Production Companies New Line Cinema, WingNut Films, Lord Dritte Productions Deutschland Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG (in association with), The Saul Zaentz Company (licensor) (d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises)
For a year and a half, Jackson and his devoted production team of over 2,400 filmed all over the spectacular landscapes of New Zealand.
Following the initial 276-day production, cast and crew reunited in Wellington, NZ, for supplementary shooting for The Return of the King, only this time, when they wrapped production, their journey was finally complete.
Production designer Grant Major oversaw the creation of life-sized sets for such varying locations as the haunting and grim Paths of the Dead, the fading but majestic Minas Tirith, the sprawling Pelennor Fields and the depths of Mordor. The mandate from the beginning was to breathe life into a totally real world with a depth of realism and functionality that would hold up under the closest scrutiny. "Tolkien describes the locations very vividly in the book," comments Peter Jackson. "You can just imagine them in your mind’s eye, so finding them was almost like casting an actor."
"Peter has continued through these three films to let Middle-earth be a character in its own right," comments Taylor. "So, through the art of the film, through the visual effects, the physical effects, the art department, so much effort has been put into trying to create Middle-earth as a character. Audiences will hopefully understand why this small group of people would so vehemently and passionately fight to preserve what is good in the world of Middle-earth."
To find the right locations, location scouts Dave Kolmer and Robert Murphy scoured New Zealand, taking photos and videos of possible sites. Once the choices were narrowed down, Jackson, along with director of photography Andrew Lesnie, first assistant director Carol Cunningham and a number of key crew set out on "wreckeys" (helicopter scouting trips) to find their locations. "We’d look at it from an artistic point of view, first of all," Jackson describes. "Does this feel like it came from the pages of Tolkien’s book? Then, we looked at it from a logistical point of view. Where do we park the trucks? Where can we feed the crew? Sometimes there weren’t roads and we had to build them. But first and foremost, it had to look as it was described in the book."
"I think the cast was inspired by these amazing locations," comments director of photography Lesnie. "New Zealand, for its size, boasts a staggering range of very melodramatic locations. Many of them could have been recreated in the studio, but it would not have inspired the performances given by the actors."
One of the most complex locations in The Return of the King is Minas Tirith, a seven-tiered city of kings where a huge portion of the film unfolds. "We were looking a little bit towards an equivalent for Ancient Rome or Ancient Byzantium," comments Alan Lee. "It would be an extraordinary structure."
Both Minas Tirith and the set for Helm’s Deep from The Two Towers were constructed at the Dry Creek Quarry, with its massive natural rock formations, just outside of Wellington. "The city of Minas Tirith is one of the things that I’ve been looking forward to in The Return of the King," says Peter Jackson. "We created the city in two different ways. We built this huge set in a quarry. It was like a backlot. In all these nooks and crannies there were corners of it built. Then, we ripped it down and within a few weeks we built and shot the Helm’s Deep castle, and ripped it down and within a couple of weeks we built Minas Tirith."
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