The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (film)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a fantasy film and the first part of a three-part film adaptation of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien . Directed by the New Zealander Peter Jackson . The world premiere took place on December 10, 2001 in London . The film opened in Germany on December 19, 2001 and attracted around 11.8 million visitors to German cinemas. The film grossed 870.7 million US dollars at box offices worldwide, making it 64th (as of August 8, 2020) of the world's most successful films of all time . The second part, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, followed in 2002and the third part, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, in 2003.
The film takes place on the continent of Middle-earth in the fictional world of Arda . It is the story of the hobbit Frodo, who comes into possession of a mighty ring. This ring is supposed to be destroyed to prevent Sauron the Dark Lord from receiving it. Sauron could thus subdue Middle-earth.
action
The companions first tell the prehistory of the so-called One Ring , which was forged by the dark ruler Sauron. The ring has magical powers and gives Sauron great power. Even so, the free peoples of Middle-earth managed to conquer Sauron. Isildur took the One Ring, but was killed in an attack by orcs. 2500 years later, when the ring was almost forgotten, it was found by Smeagol, a halfling who became the creature Gollum through the ring. The ring cursed the life of the creature for five hundred years until it went in search of a new wearer and fell into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
The real action now begins - 60 years later - in the Shire. On his 111th birthday, Bilbo decides to leave there and bequeath the ring to his nephew Frodo Baggins. By studying old records, the magician Gandalf discovers that this is the ring of the dark ruler Sauron. Sauron, who has returned to his old realm of Mordor, lets his servants, the Nazgûl , search for the ring through which he would regain his old strength. Frodo therefore has to flee from his home. His friends Samweis Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybock and Peregrin Tuk join him one after the other.
They flee from their pursuers, the Nazgûl, to Bree, where a meeting with Gandalf was arranged. This does not appear because he is being held by his former friend, but now an ally of Sauron, Saruman the White, in whose home Isengard . Instead, in Bree, the hobbits meet Aragorn, the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor. His identity, however, remains hidden for the time being because he pretends to be "Strings". He wants to lead them to the Elven city of Rivendell .
On the way there, Frodo is seriously injured in an attack by the Nazgûl. With the help of the Elf Arwen, he gets to Rivendell in time to be healed by Elrond.
In Rivendell a council made up of representatives of the free peoples of Middle-earth decides that a community of nine companions should bring the ring to Mordor in order to destroy it there. The community consists of the magician Gandalf, the hobbits Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry, the people Aragorn and Boromir, the elf Legolas and the dwarf Gimli.
On the way to Mordor, the companions have to overcome the Fog Mountains . The attempt to cross this on Mount Caradhras fails because of a snow storm triggered by Saruman. So they decide to take a detour through the mines of Moria . There they find the corpses of the dwarfs who once lived there. There is also a fight with some orcs and a cave troll. Finally, a balrog appears, a demon from the underworld who was once roused by the dwarves while digging for Mithril and who ultimately destroyed their empire in Moria. The companions flee from him. Gandalf wants to stop the Balrog on the bridge of Khazad-dûm. Both fall into a ravine together, and his companions have to continue the journey without him.
You reach the Elven Kingdom of Lórien , which is ruled by Galadriel and Celeborn. There Frodo looks in Galadriel's mirror and realizes the dangers that lie ahead of him. He offers the ring to Galadriel, who - herself a ring bearer - can resist this offer. On departure, Galadriel presents all companions with gifts that will be of great use to them on their further journey. Frodo Baggins receives a vial from Galadriel with the light of Eearendil's star. With the boats that they got from the Elves of Lórien, the companions drive on the Anduin downstream to Parth Galen.
The community is followed along the way by Uruk-hai , orcs bred by Saruman. Boromir succumbs to the power of the ring and wants to take it from Frodo below Mount Amon Hen. Frodo runs away and decides to travel on alone. In Parth Galen there is a final battle with the Uruk-hai, in which the community is torn apart. Boromir tries alone to protect the hobbits Merry and Pippin from the attacking Uruk-hai. In this fight Boromir is fatally hit by three arrows. Merry and Pippin are kidnapped by the Uruk-hai. When Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli finally come to the battlefield, they only find the badly wounded Boromir, who dies in Aragorn's arms. Sam finds Frodo when he gets into one of the Elven boats alone. Both now travel on without the other companions. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, however, decide to free the abducted hobbits and take up the chase.
