John Rhys-Davies is a legendary actor who portrayed the role of Gimli son of Gloin in Peter Jackson’s iconic trilogy The Lord of The Rings from 2001 to 2003. With an ensemble cast starring alongside him, Rhys-Davies had no idea of the success that the film was about to receive.
Alongside Rhys-Davies, there were several other actors who had no idea about the success that the films would receive in the future. Well, John Rhys-Davies seemed to state that he didn’t have much faith in Peter Jackson’s adaptation.
John Rhys-Davies Didn’t Have Much Hope With The Lord of The Rings!
Back in 2001, Peter Jackson adapted veteran writer J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings books into a full-fledged trilogy. Starring an ensemble cast of Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Austin, Orlando Bloom, and John Rhys-Davies alongside several others, the films were legendary.
Winning a total of over 20 Oscars across three films, The Lord of The Rings Trilogy changed the genre of fiction forever. Before the film’s success, Gimli actor John Rhys-Davies revealed on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast (via Bounding into Comics) that he did not have faith in Peter Jackson’s abilities to guarantee The Lord of The Rings‘ success.
“And who’s making it? Peter Jackson, he’s done one or two wonderful small movies. But let’s face it, if you’ve got a cast of four and six weeks, anyone can direct a movie, and sadly do. But has he any idea of what he’s really getting himself in for?”
He further continued,
“I did hear they were doing it, and I got asked to do something on tape. And I thought, Lord of the Rings, this is going to be a complete cluster whatever it is,”
As the interview further continued, Rhys-Davies talked about how he thought that Peter Jackson hadn’t worked in big movies before (according to the Gilmi actor).
John Rhys-Davies Didn’t Think Peter Jackson Could Handle It!
With a big cast and hundreds of extra actors, the film was actually quite complicated to make. As the interview further continued, Rhys-Davies talked about how he didn’t actually believe that Peter Jackson could pull off the film!
“He [Jackson] has no idea what happens when you make a big movie, and you know I’ve done some big ones,”
He further continued,
“I thought, never mind, I haven’t been to New Zealand, go there, take part for a month, look around, and walk away. Because this is never going to happen.”
Well, the rest is history. The Lord of the Rings franchise turned into the iconic trilogy that we know and love today. With three movies to his name, John Rhys-Davies can be seen in the iconic franchise that is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
