It was one of my great regrets that I wasn’t fitter when we started. I got fit doing it, obviously. I went to the gym and trained and stuff like that. I just wish I’d started off at a higher level of fitness than I did, because it was hard work.
I upgraded myself as a horseman; I became a horseman rather than just a rider because of that stuff with the spears. That was an idea I had from the very first week before we even started filming. I was down at WETA where they made all the weapons and stuff like that. Richard Taylor he showed us around. They said, “This is the Rohan section.” And down one of the aisles was a rack of spears, all at an angle. I just had an image of Pelennor Fields and I thought about it a couple of days. “The King goes down there and the spirit of the King goes through his sword and into the men, the courage and all that kind of stuff. And it keeps everybody together.” I suggested it and I said to Phillipa and Fran, “I’ve got an idea for Pelennor Fields.” They said, “This is nine months away. We’re not dealing with that just yet.” So I kind of kept coming back at them and said, “What about this idea of…” They said, “Okay, fine, but we’re actually writing stuff for tomorrow now.”
Then I realized that if they’d asked me to do it, I couldn’t do it. At that time, I wasn’t really that good a rider. I thought if this does get going – and I’m really keen that it does because I fancied the idea of it – I’ve got to be able to do it. I used to go for maybe 20 hours a week, riding. We’d go riding socially on the weekends. We did all this formation riding and going down the beach 18 abreast. We’d do a kind of walk, and then the next time we’d do a simple trot, and then a collective trot, then an extended trot, then a cantor, then a gallop. If you got out of line, we’d go back and start again. It was a real discipline. Galloping down the beach 18 abreast is just a great feeling, which kind of then brought me up to pace as being a rider. I’m really proud of that. Then it came for the day to do it and that was a really hard day, but well worth doing.
Did you get any advice from Viggo Mortensen who is a horse enthusiast in real life?
No, Viggo doesn’t give advice. He’s too humble. We rode socially up in the hills. We became very good friends with the people who were training the horses and who owned the horses.
Do you feel an emotional connection with the fans in a way? And is there a difference in the fans of the books versus fans of the movies?
First of all, it’s difficult to separate the fans of the book with the fans of the film because I haven’t met anyone who has declared himself a fan, who isn’t a fan of both, if you like. There may be fans of the book who aren’t fans of the film but I haven’t met any of them.
The great thing about it is that they all feel like we do. The fans of the book know more about the book than I do, because I haven’t read it as many times as they have. I know the general outline of the book, and I know specific areas of the book as well as anybody. But when you meet the fans of the film, they feel the same way we do. Everybody seems to be very high on the films but none more so than the people who were involved in making it. We’re all really, really high on the film and proud of the achievements, and the level of response as well. The fans are fantastic, they really are amazing, and they’re all over the world. It’s such a positive feeling that we get. The response in Wellington was just extraordinary. Doing that parade, I mean hundreds of thousands of people turned out to see that parade.
PAGE 3: Editing the "Lord of the Rings" Books and the Extended DVDs
Additional “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” Press Junket Interviews:
Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, David Wenham/John Noble, and Richard Taylor/Barrie M. Osborne
“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” Premiere Coverage:
Orlando Bloom/Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood/Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, David Wenham/John Noble, John Rhys Davies/Bernard Hill, and Peter Jackson/Richard Taylor
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
"Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” Photo Gallery
"Return of the King” Trailer, Credits, Soundtrack Info and Movie News
