Lord Of The Rings Cast Had To Be Protected By A Real Army For A Scary Reason
The New Zealand army was brought in during filming to sweep for land mines and explosives that could kill the Lord of the Rings cast.
The Lord of Rings made New Zealand quite famous, as the country was the home to a lot of places where the trilogy was shot. Though the country was more than willing to be the location for this epic series, a new video details the scary real-life threats that faced the actors. The New Zealand army was brought in to serve as extras for the movie, and protect the cast from real-world dangers—which includes sweeping the land for explosives and land mines
The video in the above paragraph showcases the actors from Lord of the Rings recounting the dangers they were told about, including Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen stating that one of the officers from the army held up several bombs and explosives. He told them that they might find these explosives in the field they were shooting and warned them to “not touch them.”
Peter Jackson revealed that during a scene in the third Lord of the Rings movie, the New Zealand army had cleared a zone for the Fellowship to gallop towards, which was during the scene at the Black Gate. However, the actors had gone too far, and everyone was worried they would have detonated a hidden land mine. Jackson recalls, “I think that they went a little further than they were supposed to, and we were all hoping they weren’t going to step on a landmine.”
We are not sure if anyone reading this has ever had to deal with active land mines and bombs but believing that you might be blown up is certainly one of the most frightening thoughts to have while at work. Thankfully, no Lord of the Rings actors had been blown up, otherwise, the production for the epic final chapter might have been canceled. The New Zealand army also functions as more than just sweeping the land for life-threatening explosives.
The New Zealand army was standing in as extras during the previously mentioned scenes, as they were the army backing up the Fellowship during their final battle with Mordor and Sauron. However, the soldiers were far too skilled in combat and kept breaking their weapons on one another in these fake fights. Hopefully, no Lord of the Rings actors caught the business end of a fake sword from a real-life trained soldier.
New Zealand soldiers also stepped in during the battle when Rohan stormed Minis Tirith in Lord of the Rings, though Jackson wanted to ensure that he had many skilled horse riders to make the battle more authentic. The production hired many skilled horse riders from New Zealand, though most were women. Jackson combated this by putting fake beards on the women, so it would still seem like Eowyn was the only woman going headfirst into the battle.
Lord of the Rings became a masterful achievement and led to Peter Jackson receiving Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director. The dedication the man had to his films was certainly something that most of the industry knew about, as well as the fans. The dedication also led to the actors being in danger of being blown up, but that was the risk they were all willing to take.
