“I think it’s okay to talk about this now.”
Look — you’ve watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy, what, a thousand times?
New Line Cinema / courtesy Everett Collection
But you probably had no idea that one of the orc designs for the film was, apparently, inspired by disgraced film producer and alleged rapist Harvey Weinstein.
New Line / courtesy Everett Collection
At least, that’s what LOTR star Elijah Wood revealed on a recent episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.
New Line Cinema / courtesy Everett Collection
Wood actually said that the subject also recently came up on The Friendship Onion podcast, which is hosted by fellow LOTR co-stars Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd.
Warner Bros / courtesy Everett Collection
“They were talking to Sean Astin about his first memory of getting to New Zealand for the first time,” he said. “He had seen these orc masks. And one of the orc masks — and I remember this vividly — was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a sort of a fuck you.”
New Line Cinema / Everett Collection
According to Deadline, there’s context here: Originally, the LOTR films were supposed to be made at Weinstein’s production company Miramax. But Harvey didn’t want director Peter Jackson to make three films — so Jackson made them at New Line instead, and the rest is history.
Courtesy Everett Collection
And history is precisely is why Wood felt so comfortable sharing the story with Shepard: “I think it’s okay to talk about this now. He’s fucking incarcerated.”
Warner Bros / courtesy Everett Collection
Listen to the entire episode here.
TV and Movies
Get all the best moments in pop culture & entertainment delivered to your inbox.