Not everyone knows that, to create one of the most beloved film sagas of all time, the one set in Middle-earth, the director Peter Jackson he hasn’t always had an easy time. Over the years, Jackson has had to clash several times with Miramax (the studio that first acquired the rights to Tolkien’s books) and its co-founder, Harvey Weinstein, so much so that he then “paid homage” to him by secretly giving his likeness to an ogre from The Lord of the Rings.
An ogre from The Lord of the Rings looks like Harvey Weinstein. Here because
This is the story.
Miramax had acquired the rights to JRR Tolkien’s books in the mid-1990s and had even invested a few million dollars in developing the film project. However, after some time, it became clear that the three films weren’t going to be made the way producer / director Peter Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh, had envisioned. Then the two asked Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein to be able to make the films elsewhere.
The studio agreed to grant Jackson and Walsh access to the rights, but only in circumstances where they were able to get some studio support right away and whoever could produce the saga had to sign up to make all three films. , one after the other. A “trap” that therefore ignored the Hollywood law according to which you initially look at the proceeds of the first film, and then you decide whether to invest in its sequels.
As we know, Jackson eventually met Bob Shaye of New Line Cinema, where a most unlikely deal was finally reached. But it was clear that Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein didn’t expect things to turn out this way.
Elijah Wood, the actor who played Frodo in the saga, speaking with Dax Shepard in the podcast Armchair Expert told the story, revealing the existence of a Weinstein-like orc in the movies.
“It’s funny, there has been some talk recently because Dom (Monaghan) and Bill (Boyd), who played the hobbits Merry and Pippin in the trilogy, have a podcast, The Friendship Onion. They were talking to Sean Astin (who played Samwise) about his earliest memory when he arrived in New Zealand. He had seen these ogre masks. And one of the orc masks – and I remember it vividly – was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as some kind of… fuck you. “
Wood then added, as he, Shepard and Armchair Expert co-host Monica Padman laughed at the revelation:
“I think it’s fair to talk about it now, the kid is fucking incarcerated. Fuck yourself.”
Now the hunt is on, and many are looking for the ogre who looks like Harvey Weinstein in The Lord of the Rings.
