The Best Improvised And Unscripted Moments In The 'Lord of the Rings' Movies

During the Fellowship's showdown with the Uruk-hai at the end of Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn faces up against the enemy's captain, known as Lúrtz. After some epic swordplay (which actor Viggo Mortensen was very skilled at, turns out), Lúrtz throws a dagger at Aragorn, which he expertly deflects with his sword.

This one might be considered more of an act of self-defense than an improvisation. According to legend, the actor playing Lúrtz was meant to throw the dagger far off Mortensen's body, but because of limited vision from his prosthesis, he errantly threw it directly at him. Instinctively, Viggo swatted away the dagger, creating an incredible moment of close-up action. As told by director Peter Jackson:

That was a real knife that was being thrown, and he literally did bat it away with his sword for real: it wasn’t anything fake about it.

Wracked with grief after finding a hobbit broach in the rubble of a battle, Aragorn kicks a helmet, then drops to his knees in emotional agony. It's a powerful moment that really displays how deeply Aragorn cares for his tiny comrades from the Shire.

The thing is, the helmet kick was a totally improvised action from Viggo Mortensen, and the drop to his knees was actually the result of the actor collapsing in pain. The kick broke two of Mortensen's toes and he reacted intuitively. Peter Jackson ended up liking the performance, later saying:

Viggo actually feeling that pain, he actually turned that into performance. I mean he stayed in the character of Aragorn. He was letting that pain feed and drive his performance, which is pretty amazing.

In The Two Towers, we're introduced to the city of Rohan, which has fallen into disarray due to the curse-stricken King Theoden's lack of leadership. As members of the Fellowship arrive, Eowyn steps out of a castle after arguing with Wormtongue. She wistfully looks out to the horizon, the wind whipping across her body. Just as she spots Aragorn and company riding in, a flag of Rohan gets ripped off its pole by a gust of wind. It's beautifully symbolic, and Eowyn's reaction feels especially authentic.

Well, that's because it was. Peter Jackson claims that the flag gag wasn't intentional, but rather a well-timed accident that resulted from high winds on set. Naturally, such a meaningful coincidence was left in the final cut of the film and remains one of the most visually memorable scenes in The Two Towers.

Early on in Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf pays a visit to Bilbo's hobbit hole prior to the night's forthcoming birthday celebration. Throughout the scene, Gandalf bends his back and cranes his neck to navigate around the hobbit-sized dwelling. In one instance, the grey wizard bonks his head on a ceiling beam, prompting a mighty "Ohhhhh!"

For years, director Peter Jackson contended this moment was spontaneous because the 5'11" McKellen had difficulty navigating the set. In truth, Ian McKellen knocked his noggin on purpose. It was improvised - as in it wasn't in the script - but he had this gem of a moment planned before they started rolling. According to McKellen:

Peter, for once, is wrong. The head-banging was my idea but I'm glad if it seemed spontaneous - the aim of all actors.

While traveling with Rohan refugees to Helm's Deep in The Two Towers, Aragorn and his company are attacked by a group of Warg-riding orcs. A battle ensues in which Aragorn is dragged off the edge of a cliff by an enemy's Warg. He is presumed dead, leaving his comrades without their de facto leader. Luckily, Aragorn is found floating down a river and rescued by the horse Brego.

For the river portion of this sequence, Viggo Mortensen did, in fact, float down the river in costume. Unfortunately, Mortensen got caught in an undertow and the weight of his armor dragged him underwater. The actor nearly drowned, but the footage turned out fantastic. As with many takes where actors suffered injuries in Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson used this near-fatal moment in the final cut of the film.

As the Fellowship prepares for their long road into Mordor in Fellowship of the Ring, Boromir delivers a fearful, impassioned speech to his cohort. At times it's as though he can't even look up or make eye contact. The monologue exposes his trepidation and previews the dangers that await the Fellowship ahead.

During the entire production of Lord of the Rings, it was commonplace for Peter Jackson, writer/producer Fran Walsh, and other members of the team to make script changes as they went along. In some cases, new pages were delivered to actors at the absolute last minute. In the case of this scene, actor Sean Bean had virtually no time to prepare. As a result, the crew actually taped a page with his monologue to his leg. When Boromir glances down, it's because Bean is reading directly from the script! As told by Peter Jackson:

Sean handled it very cleverly - if you look at the movie, you'll see he occasionally has his head bowed, as if dealing with the emotional weight of the horrors of Mordor. In actual fact, the new script page had been taped to his knee!