Jon Sandys

The Lord of the Rings Jon Sandys

More than 500 cinematic bloopers and bits of trivia for the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, many with screenshots illustrating what to look out for. Characters disappearing, costumes changing, cameo appearances, behind the scenes info and much more. Peter Jackson himself, when faced with some of these errors in an interview after the trilogy was complete, said "this is fun" as he explained the causes behind some of them.* After starting their four day journey through the long dark of Moria, a few shots later Gandalf pulls on his hat brim, and just as he walks (with Legolas close behind) to his left (towards the viewer's right), up some stairs, the black electrical cable leading from the staff to under the robe's left sleeve is visible.* While filming the trilogy, Viggo Mortensen got so into character that, during a conversation with Peter Jackson, Jackson addressed him as "Aragorn" for more than half an hour, and Mortensen didn't even realize it.* Merry and Pippin were bound when taken by the Uruk-hai, and the bonds weren't cut until after they managed to escape during the fight. Yet, when the horse almost crashed down on Pippin, he had his arms spread out up near his face, not bound, even though they weren't cut until later. In the next shot, his hands are bound again.* The actors playing the Hobbits required hours of work just to get on their Hobbit feet. It was so long and terrible that Sean Astin (Sam) counted the amount of times they had to put their feet on when it never showed up on camera in that day of filming. The final count was 50.* In the second half of The Return of the King, Frodo has a scar on his lower right cheek, close to his chin. Many times throughout the rest of the film the scar changes position and size on his right cheek. It also appears on his left cheek in flipped shots (most obviously on the slopes of Mount Doom when Sam is cradling his head).* When Merry and Pippin have just taken the dragon firework from Gandalf's cart in The Fellowship of the Ring and are in the tent tossing it back and forth, Pippin shrieks when it goes off. Apparently, Peter Jackson had told Billy Boyd it would only spark and fizzle, so he was fairly surprised when it shot off in his hands.