A Major Event at Minas Tirith (excerpt)
E! Online

by John Forde

January 1, 2001

Meanwhile, WETA technicians remove David Wenham's winged helmet to give the actor a breather between takes. The Australian star of The Boys and Better Than Sex plays Faramir, youngest son of Denethor, the ailing Steward of Gondor.

Wenham admits his scenes are difficult. "I come to work every day and get yelled at by my father," he laughs. "Faramir has the legacy of his dead brother--his father's favorite--to live up to. He gets pushed to his limits and decides to ride into battle to prove himself--even though it's a suicide mission."

That's one hell of an Oedipal complex.

John Noble, the Australian theater vet playing the father, agrees Denethor can be cruel. "But it's my job to show the humanity of the man. He's literally driven mad by grief and fear."

"We all carry our parents' history with us," Noble says. "Denethor resents never being king, and Boromir inherits that bitterness. It's what leads him [Boromir] to try to seize the Ring."

Noble's scenes are sure to be...smokin'. Thinking Faramir is dead, Denethor hurls his son's (still living) body onto a burning funeral pyre--then throws himself on. "I get to go out screaming amid burning flames. Who could ask for a more dramatic send-off?" Noble laughs.

For now, Wenham redons his helmet and walks--John Wayne-style--in his armor to film the departure scene. As Faramir leads his soldiers across Minas Tirith, Gandalf bursts through the assembled Gondorians, entreating him to stay. Jackson's fluid camera follows Faramir, then swivels to show Gandalf standing, saddened and alone, as the horsemen file past.

Wenham's delivery is quiet and somber. He seems resolved to fight, yet nervous. ("He's absolutely terrified, mate!" Wenham says with a chuckle.) He dismounts again and watches the playback with Jackson--who suggests he speak the line as if telling Gandalf to butt out of his father-son dispute.

We catch a brief chat with Jackson, beneath three giant white statues of Gondorian royalty. With raindrops dripping off his beard and glasses, Jackson reveals his biggest challenge is keeping his tired body from giving out before filming finishes on Friday. "I plan to sleep through Christmas," he jokes.

Techies pull the giant wooden gates of Minas Tirith closed to film Faramir's return to Gondor--slung over his horse filled with Orc arrows. The gates are magnificent--more than 40 feet tall and covered with intricately carved Gondorian figures. Of all the marvels on set, the doors best demonstrate the sophistication of Gondorian civilization.

And in a grim reminder of what's ahead, we're led to a battered replica of the gates--pummeled by the force of the enemy's battering ram. Like the Roman Empire, Minas Tirith, too, will fall.

We catch Miranda Otto (Rohan princess Eowyn) just before she's whisked away to film her wedding scene with Faramir (David Wenham). Otto says she enjoyed filming her earlier scenes. "We started in the middle of Eowyn's despair, so it has been nice to go back to the beginning, where she's established as being quite strong."