Stunts

[Elvenrider]

I could have sworn I posted this a few hours earlier here...oh well.

I got this from the I love forum from where I posted it in the legolas section:

I saw on the special feature DVD on TTT or on ROTK but Orlando said that he did all of his stunts..and it was amazing because he had just broken his back like the year before or something like that. Well, how much of the sliding on the stairs on a shield did he do, and if he REALLY did that mount on the horse of TTT on the warg scene? And any other stunts that were really unbeleievable and wondering if he did it, please tell me the details.

[Cuiel Rilwen]

I should think those unbelievable stunts were computer animated...I mean it's physically impossible to jump a horse like that! I did wacth the BTS-stuff but it's been a while and I have a teflon mind. Anyone?

[Elfdaughter]

Er..yeah...that scene is computer done. I believe it;s on one of the companion sdisks on the EE, where they show you how they did it. Either that or it was on a 'making of' documentary. He did do the 'sliding down the stairs' stunt himself though. Oh, and the jumping off the ship in ROTK was computer done. The Oliphaunt stunt in ROTK was partly him and partly computer done, as was the cave troll in FOTR (I think it was just his legs that were animated in that one)

[Elvenrider]

So he did the whole, throw down the shield jump on it AND shoot his bow? I know he didn't pull out arrows in real life he justs pretends to pull it out and then pulls the bow back and shoots it (I guess the bow was made to be dry fired) I know this because I saw on the Special features disk that when Gimli came out at Amon Hen and it showed Legolas dry firing it. Maybe he only fires it dry sometimes, I don't know.
Well anyways that's cool that he did that scene. And on the Oliphant scene, didn't he like, climb up sacks of stuff? Or how'd they do that.

Oh and how did that scene of the horse, how did they do that? Like, how did it show that on the disk.
Oh and, the cave troll...didn't he like run on the chain? Well remember when he stopped the chain with the foot, why did he do that? (This is just about the movie not how, or did he do that) Like did when he did that to stop the chain from going around and around and around the pillar or what?

[Elfdaughter]

Hokay, this is going to be a technical post, so I'll try and make it as simple as possible.

So he did the whole, throw down the shield jump on it AND shoot his bow?

From what I remember - yip. However, there was a crash mat on the bottom, and he was wearing wires - it was all technically supported - he didn't really 'surf' down the stairs, he was guided down by wires.

As for the bow - he very rarely actually shot arrows. Most of them were put in digitally. And the bow he used would have basically been a toy bow. The characters had three different types of weapons - a stunt weapon, a (in the case of the swords) spring steel weapon, and what was known as the 'hero' weapon - a fully functional weapon. Legolas would have had a bow for closeups (the hero bow) and a bow for doing the action scenes - the bow would have been lightwieght and probably only strung loosely (think of the pretend bows kids use...)

And on the Oliphant scene, didn't he like, climb up sacks of stuff? Or how'd they do that.

Yes, they had sacks to represent the rump of the Oliphaunt. Orlando climbed and acted out the scene on top of the sacks, along with the stuntmen playing the Haradhrim. Once they had the footage of Orlando doing his stuff against a bluescreen, they overlaid the image of the Oliphaunt and the battleground onto the bluescreen. The shot where he swung on the rope between the legs though - that was digitally done.

Oh and how did that scene of the horse, how did they do that? Like, how did it show that on the disk.

Without seeing it again, I'm not sure if the horse itself was a digital, or just Orlie, but that was basically all computer-work. Orlando himself was not involved in that at all. The animators would have taken the shot of the other actors, and basically drawn Orlando (and possibly the horse) into the shot.

Oh and, the cave troll...didn't he like run on the chain? Well remember when he stopped the chain with the foot, why did he do that?

Ah, now that's a question about physics. If you take a very heavy piece of chain, and swing it around something, what happens? It wraps itself round, and then the momentum forces itself to wind the other way. By bringing his foot down on top of the chain, Legolas made sure that the momentum was stopped, also forching the chain down, making it tight, which gave him a tight platform to run across. If he hadn't, the chain would have unwrapped or loosened almost immedieately, which would mean that he could not have run up the chain - in order to run across something like that, there needs to be enough tension to spread the weight of the body - feet have a very small surface area, which concentrates the mass of the body, but if the area under the feet is tight, it spreads the load, allowing the person / elf to balance.

[IronHills Dwarf]

The troll scene was CGI, and some composite (the close up of him on the head). The sliding shield/stair scene was wire work and IIRC they had the shield on a track.

Um, ED, spring steel versions of the swords were the functional versions. ;) Other two types are rubber and aluminum.

[Elfdaughter]

*cough* Sorry, my fault - thanks, IHD - I meant aluminium. Ack, I was in a hurry, I was on the way out to a TA meeting....sorry if I confuzzled anyone....

[IronHills Dwarf]

No, I'm the sorry one ED, I hate being a smartypants... lol I figured you'd just had a typo.:)

[Elvenrider]

Ok, thank you a lot ED. Ya he had to make sure it was tight even though he is an elf, meaning he is light, and it wouldn't put that much pressure on the chain, but yes, I understand.

Oh one more thing, are elves light-footed, or are they just very light. I recall when he was walking on top of the snow...yes? Somebody please explain to me why they can do that and still be able not be easily picked up or thrown out of battle, or hard for them to wield a weapon, is it just because, they're not exactly light? Just light-footed?

[IronHills Dwarf]

Ahh, the physics of Elves, a wonderfully odd topic. Elves are not 'light' in that they are weightless. I think it could be best described that they have the ability to walk on some materials we can't. They obviously load-bear differenty, Tolkien never really explained how. They seem to have a certain control of, or presence with, nature, I can't think of a better way to express it.

[Cuiel Rilwen]

Typical of J.R.R.T to launch an idea and not explain why! lol But then again I don't suppose he foresaw that people would be disecting his stories in such a tedious manner either! lol

[Elvenrider]

Oh, I also recall in FOTR book that either in Rivendell or Lorien the elves had made a bridge out of a single rope tied acroos the two cliffs, and Legola RAN across it with ease but asked for another rope so the rest of the Fellowship could get through, thought they could have used the technique where you hug the rope with your arms and wrap your legs around it and scoot across, but I guess it was easier to have another rope to hold onto.