‘The Lord of the Rings’: The One Ring Used for Filming Was Actually Massive
One ring to rule them all. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring took 15 months to shoot, and even longer to prepare for. Before the iconic Peter Jackson film could start filming, hours upon hours of work had to be done to design and create every single detail of Middle-earth. Because the filmmakers were creating a world that only existed in literature, every facet of the film world had to be created from scratch.
That meant thousands of props had to be made, from buckets used in Hobbiton to the One Ring itself. And the props frequently had to have duplicates of a different size for filming purposes, which meant there was a regular sized ring for the actors to hold, and then one literally huge ring used for close ups.
The One Ring is its own character in ‘The Lord of the Rings’
The ring is basically its own character in all of The Lord of the Rings movies. It uses its power to manipulate anyone who comes close to it, and the spirit of Sauron, its creator, is linked to the band. For some characters, like Gollum, the ring’s power could completely transform a body and mind. For others, like Gandalf and Galadriel, it ran the risk of driving even the strongest of wizards and elves mad with power.
Because it played such a central role in the original trilogy, the prop ring was carefully designed. In a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of The Fellowship of the Ring, fans get an inside look into how the staggering collection of props were made. While the Weta Workshop created the props like the wizard staffs, the armor for the Orcs, and more, goldsmiths and other craftsman were brought on to create props like the One Ring and even buttons for wooden chests.
Jens Hansen of Jens Hansen Jewelry created the ring itself. And as the behind-the-scenes doc revealed, its look was inspired by LOTR producer Rick Porras’ wedding ring.
One fan on Twitter hilariously pointed out that one of the versions of the ring was the size of two adult hands put together.
“My favorite thing to remember is that they used a giant f*cking Ring to film close ups,” the user tweeted.
The One Ring had to be big in order to shoot close ups
The tweet ended up going viral, with Twitter users responding in shock over the size of the prop ring.
The band had to be so large in order to properly film close ups. When you’re watching the films and see a shot where the One Ring is in focus with the actors in the distance, the actors aren’t actually as far away as they appear. The One Ring is just huge. It was made that way so the ring would be higher in definition. Ah, movie magic.
You can see the large ring being polished in this video about the making of The Fellowship of the Ring, starting at about the 3 minute mark.
Jens Hansen Jewelry still has the One Ring
One cool thing about this big ring is that Jens Hansen Jewelry still has it! The goldsmith’s studio is located in New Zealand, and the shop allows fans to pose with the ring, as responses to the above tweet showed.
The jewelry line still makes Lord of the Rings products, including a replica of the One Ring itself. You can even order Lord of the Rings-themed wedding bands, but they come at a hefty price.
