The Lord of the Rings is one of the biggest film franchises ever, not only in terms of its success, but also in terms of its scope. It was necessary to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s incredible world to life. Even 25 years after the first film in the franchise was released, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings still has people talking.
Every frame of the trilogy is its own work of art, but Viggo Mortensen has no question what his favorite scene in the film is. In a recent conversation with Empire, Mortenson and Sean Bean discussed the death of Boromir. One of the most memorable scenes in the entire trilogy. Mortensen explained that the character’s death was actually looking to be quite complex until Sean Bean made it simple. He explained:
There was this whole thing about how they were gonna do all these Orc arrows that Sean was gonna get riddled with. They were trying to do all these complicated things, kinda old-school but with wires, and Sean finally said, ‘Just stick it in and I’ll pretend it just hit me and I’ll do one after the other.’
I’ll admit it’s been a while since I’ve watched The Lord of the Rings, but I’ve always loved that scene too. Earlier in the film, it looks like Boromir could even become a villain, but in the end, he does exactly what his job in the fellowship is. He protects the One Ring.
That said, I certainly didn’t recall that you never actually see an arrow fly into Boromir when he’s killed. And yet, looking back at the scene, that’s exactly what you get. However, due to a solid performance by Bean and well-edited shots, you can still feel those hits.
For an actor who is known for dying in movies, Boromir is perhaps Sean Bean’s greatest death scene. Bean called it his favorite on-screen death. Not just for the fantastic way that Bean performs the killing shots, but for the scene after, where Aragorn and Boromir share a moment as he dies. Viggo Mortensen says it's his favorite part of the entire trilogy...
That scene, I have to say, no offence to anybody else or any other part of the trilogy, but that’s maybe my favourite scene. It’s such a beautiful scene. And there are no effects, there are no imaginary monsters. It’s just two people who have a connection in terms of their ethnicity — you know, Gondor and all that — but they’ve been at odds. They’ve been kinda butting heads until then. And then there’s just such a strong connection.
Boromir has had a lasting impact on The Lord of the Rings films, which is striking considering how little he’s actually in them. It’s probably because of this scene that the character still means so much in the films.
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