The trilogy of The Lord of the rings It’s a very crazy thing. It doesn’t matter how many years pass. The books are absolute wonders and the movies are an outstanding audiovisual spectacle, especially in extended versions and in the cinema… or failing that with a good television and a sound system. You may like it more or less, but I don’t think there is much debate about it.
Director Peter Jackson did what was considered impossible: adapt the works of JRR Tolkien into three films that could accommodate the main events. Because not even the 228 minutes of The Fellowship of the Ring235 minutes of The two Towers and 263 minutes of The return of the King They were able to fully capture the vastness of Tolkien’s universe.
Later, The Hobbit trilogy filled in gaps prior to The Lord of the rings and more recently Amazon’s The Rings of Power series went back to a time much earlier than what was seen in both trilogies. And it intends to continue covering gaps in its Season 2. In addition, the film The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim Its premiere is planned for 2024. All the latest works released have had the same problem: they have not been able to live up to the original trilogy for a good number of fans… and for some actors.
It is not for less. We are talking about a trilogy that has 17 Oscar awards, of which 11 of them belong to The Return of the King, and a box office that exceeds three billion dollars. And I say more! The videogame The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King It is considered a gem, a cult release and we will never tire of asking for a remake. Now that we all speak the same language, let’s get to it!
Ian McKellen’s tears during the filming of The Hobbit
Actor Ian McKellen’s career is long. He has well-known performances as Sherlock Holmes in Mr. Holmes and Magneto in X-Men from Marvel, but nothing compared to his role in El Lord of the Rings like Gandalf. He is the most famous wizard in entertainment history along with Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore in Harry Potter. The character hides such a beautiful background that it is almost a crime that many fans do not know him… although that is a topic for another publication.
Mithrandir among the elves, Tharkún for the dwarves; Olórin was in my youth in the West that no one remembers, Incánus in the South, Gandalf in the North; I never go east.
It is no secret that the filming of The Lord of the rings in New Zealand for 438 days was an incredible and unique experience. Many of the actors continue to remember her fondly. So it can’t surprise anyone that McKellen jumped at the chance when he was asked to play the magician again in The Hobbit. His director was going to be Guillermo del Toro, but he abandoned it and it fell into the hands of Jackson.
The Hobbit trilogy has many fans (server included), but it is fair to admit that it has many more detractors and that its success is not even remotely close to what The Lord of the Rings was. Scholars, critics and fans have studied the case for years and offered a long list of reasons. The two most relevant are the following:
- The Lord of the Rings had a absurd amount of content to adapt. The division into a trilogy and the duration of each film responds to a need, not to commercial whims or Peter Jackson’s. The Hobbit did not need such a long extension, but it ended up becoming a trilogy of films to follow in the shadow of its predecessor. And it didn’t sit very well with him.
- The digital age It greatly influenced The Hobbit and marked a huge contrast to The Lord of the Rings. Real natural locations and rural areas, breathtaking panoramic views of real landscapes and numerous practical effects were replaced by CGI and green screens.
This last point especially bothered Ian McKellen (Gandalf). It was in 2018 when the actor told TimeOut
McKellen admitted during the interview that He burst into tears on set from sadness and disappointment. what he felt when he saw the contrast between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. “To film a scene with the dwarves and the great Gandalf, we couldn’t be on the same set. All I had were 13 photographs of the dwarves in stands with little lights, and every time one of them spoke, the respective light would blink” .
The actor’s conclusion was clear: “That’s not the reason I became an actor.” Following these statements, Peter Jackson admitted that McKellen suffered many limitations and lack of real interactions when playing Gandalf. In a certain way, the magician knew long before us that this new adventure was not going to be up to the task. Watching The Hobbit is a little bit more bitter since I know this.
In iGamesNews | If you liked The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, here are six games you can play between episodes: more fighting and less talking
In iGamesNews | “He didn’t want me in the movie”: the Lord of the Rings trilogy could have been very different if it weren’t for Russell Crowe’s intuition
In iGamesNews | “I hope they feel stupid”: Ian Mckellen remembers the actors who left behind the role of Gandalf for The Lord of the Rings