6 Most Unusual Demands Made By The Lord Of The Rings Actors

4. Viggo Mortenson Consistently Asked For Rewrites

Aragorn Fellowship of the ring
New Line Cinema

Coming to the production later than most, Viggo Mortenson had been convinced to take on the role by his son, who was an enormous fan of the books. When he arrived in New Zealand, he became a part of the collaborative process, by which much of the film's scenes were devised once filming had begun.

According to Sean Astin's autobiography of the making of the films, Mortenson became something of a pain in the backside to Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens. He apparently 'lived' with the books, reading them over and over again, trying his best to understand the part of Aragorn. This led to his constant suggestions that tweaks could be made to the script to improve the character.

While script revisions happen on many projects, this stemmed from the actor effectively going over the heads of the scriptwriters. Basically - he was using Tolkien's own works as a way to supersede them. Having said that, according to Astin, this was often well received by Jackson, who would often - though not always - take Mortenson's suggestions on board.

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Contributor

Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"