Viggo Mortensen disfigured while surfing with Hobbits

"So he comes in, and he's got his eye is bulged out, black eye, shut, like a boxer..."

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is set to be theatrically re-released as extended versions, this coming weekend, much to the thrill of fantasy buffs and beleaguered surf fans alike. The films first graced the silver screen 25-years-ago.

Director Peter Jackson, who hails from New Zealand, shot all three epics on his native isle introducing not only the country’s natural beauty to audiences around the world but also the natural beauty of actor Viggo Mortensen. The Danish-American played the dashing Aragorn, Ranger of the North, who helped the li’l Hobbits deliver that evil One Ring to the fiery depths of Mount Doom.

Yowza.

Jackson, in any case, opened up about the production of the films ahead of the re-release, revealing much interesting factoids.

Did you know, for example, that the entire trilogy was shot at once?

“The thing with these movies, of course, is we shot all three of them at the same time and then in a mixed-up kind of way,” Jackson shared. “So one day we’d be shooting a bit from The Fellowship, then that would be on Monday. On Tuesday, we’d shoot a scene from [second film] The Two Towers, on Wednesday, back to Fellowship again, on Thursday to [final film] The Return of the King. So it was just one film really for us.”

Viggo Mortensen “like a boxer” after surfing

Very cool but did you also know the aforementioned Viggo Mortensen was disfigured by the Hobbits whilst surfing?

“So in the mines of Moria scene, too, the other thing I remember,” the auteur continued, “we all show up to shoot that scene. And Viggo had been out with the Hobbits during the weekend, and he’d been surfing, and he had sustained an injury surfing, like the board had flipped in the air and whacked him in the face. So he comes in, and he’s got his eye is bulged out, black eye, shut, like a boxer swollen and he says, ‘I’m sorry, Peter. I’m sorry.’ And I said, ‘Oh God.’ So you’ll see that all I could do is to shoot him from the side. I couldn’t shoot [head on].”

Surfing, man. Always causing trouble.

I remember my first Peter Jackson film very well. Growing up in Coos Bay, Oregon, high culture was difficult to come by though by some great chance, I stumbled on the masterpiece Dead Alive. I watched Lionel woo his Paquita all while being emotionally abused by his nasty mother Vera on loop.

Highly recommended.