History of origin
First draft of the script
The director Peter Jackson had long contemplated filming the novel The Lord of the Rings . He was well aware of the difficulty of this task. It was also clear to him early on that it was impossible to fit the story into a single film.
In the early 1990s, Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh set about writing a screenplay. At first, the two began to shorten the novel considerably. Many storylines fell out at this early stage. The first version of the script only had two films. The Companions and The Two Towers were to be combined into one film, and The Return of the King a separate film.
The big Hollywood companies , especially the Weinstein brothers from the Miramax film production company , took an early interest in the project. Jackson and his wife now began to visualize the script and let Tolkien's world arise in reality. Weta Digital , Richard Taylor's effects company , with whom Jackson had already worked on the effects of Braindead , was responsible for the entire SFX area .
But while the project was already taking shape, Miramax became aware of the dimensions of the project - for fear of incalculable costs, they wanted the story to be told in just one film. Jackson strictly rejected this. According to rumors, another reason for the end of the negotiations was the fact that Miramax was part of the Disney group. Tolkien had expressly forbidden any exploitation of the novel by Disney in his will.
Second draft script
While looking for a new financier, Jackson got in touch with the New Line Cinema studio . The company wanted to produce not just two, but even three films.
The existing script drafts had to be thoroughly revised. Jackson and his wife now came to the aid of Philippa Boyens as a co-author. New Line Cinema meanwhile acquired the rights from Miramax.
As a result, Peter Jackson was able to inspire several well -known Lord of the Rings experts for the project. He brought illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe on board. Her drawings and sketches were the basis for the work on the set of the film.
Peter Jackson attached particular importance to the representation of the Shire. The outfitters began work well over a year before the start of shooting, they planted vegetables and flowers, built the hobbit dwellings described in the novel and equipped them with custom-made furniture and utensils.
Production and post-production
Main filming began on October 11, 1999 and completed on December 22, 2000. By late summer 2003, there were also many days of shooting for additional or changed scenes.
Ultimately, Peter Jackson worked on the work for more than seven years. The New Zealander has long been regarded by experts as one of the greatest directing talents in recent years, although he had not produced films such as Braindead or Heavenly Creatures for a wide audience until then.
Locations
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was largely created in New Zealand . The studio recordings took place mainly in Wellington . The village of Hobbiton was founded in Matamata . The Mount Ngauruhoe in Tongariro National Park was staged as Mount Doom. Other locations were Whitireia and Harcourt Park.
The outdoor shots created a real "Lord of the Rings" tourism in New Zealand. Even today, tour operators are still offering tours to the locations. Marketing by the New Zealand government also played a major role in this. In the course of time, for example, the New Zealand Post Office published stamps on the subject of "Lord of the Rings". In addition, the National Bank of New Zealand has launched a special themed series of coins. The book "The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook" by Ian Brodie with detailed directions has been sold over 200,000 times.
Film music
For the music in all parts of the trilogy, Peter Jackson hired the composer Howard Shore .
After Shore was previously known for rather unusual and experimental scores (for example for The Cell and for films by David Fincher ), The Lord of the Rings demanded a classical adventure symphony. In his composition, Shore was based on Richard Wagner's leitmotif principle by designing a melody for every place and every form of life in Middle-earth. So the score for The Companions was mainly centered on the heroic theme for the community of the ring and the playful flute melodies of the hobbits. As a counterpart there were martial, pounding rhythms for the orcs and Saruman.
Shore attached great importance to the use of choirs to support the film's mystical atmosphere. As the theme song for the film The Fellowship was May It Be sung by the Irish singer Enya chosen.
The soundtrack sold well and received numerous awards, including an Oscar for best film music.
Changes compared to the original book
Although he shot an unusually long three-hour film, director Peter Jackson had to shorten the plot. In addition, the team changed the script in several places for dramaturgical reasons compared to the storyline of the novel.
