who was the original Aragorn?
 

i listened to the Cast commentary to FOTR last night (it's great), and Elijah Wood said that someone else was Aragorn for about a week. he sucked, PJ fired him, and they got Viggo Mortensen instead. they never said who it was though. does anyone know?

Tom Selleck

Stewart Townsend

Gary Coleman

Correct.

It was Stuart Townsend, who was fired because he was allegedly too young for the role, and I agree.

Scary fact: back when LOTR was in it pre-production stages, Keanu Reeves was trying for that role.

[NEO]Woah.[/NEO]

That's just mad. Warner would NEVER EVER allow such a pivotal figure in ONE trilogy star in ANOTHER as well. NEVER.

Russell Crowe was offered the role and turned it down.

Jackson: What are your qualifications to play this part?

Reeves: I know Kung Fu!

Trebeck: For the last time, no you don't.

Thank God. :yack:

Viggo was the most fortuitous bit of re-casting in modern blockbuster cinema history, in my opinion.

I wanted Ernest Borgnine.

Holy crap, that is comedy.

:lol:

"Eleventy billion dollars"

Yes he was.

Christian Bale ;) :p

As a side note, at one time Ethan Hawke was in the running for Legolas.

By the way, it was not because Townsend was too young, they actually started filming the movie with him, but PJ and Townsend clashed constantly on their interpretations of the character Aragorn. I for one am glad he was ousted from the role.

Finally PJ told him "dont let the door hit ya where the dog shoulda bit ya" (paraphrasing of course)

It should have been Sean Connery. If you want some real bad choices read Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson. Viggo Mortensen did a great job but I couldn't bare to see him in another leading role. I doubt he's that good an actor, just perfect for LOTR.

Were it not for the casting of Viggo Mortensen, I may not have bothered to see this series. He's a fine actor, whom I noticed back from "Boiling Point". I look forward to "Hidalgo"!

For those who haven't listened to the commentaries yet, the scene where the hobbits are on the abandoned hill/temple thing fairly early on in Fellowship, and the RingWraiths are after them and Aragorn comes charging in, that was his first scene filmed. Pretty impressive IMHO.