John Boorman's Lord of the Rings

[Huinesoron]

A couple of years back, I scoured the internet for details on the Boorman script. I managed to piece together a long description from two people who claimed to have read it; they gave separate accounts which contained details to support each other, but naturally I can't vouch for their honesty! Still, it makes for... interesting reading:

The Boorman Script

Some of my 'favourite' parts:

One night Boromir asks Aragorn for the Sword-That-Was-Broken; he wants to take it to Minas Tirith. Aragorn refuses, saying he cannot give it to any but the rightful King. So Boromir snatches one half of the sword and challenges Aragorn to fight. But when their blades meet, Arwen appears to them. They stop fighting and bow their swords to her. She declares that each shall bear one half of the sword.

Arwen then kisses each half of the sword, bloodying her lips. She kisses first Aragorn and then Boromir on the lips, leaving her blood thereon: "I bind you in brotherhood with my blood." Then the two men kiss the thighs of her dress, and Boromir, weeping, kisses Aragorn, cementing a blood bond.. Arwen vanishes.

The Fellowship takes off most of their clothes and bathes, feeling rejuvenated. Then "a figure surfaces out of the waters...She is a tall and beautiful woman of elven features, sparsely clad, statuesque, aloof...Shimmering pearls of water glide down her body." She waves aside her bowmen that now surround the lake, and the Company now notices a tent by the lake as well. Legolas recognizes her as Galadriel.

Where in the book the Fellowship may have been awed by Galadriel, in this script some openly lust for her. After recognizing her, Legolas - who is “clad in feathers and leaves.” - tries to catch her attention by doing a “bird-like dance” and trying a come-on line. Gimli ogles her at the lake, and later says “Galadriel! A mighty piece of stone she is, for a Dwarfish tool to carve.” Aragorn tries to look dignified. Boromir bares his muscles and makes a pass at her.

[...]

"Boromir, with a flush of passion, takes her in his arms and kisses her. She remains aloof and unresponsive. His ardour withers and he turns away, with a bitter cry of humiliation." When Galadriel rebuffs Boromir’s advance, Sam says, “She is a pretty flower, but she badly needs watering, she does!”

The battle rages for another minute or so. Amongst the defenders of Minas Tirith are:

1. "the BEE CULTIVATORS, dressed entirely in leather, with wicker masks, and bees swarming around their gloved hands"

2. "BLACKSMITHS with leather aprons and long-handled hammers"

3. "FARMERS with an array of pitchforks and spikes"

4. "WOMEN, some pregnant, some nursing, clad in armour improvised from kitchen ware"

Eomer approaches Theoden, who with his last dying act takes his crown and puts it on his son's head. Then a monstrous snake “perhaps a hundred yards long” slithers onto the battlefield. Everyone is dismayed, while the orcs chortle with joy. Suddenly the snake disintegrates, and The snake was actually warriors holding up their painted shields. The good guys cheer. Éomer charges the snake, but before reaching it, out of the snake’s head "breaks a great white banner with a tree embossed on it." Then the rest of the snake breaks apart, revealing its components to be Aragorn’s collective army of Rangers, Elves, Dwarves, and the Dead -- their shields having been painted to resemble the patterns of a snake.

Mordor is rent by earthquakes. Sauron's tower crumbles into ruins. The gloom darkening the skies disappears, revealing a beautiful summer afternoon.

“On both sides, weapons are thrown down; all thought of war is gone, all heart for fighting, lost.

The ORCS, rather like snakes, shed their scaled skins of armour, revealing themselves to have disgusting white slug-like skin, but rather human. The RISEN DEAD stretch with relief in the sun and fade from sight.”

Frodo and Sam come running down the mountain to the cheers of Aragorn's host: "Hail Frodo! Lord of the Ring. Hail Frodo! Lord of the Nine Fingers." Then: "Hail Aragorn, King of Men and Orcs Repented!" Everyone embraces Frodo. Everyone (including the orcs) cheers and makes music. At one point during the ensuing celebration, the effigy of Frodo is passed through the crowd, which tears it into bits for souvenirs, and chants, “Frodo lives! Frodo lives!”

