John Rhys-Davies will only return to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ franchise if he can forgo prosthetics in favour of CGI.
The 80-year-old actor played Gimli the Dwarf in Peter Jackson’s iconic fantasy trilogy and has now revealed the only way he could make a comeback to Middle Earth was if he was allowed to drop the prosthetics and instead use CGI to get into character, which was first utilised for his co-star Andy Serkis, who played Gollum/Sméagol in the films.
In an interview with Collider, Rhys-Davies said: “Well, I’m known to not want to put that prosthetic on again, but out of deference to Andy, whom I love and admire and again who has grown so much, if they invited me … oh God could I dare to put on that make-up again and lose my skin? Maybe with CGI."
The ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ star added he turned down a role in ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy - which began in 2012 with ‘An Unexpected Journey’ and concluded with ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’ in 2014 - due to the lengthy make-up process, and stressed he would not put up with any prosthetics if he were to suit up as Gimli again.
He continued: “Before when they asked me to do ‘The Hobbit’, for instance, I said no. No, not at all. Times have moved on and technology has moved on, if I don’t have to spend eight hours a day for three years of my life in a make-up chair, I might indeed do it.”
Even so, Rhys-Davies conceded his age would prove to be a major hurdle in playing the axe-wielding adventurer once more.
“The other thing is physically I am no longer capable of putting eighty pounds of extra armour and stuff on and climbing up mountains.”
The fantasy franchise will next see the animated flick ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’, which is set roughly 250 years before the events of the original trilogy and will release in December 2024.
After that, the spin-off ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’ - which is slated to hit cinemas in 2026 - will see Andy Serkis return as the titular character, with Jackson due to serve as executive producer.
The filmmaker previously explained it made more sense to give the character his own movie - which is also being directed by Serkis - compared to the likes of Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) or Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) because the team “didn’t have time to cover” Gollum’s full backstory in the original pictures.
Jackson told Deadline: “The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic.
“I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there's a little bit of both of them in all of us.
“We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn't have time to cover in the earlier films."
