Peter Jackson: A Film-Maker's Journey

by Brian Sibley

  We did our very best to sell Stuart to New Line. The test footage was couriered to Los Angeles where the studio gave it a reluctant, ‘Well, if you really think so,’ response. The test didn’t actually change their minds and, clearly, there were still reservations, but New Line agreed to support our judgement and Stuart was cast.

  During the immediate pre-production period, Orlando Bloom and the four hobbits – Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan – arrived in Wellington, as did Stuart who was very much a part of the group and was well liked by the others. However, as preparations intensified and the actors started having costume fittings and began sword training, various issues emerged.

  Getting a grip on any character in a movie script is never easy and for Stuart the iconic, yet enigmatic Aragorn was proving a challenge. What made the situation more difficult was that I didn’t have the time to devote to finding a solution to that challenge.

  After leaving the production, Stuart – obviously and understandably angry – railed off in the press, saying that he had rarely seen me, that I had given him hardly any time, but the truth was that that was the case for all of the actors because my attention was being pulled in a million different directions at once in those last couple of weeks of prep.

  When you’re making a movie, the first week becomes critical: there is a huge amount of pressure and anxiety about schedules: if you happen to fall behind on day two or three, then the studio will immediately start to extrapolate a situation where you are going to be six weeks behind by the end of the shoot and everything will be a disaster.

  As a result I was determined that our first week would, if at all possible, go like clockwork…

  Whilst everyone – perhaps even Stuart himself – was anxious, they hung on to that old theatrical adage that ‘Everything will be alright on the night’; that things would come together when shooting began – that it would, in fact, be ‘alright on the day’.

  Rather as he had done on Heavenly Creatures, but for different reasons, Peter decided that we would simulate ‘the day’ – in advance. Shortly before shooting was due to begin, he planned a full dress rehearsal with Stuart and Elijah of the ‘Are you frightened? Not nearly frightened enough!’ scene. The results, unfortunately, did not allay everyone’s concerns. Peter was still agonising over what to do when Monday 11 October 1999 arrived: The Lord of the Rings, Shoot Day #1…

  On that first day, I was feeling pretty pumped up. Normally, I have firstday nerves, but on this movie I didn’t feel that at all. I remember thinking that not only had we been developing this project for three years, but also that I hadn’t actually been on a film set directing a movie for four years.

  There had been so much preparation for this moment and yet nothing could have ever fully prepared me for what lay ahead during the looming schedule of 274 days of filming…

  But on that October morning we were, at long last, beginning filming and I was relieved and excited. I was in good shape and ready to go. I couldn’t wait!

  I directed my first shot of The Lord of the Rings on Mount Victoria, a big area of wild parkland not far from the studios and overlooking Wellington city and harbour – we thought we might as well start close to home! We had found a really good, spooky-looking road for the scene where the four hobbits run and hide under the tree roots as the Black Rider approaches.

  We’d already taken the actors up to the location for a couple of days and had done a lot of rehearsal for the camera. I wanted to be absolutely sure that we knew exactly what we were going to be doing during those first few days and, hopefully, avoid any nasty surprises – at least in the first week!

  So that is where it all began, rather famously in a glare of publicity, and to the great frustration of journalists and local residents who couldn’t get close enough to find out exactly what was going on.

  Security was tight and we were paranoid about people taking photographs. I remember, on that first day, an alert suddenly went out about a photographer being spotted sneaking in the bushes and security guards went racing up the hill to try to get him!

  The problem, all the way through filming, was that normally, when you are making a movie, your story is your surprise. In our case, we were filming one of the most widely read books in the world, so we really had no surprise in terms of our story. The only thing we had left to protect was our visual interpretation. We didn’t want people to know what the hobbits or the Ringwraiths looked like.

  Initially, there were two film units working on The Lord of the Rings: the first unit was divided into two sub-units, 1A and 1B, which for the most part were directed by Peter, while a second unit began filming a week later, working under John Mahaffie. John had worked with Peter on Heavenly Creatures and as cinematographer and director on the Hercules television series. Later, when the pressure of keeping on schedule seriously began to threaten the project, Geoff Murphy, veteran director of such well-known New Zealand films as Goodbye Pork Pie and UTU joined the team and, at various times, other freelance directors were pulled in to direct a few scenes – as indeed, on occasion, were Fran and the producers!

  On most movies, second units are given small, fiddly, not-too-complicated

  Second Unit 1st AD, Dave Norris, with the huge 1/3 scale Helm’s Deep set behind him. It was filmed in a quarry just down the road from central Wellington.

  shots; on this film, the Second Unit – overseen by Peter who, where possible, reviewed what they were shooting via video-relay – was responsible for many major sequences. As filming progressed, the number of units working grew and more people were drafted in to ‘direct’ under Peter’s supervision until, at one point, no less than seven film crews would be shooting scenes for The Lord of the Rings at the same time.

