The original LotR scripts had Arwen much more involved in the story. They even filmed sequences of her fighting at Helms Deep. At some point, thankfully, the idea got nixed, and they brought the character more in line with the books. Given her current girl power push, I wonder if Philippa Boyens was behind the girl boss changes to Arwen.
They had this whole Xena Warrior Princess vibe going and DID actually film a lot more scenes with her all the way up to the Battle of Helms Deep (many people don't even know she is still visible in several background shots). This is why they had her save the Hobbits in the beginning, and take over Elrond's job of summoning the river, instead of being book accurate and only meeting her inside Rivendell.
I've heard two version why, one there was a leak at the time and there were enough real book fans paying attention to pitch a big fit about how much they were changing the books. Or, that Liv Tyler was so bad at acting the role, Jackson couldn't stand to see her pretend to fire one more arrow. Either way, the whole thing got dialed back, and they decided to add the weird dream sequences to keep her in the story.
I can only imagine they planned to have a whole love triangle cat fight between her and Aeowyn too.
He was out to prove himself with LotR. But by the time the Hobbit was greelighted he was "mother fuckin Peter Jackson!" And everyone was guaranteed to love it.
The Tolkien Edit is actually pretty good. Though it cuts a few things I would not have, and leaves a few more than I would have. There's still quite a few scenes that can't properly be salvaged, but it's still way better than the unedited.
It's funny, LotR isn't half as good if you don't watch the extended edition, but the Hobbit must be watched in abridged form.
I remember seeing some behind the scenes stuff where Philippa Boyens betrayed her thoughts on wanting to see powerful female characters (I think it was for the Hobbit), but I'm not really motivated to find it.
The original LotR scripts had Arwen much more involved in the story. They even filmed sequences of her fighting at Helms Deep. At some point, thankfully, the idea got nixed, and they brought the character more in line with the books. Given her current girl power push, I wonder if Philippa Boyens was behind the girl boss changes to Arwen.
Aeowyn.
Or are you saying they had plans to go THAT far that I didn't realize?
No, he's right, it was Arwen, Elrond's Daughter.
They had this whole Xena Warrior Princess vibe going and DID actually film a lot more scenes with her all the way up to the Battle of Helms Deep (many people don't even know she is still visible in several background shots). This is why they had her save the Hobbits in the beginning, and take over Elrond's job of summoning the river, instead of being book accurate and only meeting her inside Rivendell.
I've heard two version why, one there was a leak at the time and there were enough real book fans paying attention to pitch a big fit about how much they were changing the books. Or, that Liv Tyler was so bad at acting the role, Jackson couldn't stand to see her pretend to fire one more arrow. Either way, the whole thing got dialed back, and they decided to add the weird dream sequences to keep her in the story.
I can only imagine they planned to have a whole love triangle cat fight between her and Aeowyn too.
Jesus... I'm glad Jackson decided not to go this route. Now that just begs the question as to why things went the way they did with The Hobbit.
Hubris.
He was out to prove himself with LotR. But by the time the Hobbit was greelighted he was "mother fuckin Peter Jackson!" And everyone was guaranteed to love it.
The Tolkien Edit is actually pretty good. Though it cuts a few things I would not have, and leaves a few more than I would have. There's still quite a few scenes that can't properly be salvaged, but it's still way better than the unedited.
It's funny, LotR isn't half as good if you don't watch the extended edition, but the Hobbit must be watched in abridged form.
Here's some footage and info on the changes, and reversal, of Arwen in the movies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwEYORr08SQ
I remember seeing some behind the scenes stuff where Philippa Boyens betrayed her thoughts on wanting to see powerful female characters (I think it was for the Hobbit), but I'm not really motivated to find it.