January 4, 2001
Beren Answers Questions
About the Films
David M.
Q. We know that Liv Tyler has spent about 12 months (cumulative) filming in New Zealand, and that there have been numerous reports of her wielding a sword, disguising herself as an archer, and withstanding a charge of Orc riders at the Helm's Deep set. Yet Phillipa Boyens has said that, aside from Arwen replacing Glorfindel at the Flight to the Ford, Arwen's role in the films is pretty much as it was in the books, counting Appendix A. So were all of the reports wrong, did many of Arwen's scenes wind up on the cutting room floor, or is Phillipa engaging in disinformation? What's your guess about how much screen time Arwen will have?
A. From what I've picked up Liv didn't suit the Xena-type roll that Arwen was going to have, so it was rewritten to suit her acting style so to speak. I didn't find out a lot about this while on set, most of what I know has been picked up from emails to different people in the production.
Q. We all know about the wizard kabob picture -- yet Peter Jackson has said that Scouring of the Shire will be in the films in some fashion. So, do you think Saruman will be killed off at the end of The Two Towers or not?
A. I know when, where and how Saruman dies, but if Peter doesn't want everyone to know I'm more then happy to respect that fact, but I will say it is different from the book. As for Scouring of the Shire, from what I understand, this will be seen, and in one of the places it is mentioned in the book, though this place may not be at the end of the third movie.