Gimli walks up to the Gates of Mordor, which look like grimacing jaws of stone. He strikes one corner of the mouth with his axe. "Now the Gates are like the Greek mask of comi-tragedy."

It's also 'interesting' that the duel between Gandalf and Saruman takes place at the Black Gate... because Saruman is the Mouth of Sauron. Isengard doesn't even exist in this film.

If the version I've put together is accurate, the Boorman movie would have been a deeply weird film. There is no Bree, no Helm's Deep, no Cirith Ungol (Shelob lives in Barad-dur). Faramir is gone, Eomer and Eowyn are Theoden's children, and Aragorn marries Eowyn. Elves - or 'Elfs' - are deeply magical and otherworldly, and orcs are enchanted humans. Reading the description, especially in light of the mostly-faithful-to-the-broader-plot Jackson films (Osgiliation notwithstanding), is an extremely surreal experience.

hS

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

If the version I've put together is accurate, the Boorman movie would have been a deeply weird film. There is no Bree, no Helm's Deep, no Cirith Ungol (Shelob lives in Barad-dur). Faramir is gone, Eomer and Eowyn are Theoden's children, and Aragorn marries Eowyn. Elves - or 'Elfs' - are deeply magical and otherworldly, and orcs are enchanted humans. Reading the description, especially in light of the mostly-faithful-to-the-broader-plot Jackson films (Osgiliation notwithstanding), is an extremely surreal experience.

Weell, I don't think I buy this at face value. Still, I don't think such outrageous liberties with the characters and story are at all unimaginable from Hollywood, especially to make it more 'modern'.

I'm waiting for a film of this. If you're going to murder the source material, at least do it in the name of humor.

[Nerwen]

Huey, all that fits pretty well with other accounts of the script. The thing about the battling bee-keepers is a new one on me, though- and an, ah, interesting take on the "common folk fighting with with improvised weapons" trope.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Huey, all that fits pretty well with other accounts of the script. The thing about the battling bee-keepers is a new one on me, though- and an, ah, interesting take on the "common folk fighting with with improvised weapons" trope.

Perhaps Boorman was thinking of Bruegel (definitely a bizarre image)....

http://theartstack.com/artist/pieter...dnester-c-1568

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Perhaps Boorman was thinking of Bruegel (definitely a bizarre image)....

http://theartstack.com/artist/pieter...dnester-c-1568

Those are absolutely terrifying! I certainly wouldn't want to see them marching towards me.

What's interesting about the Boorman script (again assuming my reconstruction is accurate) is that it has very powerful visual imagery. I'm actually tempted to draw things like thirteen-year-old Arwen splitting Narsil between Aragorn and Boromir, or Gimli defacing the Black Gate, or the Kabuki Council, or Aragorn's 'disguise an army as a giant snake' trick.

But, er... probably not the Seduction of Galadriel, or the Nazgultron (yeah, the Nine combine into a single Nazgul, it's a thing). I'll skip those.

hS

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

Those are absolutely terrifying! I certainly wouldn't want to see them marching towards me.

Yes, I was thinking of some of the more grotesque images in Boorman's Excalibur, and thought Bruegel's Beekeepers would set the tone nicely for the scene. Plus, the beekeeper's apparel would be appropriate for a quasi-medieval setting that Boorman seems to prefer.

[Aiwendil]

Thanks to Huinerson for that summary; it was fascinating. As noted, it is third-hand information, so it may not be completely accurate, but (and this is entirely subjective) judging by Boorman's other work it definitely feels like him.

The Tolkien purist in me obviously recoils at much of the script. And yet I'd still kind of love to see it. It almost feels different enough that I might be able to enjoy it in its own right - more "inspired by" than "adapted from" The Lord of the Rings.