The Two Towers: A towering achievement

Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne talks to Russell Baillie about The Two Towers DVD and video release.

On why The Two Towers made more money at the box office (US$910 million) than its predecessor, The Fellowship of the Ring (US$860 million).

There are a number of reasons. People were intrigued with the first movie and wanted to see what happened; the first movie bore the burden of explaining the world and the second movie didn't have to do that, so it launched straight into a fairly active, plot-driven film.

Also, there are a number of really interesting things in it, like Gollum which was fully realised as a creature and is an amazing character. I think the Battle of Helm's Deep was fairly spectacular and it just captured people's imagination.

On why the two-stage DVD release — theatrical version now, extended cut in November.

There are two DVDs. The DVD that comes out now is the theatrical film and it has some additional features, such as the preview of The Return of the King.

It has some other features and then, because we shot so much material and some of it is really informative in terms of who these characters are, we've decided it was a shame not to have that see the light of day.

It's not in the theatrical version only because it would make it too long for an audience in the theatre. But there are scenes, nonetheless, that we feel add a lot to the film.

So in a way it's a different experience. The first one is a memento of what you saw in the theatre, the second one is almost another version.

But it's not a director's cut. Peter [Jackson] likes to feel the director's cut is what you see in the theatre.

But this is a different version, equally valid and less paced for keeping a mass audience interested.

On why LOTR fans shouldn't be annoyed about the two-stage release, which means the extra-fanatical will be forking out twice.

The other version is not cheap to produce, believe me. Just going to London to record another 30 minutes of film, which is what we did, is millions of dollars by itself, and producing all these additional visual effects that end up in the extended version — it's a big investment.

On why the extended version isn't just a matter of re-inserting the bits that were cut out for the theatrical version.

No, it's not quite. We had all these shots that weren't completed. They might have been started because Peter works from having a mass of material, then he refines and then you start making a decision about what is going to play in a theatrical experience.

And then you look at what you've cut out and think, "Gee, it would really be nice to explain where Boromir comes from, or the relationship between Boromir, Denethor and Faramir" — things you can explore in an extended cut that you don't have time to do in a theatrical cut of the movie.

On whether he'll be popping down to his local video store to see The Two Towers lined up on the shelves.

Yeah, I'll go and see how it's doing. It's fun, just like it's fun to go to the theatre. You go to the premieres, but what is really fun is to go into the theatre with an audience who are paying money to see your film.

The good bits

* Gollum, especially in the scene where he's arguing with his alter-ego Smeagol. A classic.

* The Battle of Helm's Deep. Not only is it one huge battle, Legolas shows off another party trick, skating down a flight of stairs while shooting a barrage of arrows.

* Gandalf's flying fight with the Balrog as they plunge into the abyss.

* Gimli's role as light relief, whether pondering dwarf women or complaining about all the cross-country running he has to do behind Aragorn and Legolas

* Aragorn's slow-motion entrance at Helm's Deep. Well hello, handsome.

The not so good bits

* Treebeard carrying Merry and Pippin. A real pace-killer.

* The Orcs' East-End-of-London accents.

* Those Disc two documentaries: Hardly revelatory.

* Eowyn (Miranda Otto). A warrior princess in the making maybe, but one who hardly leaves much of an impression.

* Sam lamenting the fact that he doesn't have any spuds to add to a rabbit stew. Good grief wee man, the future of Middle-earth is resting partly on your shoulders and you're complaining about a lack of variety in your diet?

Special features on The Two Towers DVD

The second disc has:

1. Documentaries On the Set: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Return to Middle-earth.

2. The Long and Short of It (a short film directed by Sam Astin and starring LOTR director of photography Andrew Lesnie, and Peter Jackson. Also, The Making of The Long and Short of It (in which Andy Serkis is hilarious, just playing himself).

3. Eight featurettes originally created for lordoftherings.net, Forces of Darkness, Designing the Sounds of Middle-earth, Edoras: The Rohan Capital, Creatures of Middle-earth, Gandalf the White, Arms and Armour, The Battle of Helm's Deep, Bringing Gollum to Life.

4. Ten-minute preview of The Return of the King (the most exciting thing here). Also previews of The Return of the King videogame and The Two Towers special extended DVD.

5. TTT theatrical trailers and television commercials.

6. Music video of Gollum's Song by Emilian Torrini.

The extended version

Arrives in a four-disc DVD set and video in November. It will be 43 minutes longer than the 173-minute theatrical version. New scenes include:

1. Flashback scenes between Boromir (Sean Bean), his father Denethor, the King of Gondor, and brother Faramir (David Wenham).

2. Rohan horseman Eomer Karl (Urban) brings home his wounded cousin Theodred, whose death is ignored by his father King Theoden because of Saruman's spell.

3. More scenes featuring Treebeard and hobbits Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan)


4. More Gollum scenes, and an extended Battle of Helm's Deep.

Herald Feature: Lord of the Rings