The Lord of the Rings: Elijah Wood claims an orc was based on Harvey Weinstein

More than ever, it is now clear to us that Hollywood does not waste money on original projects that have not previously proven successful. This nearly ruined the world of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is actor Elijah Wood who told a new anecdote about the production and how one of the first fearsome orcs they saw on set was based on the appearance of convict Harvey Weinstein.

In a new conversation with the Armchair Expert podcast, actor Elijah Wood revealed that one of the first orcs the Lord of the Rings cast saw on set was wearing a mask that looked like producer Harvey Weinstein. Recalling the story about how his company nearly prevented the trilogy from being made, good old Frodo recalled the following:

It's funny, this was said recently because Dom and Bill have a podcast. They were talking to Sean Astin about his first memory of coming to New Zealand. He had seen one of these orc masks. And one of the orc masks, I remember vividly, was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a way to tell him to go to hell. I think it's okay to talk about it now, the guy is incarcerated. F*ck it.

In case you're not aware, Miramax, Weinstein's company, was the one that originally held the rights to JRR Tolkien's books. Because of how expensive it would be to shoot all three Peter Jackson films, the producer was about to cancel plans for their adaptation until he decided to give the director a chance to find funding elsewhere. For this, he gave him just one weekend.

This led Jackson to scour Hollywood in search of a company or producer willing to give him the budget to make all three films at the same time. Finally, he found support at New Line Cinema. There, as the director himself has told on numerous occasions, they opened the doors to him even when he had already made up his mind to adapt the trilogy in just two films.

Obviously, the bet was a winner. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was a hit at the box office and with critics and fans. By the time the release of The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King concluded, the trilogy was already one of the highest-grossing sagas in history just like that last installment. The final film swept the Oscars and the movies are considered, to date, modern classics that, in addition, helped push the development of computer effects.

More than 20 years after that disagreement between the creative team and Weinstein, the infamous producer was jailed, to serve a 23-year prison sentence, for having been found guilty of sex crimes after more than eighty women accused him of harassment. and sexual abuse. While The Lord of the Rings is still a franchise, which will now continue on television with a series on Amazon, Weinstein's company ended up filing for bankruptcy and was dissolved to sell its assets to third parties.

By: Olivia J. - Gossip Whispers