Elijah Wood Reveals 'Lord of the Rings' Orc Mask Was Made in Harvey Weinstein's Likeness
03:28 GMT 06.10.2021 (Updated: 20:40 GMT 19.10.2022)
© AP Photo / John Minchillo
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Disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein, now a registered sex offender, was sentenced last year to 23 years behind bars for sexual assault and rape. Weinstein was extradited in July to Los Angeles, California, where is he is being tried for several additional counts of rape and sexual assault.
Actor Elijah Wood, who famously portrayed Frodo Baggins in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, spilled a little Middle-Earth tea on Harvey Weinstein during a recent appearance on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast.
Wood detailed that actor Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in the Peter Jackson-directed film trilogy, had learned from Hobbit actors Dom Monaghan and Bill Boyd that one of the orc masks was designed after the notorious Hollywood producer.
"He had seen these orc masks. And one of the orc masks – and I remember this vividly – was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a sort of a 'f**k you,'" Wood recounted.
"I think that is OK to talk about now,” the actor qualified about Weinstein, who faces up to life in prison. “The guy is f**king incarcerated. F**k him."
Wood asserted that Jackson chose to have the orc made in Weinstein's likeness following a series of production difficulties with the infamous Hollywood powerbroker that centered around Weinstein's push to have the "Lord of the Rings" storyline shortened into just one single movie.
The American actor also detailed that Weinstein had allegedly threatened to replace Jackson with either directors Quentin Tarantino or John Madden.
It did not take long before netizens began scouring the film to find the producer-turned-prisoner's doppelgänger.
I just read that Peter Jackson likely modeled Gothmog the orc lieutenant after Harvey Weinstein and I find such joy in that likeness of him living on forever. pic.twitter.com/i8Gyu13lFk
— charlie binger (@BingerCharlie) October 5, 2021
Usually my LOTR knowledge is completely useless but TODAY I fixed the image about an orc who looks a lot like Harvey Weinstein ... the original was not right (in comments) pic.twitter.com/tj7DtJdaNv
— tasmin prichard (@tasmin_prichard) October 5, 2021
King shit. https://t.co/Qd3Xj7umaO
— CJ The One-Man Army of Darkness (@CJWritesThings) October 5, 2021
Not all heroes wear capes.
— Angelo Ferreira (@AngeloFerreiraG) October 4, 2021
OMG, I'm going to go look for that! Never noticed before. 😆
— Elijah Wood Movies (@MovieElijahWood) October 5, 2021
In the end, the Weinstein-headed Miramax production company was bought out by New Line Cinema, which went on to see the trilogy bring in some $2.92 billion at the box office and become on of the greatest movie series made to date.
