The "miniature" of Baradur ended up being 27 feet tall.
Viggo Mortensen lost a tooth during the shoot.
Tolkien took the title "The Two Towers" from Perrot's Folly tower and Edgbaston Water Tower in Edgbaston, Birmingham, near where he used to live.
Stuart Townsend was fired shortly after shooting began due to creative differences.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) were filmed simultaneously.
After the terrorist attacks on the USA of 11 September 2001, an Internet petition was started to persuade New Line to change the title because "The Two Towers" was offensive to victims of the attack on the World Trade Center and that it "was picked just to cash in on the tragedy". A few weeks later, the creators of the petition came forward and admitted it was a hoax, after thousands had seriously signed it in support. The hoax was taken so seriously that another site was created in order to mock the first one: the joking premise was to prevent the third movie to be called "The Return of the King" to respect the memory of Elvis Presley.
Several members of the cast returned to New Zealand when Peter Jackson thought of some more ideas for scenes.
The Orc battle cries for the Helm's Deep battle sequence were provided by a stadium of 25,000 cricket fans, who screamed the war chants, spelled out on the Diamond Vision screen, with Jackson himself leading the crowd.
Gollum/Smeagol is a CGI character, but Peter Jackson wanted the character to be performer-oriented, so actor Andy Serkis, the voice of Gollum, played the character in a motion capture suit. Serkis also played scenes with Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Sean Astin (Sam) on set to give the actors a focal point. On those occasions when Serkis was actually in shot Gollum was composited over him in post production.
The set for the Helm's Deep battle scene was built on location in New Zealand over a period of seven months.
When arriving upon the set to film the scene in which Andy Serkis (Gollum) has to catch a fish, they discovered that it had snowed overnight. Peter Jackson had the snow cleared on the set (which included defrosting the river as well as the land surrounding it) by 1:00 PM.
The role of Éowyn, the White Lady of Rohan, was first offered to Irish actress Alison Doody in December 1999, who had to decline the part because she had just given birth to her second daughter. Miranda Otto then auditioned for the same role.
Director Cameo: [Peter Jackson] Wearing chainmail at Helm's Deep.
The Main Door of Helm's Deep was built so heavily and so well that the real battering ram that was built to knock down the gates failed to do so until the door was weakened. Someone had built the door a little bit too well and Peter Jackson can heard on the Extended Edition DVD commenting that if they had to defend a castle, he would want the WETA workshop guys to build the door.
On the wall of Helm's Deep during the battle, a one-eyed warrior turns to the camera, revealing his scarred empty socket. The performer who played him showed up as an extra, wearing an eyepatch; director Peter Jackson politely asked to see what was under the patch, and then inquired if the gentleman would be interested in appearing in the film sans eyepatch. The gentleman was reluctant at first and quite self-conscious, but afterward said the experience had made him more comfortable with his condition.
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