Elijah Wood revealed that a Lord of the Rings orc was designed to resemble film producer and now-convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.
On Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Wood confirmed that an orc mask on the set of Lord of the Rings had been intentionally modeled after Weinstein. This was the result of an early production conflict between Miramax, which originally owned the rights to Lord of the Rings, and Peter Jackson, who directed and co-produced the films. Miramax, co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, agreed to allow the director to search for other studios with the stipulation that the new studio sign on for all three films, which Wood explained was a tough sell. Jackson eventually struck a deal with New Line Cinema, which took over the project and signed a deal for the whole trilogy.
Wood also disclosed an anecdote shared by Sean Astin, who played Samwise in the films, on The Friendship Onion hosted by Dom Monaghan and Bill Boyd, who also starred in the trilogy.
“They were talking to Sean Astin about his first memory of getting to New Zealand. He had seen these orc masks. One of the orc masks – and I remember this vividly – was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a sort of fuck you,” Wood said. “I think that is okay to talk about now, the guy is fucking incarcerated. Fuck him.”
Weinstein, who also co-founded The Weinstein Company, was the subject of sexual abuse allegations in October 2017. These allegations sparked #MeToo, a major social media movement designed to bring awareness to the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment. In May 2018, Weinstein was arrested and charged with rape. He was found guilty on two felony charges in February 2020 and was sentenced to 23 years in prison. In January 2021, the victims agreed to a $17 million settlement in the civil case against him. Weinstein was removed from his position in The Weinstein Company due to the allegations.
Wood was most recently seen on screen in No Man of God, where he portrays Bill Hagmaier, an FBI agent known for his interviews with Ted Bundy. No Man of God was released in August 2021 and is streaming now.
Source: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, via THR
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