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Viggo Mortensen will forever be synonymous with his role in Peter Jackson’sThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy. The actor played the role of Aragorn in all three films and was the sworn protector of Frodo and Sam in their journey from the Shire to Mount Doom. The actor won the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast In A Motion Picture forThe Return of the King.
While the final film in the trilogy made history for being the first fantasy film to win Best Picture at the Oscars, Mortensen seemed to have a less-than-stellar opinion about the movie. He mentioned how the last two films leaned more towards CGI and visual effects as opposed to the practical effects ofThe Fellowship of the Ring, which seemed to have carried over to Jackson’sThe Hobbittrilogy.
Viggo Mortensen Criticized The Extensive Use Of CGI InThe Lord Of The RingsFilms
The Lord of the Ringsfranchise is often ranked among the greatest films ever made due to the scale and vision of filmmaker Peter Jackson. The New Zealand filmmaker adapted the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, which were regarded as unadaptable, and made the fictional world of Middle Earth a reality. The film trilogy has also been known to be a milestone in VFX.
The first film of the franchiseThe Fellowship of the Ringwas known for its use of practical effects more than CGI and VFX. The film popularized the ‘forced perspective’ illusion that made the Hobbits and Dwarfs look shorter than normal humans’ stature without any VFX involved. All three films won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
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Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in the films, spoke about how Peter Jackson used practical effects to give the films a more organic quality, especially with the cities of Mordor and Rivendell. He said in an interview withThe Telegraph,
“Peter was always a geek in terms of technology, but once he had the means to do it, and the evolution of the technology really took off, he never looked back. In the first movie [‘The Fellowship of the Ring’], yes, there’s Rivendell and Mordor, but there’s sort of an organic quality to it, actors acting with each other, and real landscapes; it’s grittier.”
However, the second and third films have been noted for using more VFX and CGI than practical effects like the first film. After the success of the first film,The Two Towersreportedly got a bigger budget, giving Peter Jackson more tools to experiment with. Mortensen said,
“The second movie [‘The Two Towers’] already started ballooning, for my taste, and then by the third one [‘Return of the King’], there were a lot of special effects. It was grandiose, and all that, but whatever was subtle, in the first movie, gradually got lost in the second and third. Now with ‘The Hobbit,’ one and two, it’s like that to the power of 10.”
Peter Jackson followed upThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy withThe Hobbittrilogy which has often been regarded as inferior to the original films. The latter was also known for its use of CGI and increasing the frame rate of projection to 48fps instead of the traditional 24 (viaTech Radar).
Peter Jackson’sThe HobbitHad More VFX Shots ThanLord of the Rings
While Viggo Mortensen was disappointed withPeter Jackson’sreliance on digital effects for the last two films ofThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy, it would only go on to be much more digitally reliant withThe Hobbittrilogy. The prequel films have always been regarded as inferior to the original, especially due to all three films being based on just one book.
The films were made a decade after the original and by then Hollywood had made many leaps in the realm of digital effects. According to Tech Radar, the VFX shots in the firstThe Hobbitfilm were 22,000, whileThe Return of the Kinghad 18,000. The films were shot mostly on green screens and were not as practically driven as the original films.
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Sir Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in all six films confessed that he was miserable while shootingThe Hobbitbecause of extensive green screens. He mentioned toTime Outmagazine that he preferred the on-location filming process ofThe Lord of the Rings,
“If Gandalf was on top of a mountain, I’d be there on the mountain. The technology was being invented while we were making the film. [In ‘The Lord of the Rings’] I wasn’t involved in any of that, I was away acting on a mountain. I tend not to remember the bad times, but I don’t think there were any. I think I enjoyed every single moment of making those films.”
Viggo Mortensen also mentioned to The Telegraph that he expected Peter Jackson to make a smaller film after the original trilogy and even had some hope when he tackledThe Lovely Bones, but it was still a big-budget film.
Nishanth A
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2417
Nishanth A is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows with over 2,000 articles published. He has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years and a scriptwriter at various corporations before that, working on educational content. With a Communications, English Literature, and Psychology triple major, Nishanth usually covers news and analyses on Star Trek, particularly Strange New Worlds and The Next Generation; Doctor Who, the DCU, and more.A Nolan fan, Nishanth spends his time exploring the filmographies of various directors with an auteurial style or can be found making short movies of his own. He has also contributed as a feature writer for Film Companion, focusing on the South division.
