The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Cate Blanchett as: Galadriel
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Selected Cast: Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto & David Wenham
Written by: J.R.R. Tolkien & Fran Walsh
Release Year: 2002
Genre: Action / Adventure / Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG-13

Sauron’s forces increase. His allies grow. The Ringwraiths return in an even more frightening form. Saruman’s army of Uruk Hai is ready to launch an assault against Aragorn and the people of Rohan. Yet, the Fellowship is broken and Boromir is dead. For the little hope that is left, Frodo and Sam march on into Mordor, unprotected. A number of new allies join with Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Pippin and Merry. And they must defend Rohan and attack Isengard. Yet, while all this is going on, Sauron’s troops mass toward the City of Gondor, for the War of the Ring is about to begin.

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Quotes from Cate Blanchett

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Quotes from Others

• Coming soon!

Quotes from her Character

• Gandalf: “You cannot pass!”
Frodo: “Gandalf!”
Gandalf: “I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. Go back to the shadow. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun! You shall not pass!”
Galadriel: “The power of the enemy is growing. Sauron will use his puppet Saruman to destroy the people of Rohan. Isengard has been unleashed. The Eye of Sauron now turns to Gondor, the last free kingdom of men. His war on this country will come swiftly. He senses the Ring is close. The strength of the Ringbearer is failing. In his heart, Frodo begins to understand. The quest will claim his life. You know this. You have foreseen it. It is the risk we all took. In the gathering dark, the will of the Ring grows strong. It works hard now to find its way back into the hands of men. Men, who are so easily seduced by its power. The young captain of Gondor has but to extend his hand, take the Ring for his own and the world will fall. It is close now, so close to achieving its goal. For Sauron will have dominion over all life on this Earth, even unto the ending of the world. The time of the elves is over. Do we leave Middle-Earth to its fate? Do we let them stand alone?”

• Galadriel: “The time of the Elves is over. Do we leave Middle-earth to its fate? Do we let them stand alone?”

Trivia & Facts

• Filmed in New Zealand (view all.)

• Won 2 Oscars. Another 66 wins & 76 nominations (view all.)

• Also known as ‘The Two Towers’.

• Cate starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Elijah Wood as well.

Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Billy Boyd.

• Cate and Billy Boyd also starred in the movie Stories of Lost Souls (2005), but they appeared in different short films.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Dominic Monaghan.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Sean Astin.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Ian McKellen.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Viggo Mortensen.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Sean Bean.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Orlando Bloom.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Liv Tyler.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Christopher Lee.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Andy Serkis.

• Cate also starred in the movies Little Fish (2005), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with Hugo Weaving.
• Cate has also starred in the play Hedda Gabler (2004 & 2006) and the TV Series Bordertown (1995) with Hugo Weaving.

• Cate also starred in the movies The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with John Rhys-Davies.

• Cate also starred in the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) with Bernard Hill.

• Cate also starred in the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) with Miranda Otto.

• Cate also starred in the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) with David Wenham.

• Read about the alternate DVD versions at IMDb.

• New Line wanted Peter Jackson to start the film with a prologue done by Cate, something that Jackson didn’t want to do. Ironically, a year earlier New Line had been opposed to opening The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) with a prologue narrated by Cate, something Jackson was in favor of.

• Cate has only three scenes in this film.

• To make the many sparkling lights in Galadriel’s eyes, the crew put white Christmas lights behind the camera.

• Peter Jackson did a “Director Cameo” and he is seen wearing a chainmail at Helm’s Deep and throws a spear at the attacking orcs.

• One of the few films to gross over $100 million in its first week. It reached the $200-million mark within 12 days (Spider-Man (2002)) took nine to do that) and 34 days to reach $300 million.

• The first sequel to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture when the original film did not win the award itself, and the third sequel to be nominated for Best Picture.

• Peter Jackson and producer Barrie M. Osborne actively campaigned for Andy Serkis to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Gollum. Academy regulations, however, forbid an actor to be nominated when he is not physically to be seen on screen, despite Serkis’ active input into the role.

• Some of the physical inspirations for Gollum’s wiry frame were resident artist (and J.R.R. Tolkien expert) John Howe and rock singer Iggy Pop.

• Originally Liv Tyler’s character Arwen was to be included in the fighting force of Elves who join the men in the battle of Helms Deep. This was a relic of the script treatment for Miramax, which condensed all three books into two films, and met with fan fury on the internet with its free-and-easy approach to Tolkien’s work. Tyler had even trained with swordfighters in preparation for her scenes, when the decision to remove her was made by the writers, who realized that this approach wasn’t working. Arwen, who doesn’t appear in the book of “The Two Towers”, was ultimately reworked into the story by lifting elements from the Appendices at the back of the novel, utilizing flashbacks to her and Aragorn at Rivendell. It took the writers about a year to come up with this solution.

• There were never more than 100 Uruk’hai at any time; the rest were all computer generated.

• When Frodo and Sam are in Osgiliath, Sam says, “By rights, we shouldn’t even be here.” This was a nod to the deviation the screenplay had taken from the book’s storyline. In the book, Sam and Frodo never passed through Osgiliath at all.

• Several members of the cast returned to New Zealand when Peter Jackson thought of some more ideas for scenes.

• To increase the number of Rohirrim riders, many of the “men” were actually women with beards glued on. Peter Jackson and others have noted that in many cases they were more skilled riders than the men.

• Gandalf’s line near the end declaring that “The Battle of Helm’s Deep is over; the Battle of Middle Earth is about to begin” is paraphrased from part of one of Winston Churchill’s most famous speeches of the Second World War, of June 18th 1940: “…the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin.”