Apologies if this has come up before, but I couldn’t find it via a Search, so…
A couple friends and I discuss this perennially.
What if, back in the mid to late 80s, Spielberg and Lucas had gotten the rights to Lord of the Rings and filmed it?
They were very marketable after Star Wars and the Indiana Jones movies, so let’s say they could get the okay for a three movie series—anyone else doing it would probably be forced to keep it to two, or even one movie.
Five questions:
1)How would they manage the Hobbits using 80s technology? Use real Little People as in Willow? Or perhaps cast young teenagers heavily made up and dub in adult voices?
2)Given the time period, I doubt they could get financing for all three movies to be made at once, as Jackson did, so let’s assume it would have been a minimum of 2-3 years between films. Could such a project carry the public through all three films? Star Wars and Indiana Jones did it, but others have failed miserably at such a task.
and
3)Who do you think they would have cast in the major roles?
My preferences for casting some of the major roles:
Gandalf-Richard Harris
Aragorn-Daniel Day Lewis
Legolas-Cary Elwes
Gimli-Danny DeVito (or, alternatively, a short, stocky unknown heavily made up with his voice also dubbed in)
Galadriel-Glenn Close
Elrond-Patrick Stewart
Arwen-Jennifer Connelly
Boromir-Kenneth Brannaugh
Faramir-Michael Biehn
Eowyn-Joanne Whaley
Eomer-Val Kilmer
Theoden-Charlton Heston
Saruman–Christopher Lee (hey, he was still old in the 80s and still had “the voice”)
Grima Wormtongue-Rowan Atkinson
4)Given the fact that such a production would probably have cost about $60 million a film in 1980s dollars, and also given that SFX pre-CGI would make it less impressive visually than th modern versions of the LOTR, do you think it would have been a history-making flop or would it be seen with the same appreciation as the Jackson films?
5)How much liberty do you think Spielberg and Lucas would have taken with the source material?
Actually, I don’t think they used any fancy modern CGI to make the hobbits look small, just old fashioned camera tricks. So…how about John Rhys Davies as Gimli? Spielberg and Lucas had already worked with him in Raiders…
I believe they DID use computer effects many times to make the Hobbits look small. They also used CGI to simulate the entire fellowship running together in certain parts of the Mines of Moria.
Back in '77, while still in high school, my friend Brian and I devoted way too much time to this very subject. Her’s what we came up with , IIRC:
Gandalf: Sean Connery
Aragorn: Christopher Lee
Galadriel: LIv Ullman
Boromir: Beau Bridges
Faramir: Jeff Bridges
Denethor: Richard Burton (or Peter O’Toole)
Elrond: Robert Shaw
Celeborn: Richard Harris
Bilbo: Billy Barty
Legolas: Shaun Cassidy
Eomer: Michael York
Theoden: Maurice Evans
Eowyn: Cybil Shepard
Saruman: Charlton Heston (or Alec Guiness)
We figure Gimli and the Hobbits would have to be unknowns, probably real little people.
I’m inventing a time machine just so these versions of LOTR can get made! Love both casting ideas.
Btw, I also have decided to live another 100 years as by then, 22nd Century filmmakers will have decided it’s time for LOTR remakes.
Tolkien fans bitch about elves at helms Deep, and the omission of the scouring. Can you imagine the volume of the whining if Lucas got his suckfull hands on LOTR.
I mean look at eps I and II, the man can suck up his own universe. I for one would not want him to get his hands, and ego, on Tolkien's.
Sweetums
(long time Tolkien fan who loved Jackson’s versions)
I am so glad these movies did not get made in the 80’s (and am right with Sweetums on Lucas)! Maybe “our” cast will look silly in 20 years time - but Cary Elwes? Shaun Cassidy? Jeff Bridges? Yuckeroo. Liv Ullman, possibly.
