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LOTR film crew "scaring" horses as part of audition process - Lord of the Rings news - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

June 12, 2000 at 21:24:45

Imladris is reporting that New Zealand television has shown a brief clip of the auditions process for horses and riders. In order to determine if the animals can handle the highly volatile battle scenes, a crewmember flaps his coat at the horses as they rush by to see how easily they spook.

Great care has been taken to treat the animals well since the production started, and a recent uproar over allegations of animal abuse was unsubstantiated when New Zealand officials investigated the complaints and not only found no evidence of wrongdoing, but of a high level of care. So far, one horse has been injured on the set in a mishap.

Because of the nature of the scenes in which the horses will be used, it's necessary to determine if the animals will be easily frightened when they are surrounded by actors in armor and brandishing weapons, screaming, and creating all sorts of mayhem.

To avoid risking serious injury to animals used in the battle scenes, the makers of "Braveheart", the Mel Gibson filmed based loosely on the career of the real Scottish hero Sir William Wallace, used props in close-up shots to show horses being impaled on long spears used by the Scots. If Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" shows the extensive carnage wreaked among horses as portrayed in the original story (the Rohirrim lost 1,000 horses in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields alone), the effects will most likely be done with props, CGI, or both.