LotR2-TTT-Seq01

[alatar]

Listening to the Director's commentary this morning I learned that New Line wanted to start the second installment of LotR with a prologue - with Cate Blanchett voice over - but PJ and crew resisted. I can see his point as these three films are actually one movie, and to break every three hours or so for a summation is a bit silly. On the other hand, some newbies who hadn't read the books nor gleaned anything from all of the hullabaloo pre-TTT may have been a bit lost as the movie started.

The Balrog-Gandalf falling into the lake scene, I think, is taken from a John Howe sketch, though I cannot find the source. PJ stated that the Bridge fight scene is the same FotR footage - a surprise to me - with just some different Frodo shots. And though the Balrog as 'Slimerog' was storyboarded, as was a fight scene on Durin's Stair, these were cut due to budget constraints.

"Hmm, more Balrog or more Dwarf drinking...hmm.""