'Rings' props on display show 'obsessive' attention to detail

By ANDREW FLYNN

Wednesday, October 31, 2001

TORONTO -- To whip up anticipation for the upcoming Lord of the Rings trilogy, producers of the films sent some of its more eye-catching props here to show off a bit.

One might expect the props for a series of movies that cost an estimated $278 million US to film to be pretty good.

But the level of detail that went into creating the 300-odd pieces of equipment on display until Nov. 11 at the historic Casa Loma is astonishing -- beyond obsessive.

It's the only North American location where the props will be displayed. Chainmail, swords, daggers, leather jerkins, helmets, banners, books, pipes, glass, arrows -- they are just a taste of the 20,000 lovingly hand-crafted for the movies.

"We went into it three years ago with a brief from (writer and director) Peter Jackson that he wanted it to be as authentic and detailed as if we were living there, as if we were part of Middle Earth," says Dan Hennah, the films' supervising art director.

Hennah speaks of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy world, in which ordinary men (and elves, dwarves and hobbits) do battle with ultimate evil, as if it were an historical period.

Looking at hand-blown glass and a hand-tooled leather quiver embossed with intricate designs, he admits with a chuckle that just possibly, the crew went a little overboard in its pursuit of realism.

"It's partly because Tolkien is such a incredibly visual writer," he says. To do justice to an author who invented entire races and languages both spoken and written, who created a world with its own rich history requires extreme attention to detail, he says. "And there was obsession, certainly," he says.

The trilogy opens Dec. 19 with the first film The Fellowship of the Ring. The Two Towers and The Return of the King follow, one each in the next two Decembers. Tolkien fans have been slavering with anticipation for years. The rest of the world is about to discover what makes them ravenous, says co-star John Rhys-Davies, in town Tuesday to promote the exhibit.

"There's no doubt about it, this is going to be bigger than Star Wars, this picture," Rhys-Davies says, as he has been repeating for some time.

"To begin with, and this is by no means a criticism of (Star Wars Creator) George Lucas, it really is quite a substantial piece of literature and it is brilliantly cast -- present company excepted -- brilliantly directed. Every single aspect of this film is of a standard that you could only dream about."

One of the central mysteries around the production is how Rhys-Davies, the burly six-foot Welshman who starred as Indiana Jones sidekick Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark, is transformed into the four-foot-tall dwarf, Gimli.

"As you can see, there is a slight discrepancy in my height and weight with that of some of my co-workers..." he drawls with a sideways glance at slight young co-star Dominic Monaghan.

Neither he nor 25-year-old Monaghan (who is similarly shrunk to a 31/2 foot hobbit) is giving the secret up.

But they lavish Jackson with an unusual degree of praise, both for his skill as a director and as an interpreter of Tolkien, an Oxford scholar of classical literature who first published the books in 1954.

"I read the books as a kid, I knew how huge the project was going to be," says Monaghan.

"I knew that what he was doing was something special and even if it falls short, what he's striving for is something quite brilliant. And I think he achieved it really.

"My only task was to understand and commit my character to camera as best I could. I'm just a small cog in this huge, sprawling beast of a movie."

Making The Lord of the Rings may be one the most difficult tasks a movie-maker could ever face. The technology to adequately express even a modicum of Tolkien's vast imagination has only recently been developed.

And Jackson has an unenviable double responsibility: he must please rabid fans as well as an audience unfamiliar with Tolkien.

"There is always a danger in upsetting (Tolkien fans) but you have to understand that the biggest fan of all is Peter Jackson," says Rhys-Davies.

"It is a great yarn. I think I was the first person officially to come out loudly and say 'Guys, raise your expectations.' This film will be received with astonishment by all.

"I have seen nothing since that time that leads me to believe that this is not going to be."

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Some facts about the upcoming Lord of the Rings films:
-  Props display: Oct. 31 to Nov. 11 at Casa Loma, Toronto
-  Film debut: Dec. 19
-  Director: Peter Jackson
-  Estimated cost: $278 million US

Some props:
-  900 suits of hand-made armour
-  2,000 rubber and safety weapons
-  100 special, hand-made weapons
-  20,000 household and everyday items handmade by artisans
-  1,600 pairs of prosthetic feet and ears, individually sized and shaped

http://www.canoe.ca/JamLordOfTheRings/oct31_lotr-cp.html