The War of the Rohirrim Director “Nearly Killed Himself” Working, Says Producer

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim had a mixed reception, but the director worked really hard to bring this movie to life. It premiered in theaters across the world in December, but didn’t perform at the box office as well as would be expected from a Lord of the Rings movie. It was screened for 2-3 weeks (depending on where you live) and is already available on digital platforms, at least in the US (and maybe a few other territories).

While this might sound bad, there is evidence suggesting that this movie was actually a direct-to-streaming production that got released in theaters, so Warner could secure the rights to produce more content for the franchise. So, in this sense, despite only earning $15 million at the box office (the movie’s budget is estimated at $30 million), maybe performance at theaters wasn’t Warner’s priority (though we don’t know how much the company is getting with streaming deals).

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Review

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But just because this movie was made mostly to retain the rights, doesn’t mean people working on it did not take their jobs seriously. IndieWire recently published an interview with director Kenji Kamiyama and producer Joseph Chou. In this interview, Kamiyama stated that he had shorter timeframe to deliver the movie when compared to the deadlines he usually gets working on anime movies. Chou added that Kamiyawa oversaw basically every step of the production and “nearly killed himself” in doing so:

From motion capture data to CG movement to camera check, to every single shot that comes up in terms of drawing, Kamiyama had to look through every single one and check everything. It’s kind of unprecedented, and he nearly killed himself doing it, but he got it done.

War of the Rohirrim Blends 2D and 3D Animation

Despite the 2D animation, the production relied on motion capture that was later transposed into 2D, and it was a challenge to Kamiyama. According to him, animators tended to exaggerate when translating the motion capture into 2D and the movements wouldn’t seem natural. So there was a lot of “trial and error” during production.

This decision was made because, according to Chou, there is a shortage of animators now that the demand is higher than ever, so in order to meet the deadline, they relied on motion capture to save more time. Still, they had to ask help from other studios, including renowned names in the industry, like MAPPA and Production I.G. Also, a few segments were animated with traditional techniques, like the last duel between Héra and Wulf.

An Untold Story In The LotR Books

The movie tells a story that is referenced n the Lord of the Rings books, but never fully explored. The war is set 183 years before the events in the original trilogy, focusing on King Helm Hammerhand and Lord Wulf. Freca, Wulf’s father, tries to arrange a marriage between his son and the daughter of King Helm, Héra (she is not originally named in the books), but Helm thinks Freca is actually seeking his throne, and not any friendly alliance. This leads to a strife between Helm and Wulf after the king kills Freca in anger.

Source: IndieWire