Peter Jackson’s belovedLord of the Ringstrilogy could have been a lot shorter. According to an essay written by film journalist Drew McWeeny for Polygon, famously ousted Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein had originally wanted Jackson and co. to make the trilogy as a two-part film.
In the essay, McWeeny claims that after Weinstein secured the rights toJ.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth booksfor Jackson through his entertainment company Miramax, he wanted a two-film adaptation made for $75 million. Believing Jackson’s vision to be too expensive, Weinstein had apparently hidden the budget from the director for about a year and a half. As a result, a decision was made by the team to leak the script in an attempt to attract a studio to produce the film in its intended three-part structure.
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During this time, McWeeny was working as a writer forAin’t It Cool News,and according to his essay, the original two-part script was leaked to him by someone involved in the making of the film. McWeeny claims that the original two-part script felt like a compressed, sped-up version of the final product. Regardless, McWeeny felt it was still very good, showing the writers had a strong vision for the adaptation, so he gave it a positive review.
Around this time, New Line Cinema was interested in producing Lord of the Rings, and leaking the script was an attempt to generate enthusiasm from a major outlet and prove to the studio heads that it was worth making in Jackson’s vision. This strategy appears to have worked, as New Line eventually did sign on to produce theLord of the Ringsseries as a trilogy, even though Weinstein remained as an executive producer.
For decades, Harvey Weinstein was one of the most powerful and influential Hollywood producers on earth. That is until around 2017 when he was famously accused of sexual assault by over 80 women. The allegations sparked the beginning of what would go on to become the #MeToo movement and garneredfurther allegations against powerful men like Weinstein. These allegations resulted in the producer being dismissed from his entertainment company Miramax and removed from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was arrested in May of 2018 and is now serving a 23-year prison sentence for his crimes.
Jackson’sLord of the Ringstrilogy was a massive success, earning a combined 17 Oscars. The trilogy helped launch the director into the mainstream, allowing him to direct other big-budget features such as aKing Kongremake in 2005 and another trilogy based on Tolkien’s works,The Hobbit.The films have remained overwhelming popular over the years and have recently been released in the form of a remastered 4k boxset, and were recentlyshown in IMAX for the first time.
ALord of the Ringsseries is expected to premiere on Amazon Prime Video in 2021.
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