"Being the older guard (front left) I shouted the orders about when to lift. Davin Wenham was nervous because we nearly dropped him. Much easier when we had the replica Faramir."
"I have many memories of working on LOTR. Those amazing nights at Helm's Deep. Riding in the trucks with the Uruk-Hai chanting and getting themselves ready. It was like an army - new actors arrive and the old hands would try to put them off with tales how hard the night would be. They were - Helm's Deep was cold, dirty and exhausting - but I have never been more excited on a movie set. When you see us under the shields protecting the battering ram - that took several nights. By three in the morning our arms would be barely able to ho,d the shields up. The Uruks almost rebelled one night. The spears we carried through the gap after it was blown were real and over four meters long - if you didn't keep them straight you would knock over the Uruk in front of you.
I played an Orc on one side of the gate and then a Rohan on the other side. The nights became too hard and I took a break for several months. I returned towards the end to shoot the scenes with Faramir's burning (Gondorian armour is the best looking). Only on the first day we did carry Davin Wenham. They had made an extra replica of him for the burning. David stood right next to it and was amazed at seeing his clone.
For four days we followed Denethor, as the actor John Noble waited for his big scenes with Ian McKellen. Gandalf arrived on his horse (I am the soldier he grabs the spear from), even though I stood next to him for the best part of an hour, we did not speak really. His concentration was such that he remained in character the whole time. As he sat there tired and dirty, an assistant director asked him if he was happy. In his Gandalf voice, McKellen raised an eyebrow and replied "Happy, John?" As if was the most ridiculous question to ask a sixty year old man who had been filming for over a year, one of the most arduous films ever made.
I have always been a LOTR fan. We would often stop and say "Do you realise we're in LOTR!" Later I met up with an old friend Paul Norrell and discovered he's played the King of the Dead. Paul has spent some time travelling the world to conventions. The LOTR set had more energy than any other - you know every worn out second you were making history."
