Various facts you may or may not know.

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  • Ian McKellen's first day of shooting on the trilogy was Gandalf's first scene, arriving in Hobbiton. His second day of shooting was Gandalf's final scene of the film, at the Gray Havens.

  • In the scene where the Hobbits return to Hobbiton, three of the hobbits had slight problems during the shoot. Elijah Wood had a hard time controlling his pony, Sean Astin was allergic to the ponies, and Dominic Monaghan was in a really bad mood because of technical aspects revolving around the scene. Billy Boyd was "in stitches" during the shoot.

  • The London Daily Mail reported (5 December 2003) that the stars of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy were paid bonuses on top of their salaries, depending on how long cast members spent on the three films. The hobbit actors, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan received bonuses of between 430,000 and 560,000 per film. Bernard Hill and Ian McKellen earned 312,000 per film, with Liv Tyler making a little less.

  • In February 2004, became second film to break the $1 billion mark in worldwide box-office revenue (Titanic (1997) was the first).

  • Andy Serkis was rumored to appear as a hobbit in The Green Dragon at the end of the film, but does not.

  • The scene of the Rohirrim charging the Pelennor had to be filmed 52 times before the crew were satisfied with the take. During this process, about 60 of the 280 horses participating had to drop out for various reasons.

  • Peter Jackson's children appear twice in the film: in Gondor, when the horsemen leave the city, and in Sam's wedding.

  • To get enough extras for the Battle of the Pelennor fields, a few hundred members of the New Zealand army were brought in. They apparently were so enthusiastic during the battle scenes that they kept breaking the wooden swords and spears they were given.

  • At 35 letters "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" has the longest title of any Best Picture Oscar winner in history. It surpasses the record previously held by Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) which has 26.

  • After the War of the Ring Éomer knights Merry and renames him "Holdwine of the Mark."

  • "Rohan" is actually what the people of Gondor call it. Its own people call it "The Mark" or "Riddermark."

  • Craig Parker (Haldir) provided the voice for the Nazgul who says: "Give up the Halfling, She-Elf!" and also provided some of the Nazgul screams.

  • Tolkien was unhappy with all of the people who became hopelessly obsessed with Middle-earth and his books. It upset him when he heard of couples who had LOTR themes for their weddings and other such tributes to his work, because he himself could always part from the world he had created, and take his mind off of it nearly any time he wanted. He was not happy to learn that not everyone could.

  • In the film, Peter Jackson has a cameo in the Helm's Deep sequence. He also has a cameo in Bree as a drunken, burping guy. Illustrator Alan Lee has a cameo in the Prologue as one of the kings of men.

  • When Aragorn first runs into Arwen in the film, he says "I love you" in Danish, not Elvish. Actor Viggo Mortensen speaks Danish fluently.

  • Actor Christopher Lee who plays Saruman is the only cast (or crew) member of the film to have met J.R.R. Tolkien.

  • The four hobbits (Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Sean Astin) learned to surf while filming in New Zealand took place.