  The mind-boggling complexities of these arrangements have been widely reported and commented on, with particular reference to Peter’s staggering ability to hold so many diverse scenes – from one, two or even three films – in his head simultaneously and to be able to direct members of the cast in one scene on one set and, between takes, to switch his focus to a bank of television monitors and give notes to other directors and actors filming other scenes on other sets or even miles away on location. On the first day, however, all that was still as far off as Mordor is from Hobbiton…

  The first shot of the first day turned out to be a memorable image in the first film. I’m told tourists still try to find the tree on Mount Victoria, but they never will because it isn’t there. Like so many of the trees in our Middle-earth, we built it!

  ‘The first day of filming,’ recalls Elijah Wood, ‘we were all nervous, and I know Peter was nervous too. There was also a tangible sense of excitement amongst the actors, the crew – everyone. This was the beginning. The beginning of a journey that seemed like it was going to go on for ever. The end was so far away that it didn’t exist. The idea of beginning this journey with the four hobbits was fun for us because we’d already become quite close – but it also seemed really appropriate. It’s in the hobbit’s nature to be excited and full of life. So to start with that atmosphere was really cool.’

  There was still the unresolved Aragorn situation but once shooting had begun Peter had no choice but to focus on directing this huge and daunting project. Meanwhile, Fran and Philippa continued working with Stuart, but relationships were becoming increasingly strained and, on the afternoon of Wednesday 13 October, Peter reached a decision:

  During the course of shooting the shot of the spider crawling down the lapel of Merry’s jacket, I debated with myself about what to do. Half an hour later, I had decided that casting Stuart had been a mistake – my mistake – and that, painful as it would be, he would have to be replaced. I take full responsibility – I made a casting error. It was no fault of Stuart’s – he’s a great actor, who’s gone on to have a successful career – but he was not Aragorn. It was a mistake to put him in that position, and the only remedy for the movie was to replace him. It was a horrible situation for him fo
remost, and not the best thing for the movie. At the end of the day, the movie has to come first – there’s simply too much at stake. It took me far too long to realise that.

  I discussed the situation with Barrie Osborne and we were in agreement. Barrie went to break the news to Stuart and the rest of us went into Aragorn-panic. Apart from the obvious personal issues between us all, we were now facing a major crisis: we were only a few days away from filming with a central character and we had no one to play the part.

  Fran remembers a mood of general disbelief: ‘No one could quite accept that an actor had been let go with no one to replace him, but that was the case. We had to do it before Stuart started shooting. There was no alternative agenda, no alternative Aragorn.’

  For the other members of the cast, as Fran recalls, the news came as a terrible shock: ‘The hobbits and Orlando were devastated: it was like, “Who’s next?”’

  Interestingly, Sean Astin wasn’t devastated; he just nodded, and told me later that I’d made a very wise decision. Dominic and Billy were saying, “Oh my God!”, but Sean wasn’t; he wasn’t shocked at all.

  Allaying the immediate concerns of the core cast members was not easy: ‘It was,’ says Fran, ‘impossible really. They all liked Stuart and felt it as a painful thing. They were very professional but we felt that we had to prove ourselves to them, prove that we weren’t bloody-minded and fickle. It was only time that healed it.’

  There was also the question of how New Line would react: here I was, getting rid of the one person that the studio hadn’t wanted in the film in the first place. I had asked for their trust in casting Stuart and now I was seemingly derailing the film by replacing him at the eleventh hour. They were amazingly supportive, but I knew they were thinking, ‘What the hell is Peter doing?’

  The decision made, everyone set to work on two fronts simultaneously: figuring out what to shoot that didn’t involve Aragorn – itself hampered by the fact that other members of the cast (including Gandalf) were not available to use – and trying to recast the role.

  One name – an American – kept cropping-up on all the lists: Viggo Mortensen. Fran and Philippa watched a mass of his movies in one day: GI Jane, The Portrait of a Lady, The Indian Runner, the remakes of Psycho and Dial ‘M’ for Murder (re-titled The Perfect Murder) with Michael Douglas. Within two days of releasing Stuart, Viggo was on the top of our list. I remember Fran commenting that there was nothing English about Viggo and yet he seemed completely right for the part. In actual fact, Viggo has a Scandinavian heritage, and Tolkien based so much of his story on the Norse sagas.

  The second Viggo’s name came up, Mark Ordesky, our executive producer at New Line, said that from the studio’s point of view he would be perfect, which cemented our decision to approach Viggo and offer him the role.

  Fortunately, the production’s US casting director, Victoria Burrows, was a good friend of Viggo’s manager and was able to facilitate quick communication. A script was sent and studio and director waited to see whether the actor would even contemplate committing to a fifteen-month project on the other side of the world…

  Mark Ordesky recalls, ‘We were all agreed that Viggo would be perfect, but in case he said “No,” we kept coming up with other options. There were only two other people that we were really considering if Viggo hadn’t worked out: Jason Patric (Sleepers, Speed 2, Incognito) and Russell Crowe. I called Russell Crowe’s agent, explained that there was a situation with Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings and we’d like to talk to Russell about it – but that we had to talk right now… Like, how about today? We sent him a script and he did read it and was fascinated. I remember getting the phone call from his agent and being told that he had just finished another film which involved him having to have a sword and armour – Gladiator! Russell was flattered by the approach, but he had other films he was committed to and it obviously wasn’t going to work out.’

