Peter Jackson revealed how Viggo Mortensen's injury changed the filming of the battle in Moria
A surfboard left an indelible mark on the film version of Middle-earth.
This week, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy returns to the big screens in honor of the 25th anniversary of the release of the first part. For the anniversary release, Peter Jackson prepared a special introduction where he shares memories of the trilogy's production.
As it turned out, during the filming of the scene in Moria, Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn, unexpectedly appeared on the set with a bruised face: it was swollen, and his right eye was almost closed. The day before, the actor had been surfing with the "hobbits" and was hit in the face by a board.
It was impossible to cancel the shooting day: the large-scale production involving dozens of actors and stuntmen required strict adherence to the schedule. Moreover, all three films were shot in parallel, and every day was scheduled down to the minute. Therefore, Peter Jackson had to improvise.
According to Jackson, the only way out was to shoot Aragorn from the side to hide the bruise and swelling. That is why, during the battle with the cave troll, the character is almost never shown head-on, and in rare shots his damaged eye is covered with hair.
