Movies - TV
LOTR: The Fellowship Of The Ring's Ending Was Physically Painful To Film
By JEREMY MATHAI
Peter Jackson and his team faced many challenges while filming “The Lord of the Rings,” which produced some now legendary behind-the-scenes stories. However, one mistake while filming the ending of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” resulted in significant injury, production delay, and the lingering question of what the culprit was.
As Frodo (Elijah Wood) embarks on a boat to finish his dangerous task alone, Samwise (Sean Astin) follows his friend, swimming out to join Frodo. As heartwarming as this moment is, Wood shared that the original version had the roles reversed and described the harsh reality of the environment’s freezing river and prolonged time in the water.
Wood’s said he “turned a shade of blue” from being in the river for so long, but that wasn’t the only incident, as Astin received a gash on his foot during the scene and had to be airlifted for treatment. Though it’s still a mystery what caused the injury, since no one could find exactly what impaled Austin, some on set had their theories of it being a branch or glass shard.