandalf but was considered too old for the part. 
7. Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood never filmed a scene together in person. 
8. Viggo Mortensen, the actor who plays Aragorn, broke two toes when he kicked an orc helmet. 
9. The scene where Gandalf calls for his horse was filmed in one take. 
10. Christopher Lee was the only actor in the films to have met Tolkien. 
11. The Battle of Helm’s Deep took four months to film, all of it at night. 
12. Kate Winslet was initially offered the role of Arwen. 
13. It takes half a day to watch all three extended cuts of the trilogy. 
14. The filmmakers hired almost all the professional horse riders in New Zealand, so they put beards on women to get enough extras on horses. 
15. Frodo falls down 39 times in the entire trilogy. 
16. The Return of the King won all 11 Oscars it was nominated for. 
17. The Nazgul, evil spirits in the films, had their screeches made by sound technicians scraping plastic cups together. 
18. Orlando Bloom landed the role of Legolas two days before he finished drama school. 
19. Ian McKellen originally declined the role of Gandalf, due to scheduling conflicts with the X-Men movie. 
20. Legolas’s arrows were added in digitally because the actor, Orlando Bloom, could not fire fast enough.