Ringer Jeremy writes:
I’m not sure if you guys already posted this information of not, but I remember there was some question as to whether or not the Easterlings would appear in Return of the King. While I was watching the movie, I noticed one of their distinctive shields just after Grond breaks down the gates of Minas Tirith. Apparently the Easterlings take part in the Siege of Gondor. I attached a screen capture just to show where they are. It’s around the 1:48:15 mark.
BoromirsOtherBrother writes:
In response to John from Memphis [posted here], I would add that in “The Quest Fufilled: A Director’s Vision” documentary there are a number of shots from what I deduce is The Cross-roads. It is all behind the scenes footage of PJ, Sean and Elijah (with Philippa Boyens sitting in the background). What gave it away for me is the large, vandalised statue with a hand on it’s knee that the camera is focusing on (that we don’t fully see), the braken-like branches on the ground (similar to the terrain where Sam and Frodo are at the start of ROTK) and the direction PJ is giving Sean Astin “Just as you go by, the sun will come out and the clouds will …”. These shots start about 17 mins 48 secs into the documentary.
If you have a quick read of the last page of the “Journey to the Cross-roads” chapter from the Two Towers, I think you’ll find that the description matches closely. I think it’s one of the most beautiful passages from the books and was actually hoping that the image of the statues head wreathed in ‘stars’ would be used underneath the opening title ‘The Return of the King’ for the third film – here’s hoping for the EE.
“Suddenly, caught by the level beams, Frodo saw the old king’s head: it was lying rolled away by the road-side. ‘Look, Sam!’ he cried, startled into speech. ‘Look!’ The king has got a crown again!’
“The eyes were hollow and the cavern beard was broken, but about the high stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant with flowers like small white stars had bound itself across the brows as if in reverence for the fallen king, and in the crevices of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed.”
Also, the shots John noted of the Orcs travelling to Udun are 8.17 in, and Aragorn with Eowyn on the bed at Edoras is at 15.42. At 17.30 we also see extra footage of the scene between gandalf and Pippin on the balcony in Minas Tirith (chapter 10 ” on the DVD) with a tracking wideshot of Pippin approaching the railing and a closeup of Gandalf drinking and patting Pip on the head….
Erather writes:
The first two features overlap a lot. But some of the clips have interesting things that we haven’t seen before:
In the Director’s Vision:
5:32 Frodo & Sam in Mordor — probably just before Sam sees the star. Stick with it past Elijah’s brief comment for a second glimpse.
15:40 Aragorn & Eowyn in Meduseld — the sequence we’ve seen a still from, of “Aragorn comforting Eowyn”. Very tantalizing, I absolutely cannot guess what might be going on in this scene.
In the Filmmaker’s Journey:
10:37 Frodo & Sam in Mordor — Sam throws away his pans!
14:01 Interesting shot of the Hobbits (including Bilbo) at the Grey Havens, with Tall Paul in the background as Gandalf.
25:33 Wonderful shots of the 4 Hobbits in their “return to Hobbiton” finery, first on the hill (as in the nice still we saw last year) and then sitting down.