The film precedes the actual plot with a prologue , which briefly summarizes the complicated prehistory and is spoken by Galadriel . Even Ralph Bakshi had resorted in his animated film already on this remedy. Tolkien, on the other hand, does not explain the background in his book, but lets protagonists and readers gradually discover the true extent of the danger and the identity of the ring. In addition, the film omits longer periods of time. In the original novel, 17 years pass between the handover of the ring to Frodo and the reappearance of Gandalf. Frodo's departure from the Shire is also slower. Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) only joins Tolkien's story later, and his decision and the Peregrin Tuks (Pippins) to accompany Frodo is emphasized as a special service of friendship, while the meeting in the film in the middle of a cornfield takes place rather by chance. In addition, Frodo is already 50 years old in the novel, but appears much younger in the film, but this change also affects King Theoden in Part 2, who is 75 years old in the original, and other characters in the trilogy.
The hobbits Merry and Pippin, especially in the Shire scenes, are presented more as troublemakers and do-not-gooders than was the case with Tolkien. This role runs through the entire trilogy. Jackson stated in his commentary on the DVD that he was using the characters to add more comedy to the story.
Jackson deleted the chapters in the Old Forest from the plot. To this day, the character Tom Bombadil is also considered one of the most enigmatic characters in the scientific scene, with Tolkien himself explaining that she “is actually not important” for the story. The detour to the barrows explains in the book where the hobbits got the daggers from. In the film they get them from Aragorn.
In the novel, the reader does not directly become an eyewitness to the Nazgûl who are destroying the hobbits' beds in Bree, but only learns about this the next day. In addition, they do not carry out the assassination attempt, as in the book, by secretly sneaking through the window into the hobbits' bedroom, but penetrate the guest house head-on in the film with brute force. Here, too, Jackson's film shows parallels to Bakshi's cartoon adaptation. In this, the structure of the film resembles that scene, including the camera setting.
During the argument between Saruman and Gandalf, Saruman takes the baton from Gandalf. In the novel, Gandalf does not lose his staff.
Arwen is introduced as the new main character, while she mainly has a passive role in the book. In the Companions she meets Aragorn and the hobbits after the Nazgûl attack on the Weathertop, brings Frodo to safety with her horse and conjures up the flood of the Bruinen. In the novel, on the other hand, the hobbits meet the elves Glorfindel and Aragorn, who sends his elven horse Asfaloth off alone with Frodo, who was injured by the Morgul blade, while it is Elrond who makes the Bruinen swell into which the Nazgûl were driven by Aragorn and Glorfindel, after they had caught up with Frodo and posed. The emphasis on a female main character Arwen as "warrior princess" aroused the greatest vortex of possible changes in the run-up to the filming, especially since it was said that Arwen would also fight in Helm's Deep alongside Aragorn.
Jackson also changed Aragorn's character into a much more dubious, insecure person than Tolkien described: the directors wanted to put more emphasis on Aragorn's actual decision to declare himself King of Gondor. The clearest example of this is his appearance in Rivendell. In the novel, Aragorn forges his new sword Andúril from the fragments of Narsil before the companions leave. The fragments of the sword appear in the film, but Aragorn leaves them in Rivendell. While Tolkien mainly works with archetypal characters in his book , most of whom do not change, Jackson strictly pursued the idea of the developing character.
When deciding on the route to Gondor in the novel, it is Gandalf who votes for Moria after the route over the Caradhras mountain pass became impossible due to a snow storm - caused by a spell by Saruman. Only when Boromir and Legolas protest did he question Frodo, who then expressed his confidence in Gandalf. In the film, Gandalf suggests the route over the Caradhras and finally leaves Frodo the burden of deciding against him in the snowstorm - a dramatic change in Jackson's which contradicts Tolkien's account of the relationship between Gandalf and Frodo.
The distribution of Galadriel's gifts to the community was filmed by Jackson, but later cut out for the theatrical version. It is therefore unclear where the community in the following parts got items such as the Elven rope or the brooches that Merry and Pippin dropped during their abduction. This scene can be seen in the Special Extended Edition, but contradicts the novel in some points. Merry, Pippin and Boromir are given belts in the book, but in the film the two hobbits are given daggers, while Boromir does not appear in this scene. Sam and Aragorn's gifts have also been greatly modified: In the book, Galadriel gives Sam a box of soil from her garden. With this he beautifies the gardens of the Shire at the end of the trilogy. In the film, however, she hands him a rope (more important for the story). At Tolkien, however, several ropes are made available to the whole community to moor the boats. In the book Aragorn receives a scabbard for his sword Anduril. Since he only gets this at a later point in the film, the scabbard is "replaced" here by an Elven knife, which Celeborn gives him.
