Useless Movie Trivia
The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers

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Memorable Quotes

Gimli: I cannot jump the distance, you'll have to toss me.

Gandalf: The battle of Helm's Deep is over; the battle for Middle Earth is about to begin.

Gollum: All dead... all rotten. Elves and men and orcses. A great battle, long ago. The Dead Marshes... yes, that is their name.

Gollum: He wants the precious. Always he is looking for it. And the precious is wanting to go back to him... But we mustn't let him have it.

Gandalf: All our hopes now lie with two little hobbits, somewhere in the wilderness.

Theoden: When last I looked, Théoden, not Aragorn, was king of Rohan.

Gandalf: Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east.

Ugluk: Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys.

Gandalf: Three hundred lives of men I have walked this earth and now I have no time.

Treebeard: You must understand, young Hobbit, it takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.

Treebeard: I promised Gandalf I would keep you safe and safe is where I'll keep you.

Gandalf: From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak I fought with the Balrog of Morgoth... Until at last I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountain side... Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time... The stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as a life age of the earth... But it was not the end. I felt life in me again. I've been sent back until my task is done.

Sam: You know I don't usually hold with foreign food, but this Elvish stuff - it's not bad.

Frodo: The Ring will not save Gondor. It only has the power to destroy. Please, let me go.

Sam: Mordor... the one place in Middle-Earth we don't want to see any closer... the one place we're trying to get to... is just where we can't get. Let's face it, Mr. Frodo. We're lost!

Theoden: Look at my men. Their courage hangs by a thread. If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end, as to be worthy of remembrance.

Gimli: Keep breathing. That's the key. Breathe.

Trivia

Stuart Townsend was fired shortly after shooting began due to creative differences.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) were filmed simultaneously.

The Gollum that is briefly glimpsed in "The Fellowship of the Ring" is an entirely different creation to the one that appears in "The Two Towers". It was during the filming of the second movie that Peter Jackson realized that Andy Serkis's physical performance would have to be employed in the digital creation of Gollum. So Weta Digital had to alter the design of one of the lead characters in the film, scanning Serkis's face so that they would be able to incorporate some of his facial characteristics. (The fact that Jackson had also filmed a flashback to be included in "The Return of the King" with Serkis playing the original Smeagal only cemented this decision.) This ultimately meant however that Weta Digital had two and a half months to redo two years' work. Serkis himself thought that the final result looked like a combination of his father and his newborn baby.

Tell-tale signs (grayer hair, blotchy skin) are introduced to show that the Uruk'hai are an inbred set of creatures, who are already starting to erode.

The dead horses that can be seen at the end of the battle scenes are all made of polystyrene.

As the Orcs have black blood, it was only natural that the inside of their mouths should not be pink but black as well. To achieve this, the Orc actors had to swill a liquorice-based mouthwash prior to each of their scenes.

The animatronic puppet of Treebeard was 14 feet high.

Sean Astin and Elijah Wood spent most of their scenes acting to an orange ping pong ball which was turned into Gollum in post-production.

The miniature of the Black Gates of Mordor was partly made of lead.

The Helms Deep battle took four months to shoot, all of it at night.

The scene where Gandalf calls for his horse and Shadowfax comes galloping across the fields and straight up his master was achieved in the very first take.

The theatrical version contains roughly 800 special effects shots. The DVD Extended Edition adds about another 160 to that total.

Miniature photography for the trilogy took up a total of 988 days.

Viggo Mortensen now owns the horse that his character Aragorn rides in the film.

Edoras is only ever filmed during the day as it was well nigh impossible to transport all the necessary night-time lighting equipment up to the location.

Most of the Helms Deep set was made of polystyrene.

Cate Blanchett has only three shots in this film.

Elijah Wood's sister is one of the refugees in Helms Deep. As is Henry Mortenson, Viggo's son. Philippa Boyens' son Callum is the boy who gives Aragorn his sword but that is not his voice in the final film. Callum's voice had broken by the time it came to do the looping, so a different voice was cast.

There were never more than 100 Uruk'hai at any time; the rest were all computer generated.

They couldn't recruit enough men in the 6 foot height area to play Uruk'hai so men from 5 foot high were cast as well. They were affectionately nicknamed the Uruk'Low.

Instead of being hired out, all the hero horses were actually bought for the production, to allow them the chance to get used to the comings and goings of film crews.

The Battle of Helms Deep features hundreds of spears made of cardboard tubes so that none of the charging horses would be injured.

One of the chief incentives for Sean Astin to take the part of Sam was his own father who had previously worked with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh on "The Frighteners" (1996) and had been so enthused with their rapport, understanding of film and appreciation of their crew.

When Frodo and Sam (Sean Astin) are in Osgiliath, Sam says, "By rights, we shouldn't even be here." This was a nod to the deviation the screenplay had taken from the book's storyline. In the book, Sam and Frodo never passed through Osgiliath at all.

Another problem faced by the writers was that - unlike "The Fellowship of the Ring" - no major characters die in the course of "The Two Towers", something which could have easily provided them with an emotional climax.

The Dead Marshes were actually a water-filled parking lot, the same one that had doubled up for outside the mines of Moria in "The Fellowship of the Ring". Passengers in passing trains on the adjacent railway line were able to see Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and Andy Serkis performing onset.

11,000 sandbags were used for the construction of the Dead Marshes set.

The location for Edoras was in the midst of a national park. The Conservation Society of New Zealand gave them permission to film there on the proviso that they returned it in exactly the same condition that they found it. This meant lifting most of the natural vegetation and grasses up and storing them in a purpose-built nursery, as filming in the location would last approximately 18 months.

The Orc juice that is poured down Merry's throat is a combination of peach juice and Sodastream cola concentrate.

