Last week, Amazon Studios, who have already spent £336.5million on the first series, revealed the subsequent seasons will be made in the UK.
But how much do you know about the Lord Of The Rings?
Nadine Linge takes a trip to Middle-earth with 12 hobbit-sized facts.
1. The Lord Of The Rings is a fantasy following the efforts of a group of companions, including halfling hobbit Frodo Baggins, to destroy a ring and prevent it from falling into the hands of the dark lord Sauron.
2. Published in three volumes, with The Fellowship Of The Ring the first to be released in 1954, it is one of the world’s most popular books, with more than 150million copies sold.
3. Tolkien created approximately 16 languages, including the Elvish dialects Sindarin and Quenya, which were included in his work.
(Image: Village Roadshow Entertainment)
4. It was made into a blockbuster trilogy by Sir Peter Jackson and filmed in New Zealand. The first film was released in 2001.
5. It starred Elijah Wood as Frodo, a little-known Orlando Bloom as elf Legolas, Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf and Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn.
6. Sir Sean Connery read for Gandalf but the script left him baffled. He said: “I never understood it.” Nicolas Cage was offered the role of Aragorn but turned it down due to “family obligations”.
(Image: Reuters)
7. The late Chris-topher Lee wanted to play Gandalf as he was a LOTR superfan who had actually met Tolkien, but was cast as evil wizard Saruman as he was too old for the action-heavy role.
8. Brit actor Sean Bean played Boromir but his fear of flying meant he had to hike up mountains rather than get a lift with the others. He said: “I was two hours behind everybody else on top of this mountain because I just didn’t want to get into any helicopters.”
9. The climax of the second Two Towers film is the Battle Of Helm’s Deep where the forces of good overwhelm the Uruk-hai army. The chants of the baddies were provided by a stadium of New Zealand cricket fans who were recorded shouting the words from a screen.
(Image: PA)
10. The Beatles wanted to make a LOTR film in the 1960s. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, it would have starred Paul as Frodo, Ringo as Sam, George as Gandalf and John as Gollum. Tolkien rejected the idea.
11. The stars who played the members of the fellowship got matching tattoos after filming – a small inking of the number nine in Elvish. But John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) declined so his stunt double got it instead.
12. If you wanted to watch Jackson’s trilogy in total it would take nine hours 18 minutes. The extended editions would take an even more bum-numbing 11 hours 26 minutes to view.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
