‘The Rings Of Power’ nearly cut Galadriel boat scene for budget reasons

nme.com:

record-breaking reported budget of $465 million (£399 million), producers on the first season of fantasy TV series The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power wanted to axe some scenes because they were too expensive, claimed director J.

A. Bayona in an interview with NME.Among the proposed cuts was a key moment in the first episode when elf queen Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), who is journeying across the sea to her people’s ancestral homeland of Valinor from where she may not return.

As the Elvish fleet approaches Valinor, golden light breaks through the clouds and the sky opens up to admit them – but Galadriel changes her mind and dives off the side of the ship into the water below.

Then she begins to swim back to the mainland of Middle-Earth.This scene contained some of the show’s most impressive visual effects, but Bayona, who directed the first two episodes of The Rings Of Power season one, said producers “tried to take it out” from the schedule because they “didn’t have the money.”Luckily, Bayona was able to persuade them otherwise. “It wasn’t that expensive,” he said. “I actually convinced them that we were going to be able to shoot that scene in the budget.”The Spanish filmmaker managed to rescue another scene in episode two, involving giant “sea creatures” that try and attack Galadriel as she shelters on a raft from a violent storm. “I did a lot of stuff that the producers didn’t believe we were going to be able to put in those episodes,” he said, “and we did it on budget and on schedule.”He added: “In general, I had a great experience in doing that [show].