Home

News

New Lord of the Rings Documentary Edited Without Director's Blessing

July 4, 2006
Submitted By Jonathan

Comment on This  Email to a Friend  Digg This

Costa Botes, the director who filmed over 800 hours of behind the scenes footage of the making of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is disappointed that New Line Cinema has made some edits and cuts to the new documentary (to be released on the special DVD editions of LOTR this year) of the films. Here's what Stuff.co.nz is reporting:

Botes, who was paid by New Line to make the films and would not get any royalties from DVD sales, said he was pleased the documentaries would soon be out. But he was unhappy he was not consulted about cuts.

"I had no opportunity to take part in this at all. They just shut me out completely. Once they figured out what they wanted to do, there was no opportunity to argue for any of the cuts and no opportunity to correct some really silly things that were done. It would have been nice to have been consulted because I could have actually finessed those things."

Scenes cut included extras dressed as orcs singing Stand By Me. Botes said New Line's reason was it did not want to pay for the rights to use the song. It also cut parts in which music was blaring from radios at Wellington special effects company Weta.

The Lord of the Rings made $4.7 billion at the box office.

Shots showing the top of Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngauruhoe, near where some filming took place, had also been removed. Botes said he was not aware of any agreement between New Line and iwi to not show the top of the volcanoes in his documentaries. "I can understand the Maori attitude to avoiding depiction of the peaks in the film ... but what have we come to?"

Botes said he understood why cuts had been made where cast and crew were swearing.

Comment on This  Email to a Friend  Digg This


Reader Comments

   (Add a Comment)

... 19 Comments

  1. Hi, Costa Botes here, with a quick response from the horse's mouth, as it were (as opposed to the other end of the horse, from which I fear much of the 4th estate operates ...).

    The writer of this article is guilty of some creative exaggeration. I was annoyed, yes, but hardly furious at the Studio's modifications. And it is unfortunate for the end result that we could not have finessed changes collaboratively.

    I regret that the tampering of extra hands will make the odd passage seem clumsy or disjointed.

    But the fact remains that the impact of such changes on my work is very slight. I tried to make this point, but I guess the newspaper felt that goosing the article for a more 'David & Goliath' effect might be more titillating to readers.

    Comment by cb - July 9, 2006 @ 7:11 PM

  2. Hi, Costa Botes here, with a quick response from the horse's mouth, as it were (as opposed to the other end of the horse, from which I fear much of the 4th estate operates ...).

    The writer of this article is guilty of some creative exaggeration. I was annoyed, yes, but hardly furious at the Studio's modifications. And it is unfortunate for the end result that we could not have finessed changes collaboratively.

    I regret that the tampering of extra hands will make the odd passage seem clumsy or disjointed.

    But the fact remains that the impact of such changes on my work is very slight. I tried to make this point, but I guess the newspaper felt that goosing the article for a more 'David & Goliath' effect might be more titillating to readers.

    Comment by cb - July 9, 2006 @ 7:13 PM

  3. mmm. coperate america strikes again. in both instances, the editing, and the "creative exaggeration". sad... i would have liked to see orcs singing "stand by me". i can understand the mountains though. we've disregarded our native peoples here and lost a lot of culture, so i think it's great that we honor the Maori's wishes.

    Comment by Short_as_a_hobbit - July 9, 2006 @ 10:04 PM

  4. mmm. coperate america strikes again. in both instances, the editing, and the "creative exaggeration". sad... i would have liked to see orcs singing "stand by me". i can understand the mountains though. we've disregarded our native peoples here and lost a lot of culture, so i think it's great that we honor the Maori's wishes.

    Comment by Short_as_a_hobbit - July 9, 2006 @ 10:06 PM

  5. yes hmmm in deed - it sounds like the mean old buggers at new line have struck there commercial sword upon the head of another good project(assuming they have done it before being so big and strong) however the director BOTES is not so distressed therefore neither am i.
    i have just finished post production on a short film i made independently - even so - i still had an executive producer who came down hard on me when it came to the edit -apparently directors are never satified!!

    Comment by vixinoz - July 17, 2006 @ 11:28 PM

  6. You should let the Orc video leak on YouTube or something, it's too good to leave it in the garbage bin.
    Will there be any outtakes/bloopers on this edition?

