One of the best things about any movie or TV series is its bloopers. These behind-the-scenes moments give the audience a unique insight into their favorite characters, the actors who play them, and the process that goes into creating them. Bloopers show awkward stunts that have gone wrong, forgotten lines, and most of all,interactions between charactersand actors, making each other break composure. These often lead to a lot of laughs, and can sometimes show some comical, more light-hearted sides to some of the most somber characters. This is certainly the case for bloopers involving Lee Pace, the actor portraying Thranduil, the elven king of the woodland realm of Mirkwood.
Thranduil is a particularly cold and seemingly unfeeling character. Throughout much ofThe Hobbittrilogy, the main emotions he seems to express are wrath and disappointment in those whofail to live up to his expectations. He has a particular penchant for the silent treatment, including towards his own son Legolas, and appears cut off from the rest of the world. He is a very proud character, one who is too blinded by his own self-righteous suffering that he blocks out any possibility of care or love or happiness. This lasts until the very end of the trilogy, when he witnessesTauriel, a warrior elf, mourn Kili, her dwarven love.
RELATED:What Magic Does Tauriel Use To Heal Kili?
But behind the scenes, Lee Pace’s experience of portraying the aloof elf were very different. He has some of the most comical bloopers of the entireHobbittrilogy. In fact, one of the most serious and vital scenes inThe Battle of the Five Armieswas almost ruined by a comical turn of events involving Lee Pace and his stunt partner in the scene: his horse.
The moment in question takes place on the morning after Bilbo has snuck out of the dwarven stronghold, and brokered a deal withThranduil and Bardthe bowman of Lake Town. In order to save his friends, and try to prevent a needless war, Bilbo offers the Arkenstone to the enemies, knowing that it is the only thing great enough to bring theproud and blinded by greed Thorinback to reality, after he has been so badly affected by the dragon-sickness in the mountain. The following morning, Bard and Thranduil show up at the barricade and try to convince Thorin not to start a war. Thranduil’s famous line in this scene is an ominous moment:
“We have come to tell you that payment of your debt has been offered, and accepted.”
With this line, Thranduil reveals that Thorin has indeed been betrayed, as all of his paranoid thoughts told him he would be. And at this point, Thorin is too blind to see that it was done for his benefit, to protect him and to end his madness, rather than to cause him harm. But the line is delivered by Thranduil in a very composed, even slightly smirking manner, because he knows that he has the upper hand. Here, he relishes in the chance to gloat in front of Thorin, who declined a deal the elven king offered him when he was trapped in the prisons of Mirkwood.
But despite the power of the scene in the final film, the composed delivery of this line took several takes. It was almost impossible for the crew to get a usable shot of the scene, because of Lee Pace’s horse. The co-star, ironically named Moose, was a very large and unyielding horse, who had a mind of his own. Every time Pace tried todeliver Thranduil’s line, something about the tone of voice unsettled the horse. Moose would move off his mark or shift nervously up and down which would unbalance the actor perched upon him. Sometimes he would turn around completely, so that Thranduil was facing entirely the wrong direction, away from Thorin.
This is such a key scene in the film that the actors and crew had to do the takes over and over to attempt to get it right. But each time, without fail, as soon as Lee Pace started to say the line, Moose would shift, and they’d have to start from scratch. Lee Pace finally confessed to the camera:“I think he’s objecting to the performance!”much to the laughter of all involved.
Thus, one of the most important scenes becameone of the hardest to film, and was almost eradicated from the film entirely by the horse and his non-compliance with his acting co-star. Eventually, Moose was demoted, and Pace had to perform the line from a green-screened fake horse. It was later edited over to make it look as though he was riding on the regal-looking elk that is so iconic for Thranduil’s look in the final movies. If not for Moose’s headstrong nature, the elk may never have existed.