  In Wellington, tensions rose as the day approached on which they were to film the scenes in The Prancing Pony, the inn at Bree where the hobbits first meet Aragorn, then still in his ‘Strider’ persona. The next few days’ shooting was rescheduled in order to delay that encounter as long as possible.

  We were due to start shooting Aragorn scenes on the fourth day of the shoot. We released Stuart on Day Three. That meant pulling in as many Hobbit-only sequences as we could until we could find a new Aragorn – but we were running out of time. There was now little or no leeway if we were to avoid screwing up the entire schedule; yet here we were, starting to film scenes on The Prancing Pony set without being entirely sure if Aragorn would ever show up.

  We had at least succeeded in making contact with Viggo: he had read the script, we were told, but was unfamiliar with Tolkien’s book and needed to discuss the role. It was, however, still far from certain that he would accept, since word had come through that Viggo always took his time in choosing projects and liked to thoroughly immerse himself in any role before beginning filming – two requirements which time simply didn’t permit.

  There was one factor that, at the time, no one was aware of: Viggo’s 11-year-old son, Henry, who was an enthusiastic Tolkien fan. His advice was simple and direct: ‘Aragorn? You’ve got do it. You’ve got to play Aragorn!’ Viggo read the scripts and started on the book: ‘I recognized a lot of archetypes and storylines and even several names from the Nordic sagas I had first read as a boy. This is not completely unfamiliar, I thought, and it might even be fun to revisit that boyhood fantasy of fighting monsters, but instead of standing there with a wooden sword in your back yard, you’d actually be in a forest, wearing all that heavy duty stuff, and have a real, real sword – and have real monsters coming at you, instead of just the washing on the clothesline!’

  Perhaps the final clincher was the fact that, as Mark Ordesky notes, ‘Viggo is only really happy as an actor when he’s frightened!’ And, for an actor stepping into the breech at the final moment, there was plenty to be frightened about! It was agreed that Fran and Philippa would have a telephone conversation with Viggo and, if it went well, that Peter would interrupt the shoot and talk with him personally.

  Viggo was in a phone-box in the middle of Iowa and Fran and Philippa spoke with him for over an hour. Their overriding memory of that exploratory call was that they were conscious of doing all the talking and had no real sense of whether or not Viggo was interested. Then came a glimmer of hope. Fran recalls, ‘The first time we got an indication he was possibly considering accepting the role was when he asked, at the end of the call, “How old was I when I was taken to the Elves?” Philippa and I were thrilled by that.’

  The call had evidently gone well enough for Viggo to agree to talk with me and I spoke with him on a phone in the bar of The Prancing Pony. I talked a bit about what we were doing, the style of the film, how long we were planning to shoot, and what the commitment involved. Viggo asked one or two questions but there were long silences from his end. Awkwardly long. I’d be wondering whether the phone had cut off and would start talking about something else, hoping he was still there. Then Viggo would ask another question, which I’d answer, which would be followed by another long silence!

  I really felt that the conversation wasn’t going well and that Viggo was reluctant to commit. Just at the point when the call was winding down and I had convinced myself that we were going to have to keep looking for our Aragorn, he said, ‘Well, I guess I see you on Thursday,’ and laughed. That was how he did it. I was so happy.

  New Line’s legal department must have moved at incredible speed, because they had tied up the deal in twenty-four hours and Viggo was on a plane heading for New Zealand.

  ‘We banged out a deal in forty-eight hours,’ remembers Mark Ordesky who was in London at the time. ‘I was up all night. I worked my London day and then spent all night having a Los Angeles day hammering out the deal with Viggo and getting him on an airplane!’

  The recasting presented one concern to New Line: one of the factors in accepting
Stuart Townsend as a more youthful Aragorn than might have been expected was the belief that his character would play well opposite Liv Tyler’s Arwen, since Liv was young – and Arwen ageless!

  ‘In the back of our minds,’ says Mark, ‘this would be a double win. In the end, Stuart and Liv never interacted on film and I had to make a call to explain that Viggo was now going to be playing Aragorn. At the time, all Liv knew about Viggo was that he was this very intense, very driven, very focused borderline-method-actor and that he had worked on The Perfect Murder with her friend, Gwyneth Paltrow. So already there was this kind of potentially interesting dynamic: Liv was heading off for New Zealand to deal with an actor who was totally different to the one she thought she was going to be dealing with!’

  Any anxieties were allayed when the two actors eventually met in New Zealand. ‘I remember being extremely nervous,’ recalls Mark. ‘I was in Los Angeles and I kept calling Wellington and asking: “Have they met yet? How’s it going?” Because the ship had sailed; the deals were done; this was now our Aragorn and Arwen – we hoped! Happily, it was instantly and perfectly clear that chemistry-wise and otherwise it was going to work.’

  Nevertheless the opening days were full of concerns and tensions…