Elessar, who plays an important role in the book, is missing in the film adaptation. In its place comes a jewel, which Aragorn already receives in Rivendell from Arwen and not (like Elessar in the book) in Lorien from Galadriel. Again, Jackson gave Arwen a more active, central role than Tolkien did.
Before Frodo leaves the community, he meets Aragorn again in the film, who protects him from the Uruk-hai and lets him go voluntarily, a dramatization of the plot that does not appear in the novel.
synchronization
reception
Reviews
"The first part of JRR Tolkien's fantasy classic about the archaic struggle of good and evil in a magical world of foreign peoples and cultures, staged as a visually powerful adventure cinema that impressively captures the horrors and the poetic moments of the sprawling fable."
"Unforgettable pictures, breathtaking tension and great emotionality: 'The Lord of the Rings' will leave the audience stunned by the impressions with open mouths from the cinema - guaranteed!"
"Technically impressive film adaptation of the first volume of the famous Tolkien trilogy, in keeping with the spirit of the original: Unfortunately, this also makes it a bit too smooth and unemotional."
“I would like to say now that this is the new standard by which big budget films have to measure up, but let's not kid ourselves. In the next few years it will be very difficult for the blockbusters of the competition to oppose 'The Two Towers' and 'The Return of the King', the other two parts of the Lord of the Rings. In any case, something close to the same cannot be expected for the time being. "
"The Lord of the Rings - The Companions" captivates until the last minute. It is not aimed at a specific audience, not just the countless readers and fans. This is due to the complexity of the literary model, which offers many - differently motivated - access, the faithful and imaginative cinematic implementation, the successful direction and, last but not least, the internalized play of the actors. The long shooting time and the bizarrely beautiful nature of New Zealand helped them to slip into the characters so believably. "
aftermath
In addition to the film adaptation of the Harry Potter novels, the film adaptation of the Lord of the Rings novel is one of the pioneers for a new wave of fantasy in the cinemas. The following fantasy films include, for example, The Chronicles of Narnia: The King of Narnia (2005) or Eragon - The Legacy of the Dragon Riders (2006).
The film trilogy has resulted in numerous parodies and allusions in other films. This includes, for example, the Swiss film production company The Ring Thing . One of the most famous parodies of the film took place at the MTV Movie Awards 2002, at the Elronds Rat in Rivendell u. a. with Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar . This parody can also be found as a so-called Easter Egg on the DVD release for The Companions . Another parody was part of the British series French & Saunders , in which parts from the first part of the film were also parodied in an Easter special in 2002. In addition, elements from the work were introduced in well-known cartoon series such as South Park or The Simpsons, and Gandalf's words “You shall not pass” were even taken up in the romantic comedy Never again sex with your ex .
Numerous fan projects have also dealt with the film adaptation of Peter Jackson. Among the better known are the Lord of the Weed project , in which the opening sequence from The Companions was re- synchronized and accompanied by new music, as well as the Russian fan film The Trouble of the Rings , which recreates all three parts of Jackson's film adaptation.
Awards (selection)
At the Academy Awards in 2002 , the film received four Oscars: for the soundtrack , the visual effects , the make-up and the camera . In total, the film was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including best director and best film. At the award ceremony of the Golden Globes in 2002, however, the film went away empty-handed despite four nominations (including Best Film (Drama) and Best Director ).
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring received five awards at the 2002 BAFTA Awards . Among the most important were the awards for best film, for best director and the audience award. The success of the film in Germany was reflected, among other things, in the presentation of the Bogey Award in titanium to ten million cinema-goers in 100 days.
A few other awards include two actor awards at the 2002 Empire Awards for Elijah Wood (best actor) and Orlando Bloom (best film debut), as well as the award for best film.
The original music for the film was awarded a Grammy in 2003.
The German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) awarded the film the rating “valuable”.
Publications
After the screening in the cinema, The Lord of the Rings: The Companions was released on DVD and VHS in autumn 2002 . These editions corresponded to the version that was shown in cinemas around the world.