On the wall of Helm's Deep during the battle, a one-eyed warrior turns to the camera, revealing his scarred empty socket. The performer who played him showed up as an extra, wearing an eye patch; director Peter Jackson politely asked to see what was under the patch, and then inquired if the gentleman would be interested in appearing in the film sans eye patch. The gentleman was reluctant at first and quite self-conscious, but afterward said the experience had made him more comfortable with his condition.

John Rhys-Davies, also provided the voice for Treebeard.

Peter Jackson's children appear as "cute Rohan refugee children".

The map that Faramir and Madril look at is the map featured in the books, drawn by Tolkien's son, Christopher.

Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan spent so much time up the tree (TreeBeard) during the making of the the film that they spent their time between takes writing a screenplay. Additionally, it was so difficult to get up and down to their "perches" that they were left there during breaks while the rest of the crew went off to eat, though someone was kind enough to pass theirs up to them.

The sound of the fell beasts that the ringwraiths ride is actually the noise of a donkey.

The scene with the Orcs before the Battle for Helms Deep starts, where they stomp their spears into the ground, was inspired by the same act the stuntmen would do between takes to pass time. After seeing it, Jackson liked it, and put it in the movie.

The Lembas Bread that Sam and Frodo eat in the beginning of the film was actually shortbread cookies made by the art department.

Early trailers for The Two Towers included a brief scene of Eowyn waiting to attack an Uruk-hai from behind a pillar; this scene is not included in either the theatrical version or the extended edition.

Gollum's pupils signal his frame of mind. "Treacherous Gollum" has narrow pupils; "friendly Gollum" has slightly wider pupils. This is most obvious in the scene when the two sides of his personality struggle with each other.

During one take while filming the scene when Aragorn is floating down the river, Viggo Mortensen was dragged under water for many seconds. He managed to kick himself back up off a rock, perhaps saving his life. A safety team then rescued him and took him to shore.

Many of Treebeard's lines come from the book, but were spoken by Tom Bombadil in the first volume.

The warg attack against the Rohirrim was originally supposed to be set at night, and at Edoras. After working on the Edoras set during the day, Peter Jackson decided that it was too windy and too cold to bring cast and crew back for a night scene, so the scene was re-written to happen during daylight.

The dawn shot of Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas pursuing the orcs came about when Viggo Mortensen persuaded the second unit team to camp out on location. Mortenson's efforts in organizing the overnight trip were so effective that actors and crew from the other film units, including Miranda Otto, came out to join him.

Body count: 468

Goofs

When Treebeard is talking to Merry and Pippin at the Entmoot, the stars that can be seen behind him change.

The gash on Merry's face changes sides throughout the movie. Sometimes it is on his left brow, sometimes on the right.

After the battle with the Wargs (on the way to Helm's Deep), when Aragorn is lying near the river the horse that comes to him has no saddle or bridle, just a simple rope and halter. And then, when we see Aragorn riding towards the Helm's Deep again, the horse has full equipment.

In the storeroom where Sam is suggesting that Frodo use the Ring to escape, Frodo is initially sitting in front of a barrel. When Faramir arrives, Frodo and Sam are sitting on a cloak and there are no barrels in sight.

When the main characters are standing on the cliff looking out towards Mordor, you can see Helm's Deep over their shoulders. The hole in the wall from the gunpowder is conspicuous by its absence.

Legolas' eyes are brown for the majority of the battle of Helm's Deep, instead of their customary blue. However, it is reported that this particular color change came about when Orlando Bloom's blue contact lenses were forgotten during some of the shooting for this sequence.

In the beginning of the movie, when Frodo and Sam are walking on the rocky mountain their rubber artificial feet can be clearly seen flapping around.

The Uruk-Hai camp right on the edge of Fangorn Forest when they are slaughtered by the Rohirrim. The next morning, when the Rohirrim surround Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli and they talk about having "left none alive" and they look to where they stacked and burned the dead bodies, there is no forest in sight around the burning bodies.

When the Roherrim attack the Uruk Hai outside of Fangorn Forest, Merry and Pippin are bound at the wrists. Pippin is almost trampled by a horse and, when he turns, you can see his hands are clearly free. They later cut the cords with a knife.

As Théoden, Aragorn and the others ride out of Hornborg at the end of the battle, when they ride down the "bridge", one of the computer generated orcs, on the side of the bridge that is closest to the camera, goes straight through one of the horses before he is thrown from the bridge.

When Frodo and Sam are hidden under the elvish cloak at the Black Gate, we can see from under the cape the feet of the enemy soldier through a gap in between the cloth and the floor. But in the next shoot when Frodo unfold the cape (that looks like a rock) we can see it was well buried in the dust and there is no possible gap.

When Frodo is sliding down the hill outside the Black Gate he has a pack on his back but when he covers Sam with his cloak the pack is gone.

When Gandalf and crew march into Theoden's house, Legolas is gripping Gandalf's arm when seen from the front, but not when seen from behind (and it looks as though Gandalf was expecting him to be gripping it, with his arm cocked).

At Osgiliath. Frodo is seen walking toward the wall and clearly has no sword. When he stands on the wall and is about to be snatched by the Ring Wraith, Sam grabs him and they tumble down the stairs. Frodo pulls a sword and puts it to Sam's throat despite the fact that he had no sword and had been in Faramir's custody and would not have been left armed anyway.

Whilst tracking the Uruk Hai, Legolas says "The Uruks turn north east, they are taking the hobbits to Isengard". Isengard is in fact to the north west, not north east.

Box Office Info For The USA

Budget: $94,000,000

Opening Weekend: $727,645

Gross: $340,478,898

Filming Dates: October 11, 1999 - December 22, 2000

Filming Locations