Lord Of The Rings: 10 Movie Mistakes They Hoped You Missed
You'd have to have the eyes of a hawk to notice some of these.
Filming the Lord of the Rings was a mammoth undertaking. No expense was spared to bring Tolkien's world to life, and every attention to detail was paid to make the films feel as authentic as possible, well almost...
Peter Jackson was planning the Lord of the Rings as far back as 1995. After a turbulent back and forth with a number of studios and producers, pre-production finally and officially began in 1997. Filming wouldn't begin until '99, but a huge amount of time was needed to design and create all the detailed costumes, props and sets. Real blacksmiths, clay pot makers, thatchers and all manor of crafts people were hired to make Middle Earth feel more like a long lost historical setting, rather than a fantasy one.
But with a film franchise as grand in scope as the Lord of the Rings, mistakes were bound to happen. Even though Peter Jackson and his crew went to vast extents to make everything look perfect, a number of mishaps were overlooked in the editing process. From simple continuity issues, to blatant errors, these are the mistakes Jackson really prayed you wouldn't notice.
10. Éomer's Sword Falls Out
One reason this movie felt so authentic was was that many of the props looked real. And that's because in many cases they were real. Although many of the actors used safety swords for the fight scenes, each major character was given a version dubbed the 'Hero Sword'. These were real steel weapons forged by a master armourer. It would take about a week to craft just one, and if you think about how many significant characters have swords, that's a lot of hammer striking steel...
Viggo Mortenson would try to use his 'Hero Sword' as often as possible, knowing the feel and the weight of the weapon would cause him to tire overtime and therefore sell his performance. And it certainly worked, any close ups of those weapons were flawless.
Well, all except one. In the scene when Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas meet Éomer, it's painfully obvious that something odd is happening with Éomer's weapon. As he mounts his horse, the camera pans up catching his sword sliding from its sheath. What's worse the camera seems to linger on the error, almost rubbing it in your face.