◄ IMDb Polls

Poll: Celebrating 20 Years of 'The Fellowship'

A poll by Djesika.
This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Peter Jackson's epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), the first film of the widely loved trilogy adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Which of these 20 pieces of trivia from the film do you find the most interesting?

Discuss here

See results without voting »

Make Your Choice

  1. Vote!

    Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and John Rhys-Davies in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Despite playing a dwarf, John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) is the tallest of the actors who play members of the Fellowship. He is 6' 1" (185 cm).
  2. Vote!

    Ian McKellen in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Two sets of Bag End, Bilbo Baggins' house, were built: one to accommodate the Hobbits, the other thirty-three percent smaller for the full size Sir Ian McKellen, right down to smaller versions of the books on the bookshelves.
  3. Vote!

    Ian Holm in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    When the dragon firework goes off at the party, the shriek heard is Billy Boyd actually screaming, as he was unaware at the time that the firework was really going to explode on-set (he thought that it would be in a separate shot). It was not scripted, but the take ended up in the final cut.
  4. Vote!

    Ian McKellen in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Gandalf's painful encounter with a ceiling beam in Bilbo's hobbit-hole was not in the script. Ian McKellen banged his forehead against the beam accidentally. Peter Jackson thought McKellen did a great job "acting through" the mistake, and kept it in.
  5. Vote!

    Christopher Lee at an event for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Sir Christopher Lee (Saruman) read "The Lord of the Rings" once a year until his death in 2015, and had done so since the year it was published. He was also the only member of the cast and crew ever to have met J.R.R. Tolkien.
  6. Vote!

    Andy Serkis in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    When Bilbo finds the Ring at the start of the movie, Gollum cries out, "My precious!". However, Andy Serkis was not on set that day, so Dominic Monaghan stood in for him.
  7. Vote!

    Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Viggo Mortensen joined the movie when it was already shooting, never having met director Peter Jackson before, nor having read the J.R.R. Tolkien book. It was Mortensen's eleven year old son Henry Mortensen who was the chief instigator in convincing Mortensen to sign on as Aragorn.
  8. Vote!

    Liv Tyler, Elijah Wood, and Peter Jackson at an event for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Director Peter Jackson gave one of the rings used in the movies to Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis as a gift when the shoot was finished. They both thought they had the only one.
  9. Vote!

    Ian McKellen in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Ian McKellen based Gandalf's accent on that of J.R.R. Tolkien.
  10. Vote!

    Sean Bean in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    The cast often had to fly to remote shoot locations by helicopter. Sean Bean (Boromir) was afraid of flying, so when they were shooting the scenes of the Fellowship crossing the snowy mountains he'd spend two hours every morning climbing from the base of the mountain to the set near the top, already dressed as Boromir. The cast and crew could see him from their helicopters.
  11. Vote!

    Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, and Billy Boyd in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    When Pippin is being hit with apples after asking about second breakfast, it is Viggo Mortensen chucking the apple at his head. They had to shoot the scene sixteen times to get it just right, and Billy Boyd says he believes Mortensen enjoyed himself immensely.
  12. Vote!

    Cate Blanchett in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    The Elvish language lines spoken in this movie are not just quotes from the book, they were derived from J.R.R. Tolkien's own limited dictionary of that language. Dialect coach Andrew Jack used recordings of Tolkien reading his books to guide the actors' pronunciations.
  13. Vote!

    Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Viggo Mortensen did his own stunts. He also insisted on using only the real steel sword, instead of a significantly lighter aluminum sword, or safer rubber sword, which were manufactured for battle scenes and stunts.
  14. Vote!

    Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, and Alan Howard in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    When Frodo falls on the snow and loses the Ring, a close-up of the Ring with Frodo in the background is shown. In order to keep both the subjects focused, a giant ring (six inches, or 15 cm, in diameter) was used.
  15. Vote!

    Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and John Rhys-Davies in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Although Bill the pony is a feature of the novel, the writers initially decided not to include him as the Fellowship make their journey, for the simple logistical reason of transporting a horse deep into the mountains. The problem was solved in the more difficult shots by using the classic pantomime trick of dressing two people up as a horse, one at the front and one at the back.
  16. Vote!

    Orlando Bloom in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Orlando Bloom originally auditioned for the part of Faramir, a supporting character (eventually played by David Wenham) in the next two movies. He was called back and subsequently cast, instead, in the more prominent role of Legolas.
  17. Vote!

    Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, and John Rhys-Davies in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    During filming, most of the members of the Fellowship took up surfing in New Zealand in their spare time and one day, Viggo Mortensen wiped out and bruised one whole side of his face. The next day, make-up artists tried to mask the bruising and swelling, but were unsuccessful. Instead, Peter Jackson opted to film Mortensen from one side for the entire scene. In the Mines of Moria, when they find the tomb, Aragorn is only seen from one side in the whole scene.
  18. Vote!

    Liv Tyler and Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    Viggo Mortensen purchased Arwen's horse after production and gave it to Liv Tyler's riding double Jane Abbott.
  19. Vote!

    Ian Holm and Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    A rubber puppet with a horrific face was superimposed over Sir Ian Holm's face when Bilbo Baggins covets the ring in Rivendell. Holm was so delighted with the puppet that the design team had a cast iron version of it made for his mantelpiece, and gave it to him as a parting gift when Holm wrapped all of his scenes on this movie.
  20. Vote!

    Peter Jackson at an event for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

    After the New Zealand premiere, director Peter Jackson joined the actors who played the nine members (except for John Rhys-Davies) of the Fellowship by getting a commemorative tattoo of his own. While their tattoos were the Elvish symbol for "9", Jackson received an Elvish "10".

Clear your history

Recently Viewed