Ian McKellen's first day of shooting on the trilogy was Gandalf's first scene, arriving in Hobbiton. His second day of shooting was Gandalf's final scene of the film, at the Gray Havens.
In the scene where the Hobbits return to Hobbiton, three of the hobbits had slight problems during the shoot. Elijah Wood had a hard time controlling his pony, Sean Astin was allergic to the ponies, and Dominic Monaghan was in a really bad mood because of technical aspects revolving around the scene. Billy Boyd was "in stitches" during the shoot.
The London Daily Mail reported (5 December 2003) that the stars of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy were paid bonuses on top of their salaries, depending on how long cast members spent on the three films. The hobbit actors, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan received bonuses of between 430,000 and 560,000 per film. Bernard Hill and Ian McKellen earned 312,000 per film, with Liv Tyler making a little less.
In February 2004, became second film to break the $1 billion mark in worldwide box-office revenue (Titanic (1997) was the first).
Wilhelm scream: When a Southron/Haradrim is knocked off an Oliphaunt/Mumakil by Legolas.
Wilhelm scream: During the Retreat from Osgiliath, when Faramir is leading his men in a frenzied charge back to Minas Tirith, a fell beast picks one of the soldiers off his horse.
The character of Irolas was originally written to be Beregond, a character who appears in the book. Irolas does not appear in the book, but he is identified as being Beregond's brother.
The scene of the Rohirrim charging the Pelennor had to be filmed 52 times before the crew were satisfied with the take. During this process, about 60 of the 280 horses participating had to drop out for various reasons.
To get enough extras for the Battle of the Pelennor fields, a few hundred members of the New Zealand army were brought in. They apparently were so enthusiastic during the battle scenes that they kept breaking the wooden swords and spears they were given.
At 35 letters "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" has the longest title of any Best Picture Oscar winner in history. It surpasses the record previously held by Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) which has 26.
Peter Jackson purposely avoided filming Frodo's left hand after the Mordor scenes to avoid conflicts as to the positioning of the wound on the index finger. It is only seen twice: when the Fellowship is re-united (the hand is bandaged) and when Frodo is writing his final pages in the Red Book (before he turns back to add the title).
The deformed Orc leader Gothmog is only mentioned once in the original novel of "The Lord of the Rings" - identified only as by name and as the Lieutenant of Morgul. His race is not given; it was the filmmakers choice to make him an Orc. The name Gothmog is shared with the leader of the Balrogs in Morgoth's army in "The Silmarillion", Tolkien's history of Middle-Earth centuries before the events in "The Lord of the Rings".
Alison Doody had been asked by Peter Jackson to play Eowyn, but had to decline the role due to her pregnancy and to the 18 months commitment.
Won the Science Fiction Achievement Award (Hugo Award) for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form in 2004. This makes it the first work to take the top film honors in both the Oscars and the Hugos. The "profane acceptance speech" Gollum made for the MTV Movie Awards won the Hugo for Best Dramatic presentation, Short Form.
Originally, Aragorn was to have fought the physical embodiment of Sauron during the climactic battle at the Black Gate, but was not used in the final film. Aragorn's fight with a troll at the Black Gate uses footage from the Aragorn/Sauron battle.
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