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The first documentary on the 3rd DVD regarding Tolkien is the best documentary I've seen on him to date. I was also impressed at the number of Tolkien officiandoes they got to interview on the subject matter.
The book to script section concentrates on the chronological order of the books and why the film is based on this rather than the order of chapters in TT and ROTK, which we all knew about anyway. Altough one point of interest to me was Phillipa Boyens explanation of why they had Frodo topple over the edge. It was to show him making a decision on whether to die or not (as she reminds us he does in the book by sittting down by the cracks of doom and only leaving when asked to by Sam), but done in a more 'dramatic' version.
But thank god for the pick ups. It was the last day of filming and PJ only just decided to change the shot of frodo and gollum with the Ring. Up until the last minute he had Frodo PUSHING gollum over the edge. There would have been howls of protest and much gnashing of teeth if this had made the final cut.
PS Phillipa Boyens unfortunately seems to think it was Fate alone that made Gollum fall into the crack of doom. She doesn't seem to get what Tolkien was getting at in this scene, inasmuch as that it was Redemption for Frodo and all of Middle-earth because of his 'kindness' towards Gollum throughout his trials.
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