    Comment by Numendil - July 18, 2006 @ 10:19 AM

  7. I agree with numendil about leaking that video out... i mean, if someone stole a clip on your desktop theres nothing you can do about it, right? ;)

    Comment by Dk_Strider - July 31, 2006 @ 3:47 PM

  8. Let me get this straight...The Lord of the Rings made New Line $4.7 billion dollars, and the're now going to skimp to get one time rights to use a song? Besides, I don't get the part about them cutting out parts of crew members swearing. (Not that I want it to be in there, just don't understand it.) In nearly every one of the behind-the-scenes footage for the Special Edition DVDs there was cast and crew swearing. Now New Line has suddenly developed an interest in this issue?

    Comment by Doggins - August 8, 2006 @ 7:40 AM

  9. Let me get this straight...The Lord of the Rings made New Line $4.7 billion dollars, and the're now going to skimp to get one time rights to use a song? Besides, I don't get the part about them cutting out parts of crew members swearing. (Not that I want it to be in there, just don't understand it.) In nearly every one of the behind-the-scenes footage for the Special Edition DVDs there was cast and crew swearing. Now New Line has suddenly developed an interest in this issue?

    Comment by Doggins - August 8, 2006 @ 7:40 AM

  10. Hey, Mrs. Botes, do you plan to add the cut scenes in a future release of Lord of the Rings? [which I already know there will be]

    Comment by *mushroom_dudes* - August 9, 2006 @ 7:35 AM

  11. Hey, Mrs. Botes, do you plan to add the cut scenes in a future release of Lord of the Rings? [which I already know there will be]

    Comment by *mushroom_dudes* - August 9, 2006 @ 7:37 AM

  12. Hey, Mrs. Botes, do you plan to add the cut scenes in a future release of Lord of the Rings? [which I already know there will be]

    Comment by *mushroom_dudes* - August 9, 2006 @ 7:37 AM

  13. Hey, Mrs. Botes, do you plan to add the cut scenes in a future release of Lord of the Rings? [which I already know there will be]

    Comment by *mushroom_dudes* - August 9, 2006 @ 7:38 AM

  14. Hey, Mrs. Botes, do you plan to add the cut scenes in a future release of Lord of the Rings? [which I already know there will be]

    Comment by *mushroom_dudes* - August 9, 2006 @ 7:38 AM

  15. Hey, Mrs. Botes, do you plan to add the cut scenes in a future release of Lord of the Rings? [which I already know there will be]

    Comment by *mushroom_dudes* - August 9, 2006 @ 7:39 AM

  16. Hey Mrs. Botes, do you plan on releasing the cut material on another version of Lord of the Rings? [I know there will be another]

    -the Mushroom Dude

    Comment by *mushroom_dudes* - August 9, 2006 @ 5:28 PM

  17. Costa answers Mushrooms:

    I'm not a Mrs.It's Mr to you, fella.

    And no. I think you've kind of missed the point. A few missing shots here and there and some edited 'cussing' do not constitute scenes worth reprising.

    Notwithstanding my feelings about NL's gross lack of courtesy in not consulting me before amending my work, I'll repeat that the three documentaries included in the limited editions are 99.5% as I would have wished them to be.

    I do agree about the Orcs singing. Maybe the cost of rights to Stand By Me was just too steep for the studio that made 4.7 billion.

    It's true there is a great deal of material left in the archives, but I have no control over what is done with it. The docs represent the cream of what's available.

    PJ has already said publicy that he has a wonderful stash of bloopers. Again, I have absolutely no control over that material, and no idea when it may see the light of day. My best guess is, wait for a blu-ray edition - probably 2008 at earliest.

    Comment by cb - August 26, 2006 @ 11:29 PM

  18. Terribley sorry about the name, I had no idea. And don't ask about the four-hundred posts of one comment...things have been acting a little strange lately...

    Comment by *mushroom_dudes* - September 3, 2006 @ 5:53 AM

  19. Costa,

    Why is your widescreen documentary not presented in anamorphic widescreen on the DVD? Are the production people at New Line retarded? Your documentaries play in a letterboxed 4:3 window on my 16:9 widescreen TV. I have to stretch the picture out to view in widescreen. New Line really messed this up. It's very easy to flag the content as anamorphic 16:9, but it looks like the rushed this through the grinder without much thought.

    Comment by semuta - September 11, 2006 @ 8:34 PM

Leave a Comment

COPYRIGHT 1999-2009 - The One Ring ... The One Ring is administered by everyday fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and Lord of the Rings. The One Ring is not affiliated with the Tolkien Estate or Tolkien Enterprises. Certain materials such as books, films, articles and other promotional materials are held by their respective owners and is allowed under the fair use clause of the Copyright Law.
Certain design elements of this webpage are copyright John Howe, and can be found here.