Shortly before the cinema release of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , a Special Extended Edition was released on both DVD and VHS in November 2002 . This extended version of the film contains over 30 additional minutes of film and extends several plot elements. The extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Companions was approved by the FSK with a rating of 16+. With the appearance of the third part, various trilogy editions were released on DVD.
In 2010 the theatrical version was released on Blu-ray , both individually and in a trilogy box. The Special Extended Edition was first distributed on Blu-ray in 2012 and exclusively as a trilogy.
Others
- Christopher Lee was the only actor who personally knew JRR Tolkien.
- Director Peter Jackson can be seen in a cameo on Bree.
- Ian Holm , who played Bilbo Baggins, spoke in the 1981 radio version adapted for the BBC .
- Stuart Townsend has been replaced by Viggo Mortensen in the role of Aragorn . Russell Crowe had previously refused to take it over for a 10 percent profit share.
- For the role of Galadriel, director Jackson had originally intended the New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless . Because of her pregnancy she had to refuse.
- Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf because he did not understand the plot - a decision that cost him a 15 percent profit share, which is now $ 450 million.
- On March 27, 2005, the film was shown for the first time on German free TV on RTL .
- As a token of their friendship that arose during the filming, the actors of the nine companions had themselves tattooed. Only John Rhys-Davies, who plays the role of Gimli, didn't want a tattoo.
literature
- Mark Achilles: Fantasy Fiction - the search for the true human being in "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings". In: Thomas Bohrmann, Werner Veith, Stephan Zöller (Eds.): Handbuch Theologie und Popular Film. Volume 1. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2007, ISBN 978-3-506-72963-7 , pp. 95-113.
- Ian Brodie: The Lord of the Ring Location Guidebook. HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited, 2nd Edition 2002, ISBN 1-86950-491-7 .
- Jude Fisher, John RR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings. The fellows. The official companion book. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-608-93504-5 .
- Brian Sibley: The Lord of the Rings. How the film was made . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-608-93502-9 .
Web links
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship at Metacritic (English)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in the online film database
- The Lord of the Rings: The companions in the German dubbing index
- Criticism by Jan Distelmeyer from Die Zeit 51/2001
- Official website for the trilogy (German)
- Official Film Website (English)
- Tolkien and the Escape from Modernism · Film review by Margaret Rees
- Comparison of the cut versions RTL afternoon - theatrical version , ORF 1 afternoon - theatrical version , theatrical version FSK 12 - extended version FSK 16 (DVD-2) , theatrical version FSK 12 - extended version FSK 16 (DVD-1) of The Lord of the Rings: The Companions at Schnittberichte.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Certificate of Release for The Lord of the Rings: The Companions . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , August 2003 (PDF; test number: 92 434 V / DVD).
- ↑ Age rating for The Lord of the Rings: The Companions . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ Visitor numbers in the European Union
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Box Office Mojo, accessed June 16, 2011 .
- ↑ Top Lifetime big things. Box Office Mojo, accessed August 8, 2020 .
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings as a tourism factor on uni-protocol.de
- ↑ Essay on Tom Bombadil on polyoinos.de
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Companions. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Extensive review by Carsten Baumgardt on Filmstarts.de
- ↑ Extensive review ( memento from June 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) on Allesfilm.com
- ↑ Extensive review at Moviegod.de
- ↑ Nicola Turri: The journey of JRR Tolkien's ring has begun. In: Filmreporter.de. Filmreporter.de, accessed on March 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Awards and nominations on imdb.com
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring on fbw-filmbeval.com
- ↑ Cutting report on "The Companions" on schnittberichte.com
- ↑ Viggo Mortensen did not want Rolle des Aragorn rp-online.de from December 12, 2003, accessed on April 15, 2017
- ↑ Tim Walker, Richard Eden: Russell Crowe: Why I turned down £ 56 million role in The Lord of the Rings. telegraph.co.uk , June 22, 2011, accessed April 8, 2018 .
- ↑ 450 million dollars missed: Sean Connery and the Gandalf error t-online.de of November 21, 2012, accessed on April 15, 2017
- ↑ Spiegel-Online-Report: A tattoo to bind you forever. December 11, 2001, accessed March 5, 2010.
- ↑ Information on razyboard.com