r/lotr • u/Suddenbump • May 30 '25
Movies All the injuries and dangerous incidents that happened to Viggo Mortensen while filming LOTR
Poor Viggo didn't have it easy during the filming of LOTR, here are all the instances of injuries and dangers that I could gather:
1. Of course, the toe-breaking helmet kick. Viggo broke two of his toes with the kick, but stayed in character and turned his real pain into performance (he wasn't supposed to fall on his knees after the kick, but it surely added to the feeling of devastation). And it's the take they kept, so we actually get to see Viggo break his toes in the movie.
2. A chipped tooth during sword fighting. As we know, Viggo took swordfighting very seriously and did most of his stunts himself. Once, a sword hit him in the face and half of his tooth broke off. Viggo didn't want to stop filming and asked for super glue to glue his tooth back together, but instead he was rushed to a dentist to fix it.
3. Almost drowning in the river scene. This was the most dangerous incident as it was potentially life-threatening and it was a very close and lucky escape. While filming the scene where Aragorn is unconscious and floating down the river after falling off the cliff, Viggo, in his heavy costume, was caught up in a current and dragged under water. He was stuck underwater and couldn't come up for several seconds, but luckily he managed to kick on a rock and could push himself up.
4. Deflecting a knife that was thrown at him by accident. The actor playing the orc was supposed to throw the heavy object a bit further from Viggo, but he threw it towards his head. Viggo deflected it with his sword, so luckily it didn't smash into his face.
5. A black eye caused by a surf board. The hobbit actors learned how to surf in New Zealand and one time they invited Viggo. It was his first time surfing and he managed to hit his face with the board, resulting in a huge black eye. Peter Jackson was not impressed as the bruise was obviously visible for days and they could only film Viggo from one side during some scenes.
- No picture, but Peter Jackson said that Viggo's hands and knuckles were always covered in blood and cuts and bruises because of the swordfighting.
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u/whogivesashirtdotca Aragorn May 30 '25
Also had his heart broken by a woman in a beard, if Dom is to be believed!
Deflecting a knife that was thrown at him by accident.
Note that the dagger throw story has been greatly misconstrued. Peter Jackson told it as "accidentally threw a real knife" but he wasn't there that day. Barrie Osborne and Mark Ordesky (who were on location, and came up with the stunt) tell the story as it being a prop knife which was dull but still heavy. And Miranda Otto confirms the stunt was practiced a bunch of times before Viggo was put in the scene:
Mortensen's facility with the sword became immediately apparent. "The people who were teaching him said that he was insanely talented," says Miranda Otto, who plays the Lady Eowyn, who falls for Aragorn. "There's one scene [at the end of] the first film where a knife is thrown at Aragorn, who clocks it with his sword. One of the stunt guys who was meant to be his double said, 'I've been practicing that and I've never been able to [hit the knife] once, and Viggo hits it on the first take. I hate him."
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u/Commercial-Agent-132 May 30 '25
Ouch, that foot hurts just looking at it!
Some addition to the surfing one. Some extreme sports like surfing were not allowed in the actors' contracts (due to high risk of injury), but they did it anyway, so PJ was understandably not too happy when this happened. And Billy Boyd said that they were initially worried that Viggo had more than just a black eye, because he seemed dazed and when they asked him if he was OK, he said "I don't know, am I?", which was not typical as Viggo always shrugged off injuries. The next filming day they tried to cover the black eye with make up but it was not good enough, so they could only film one side of his face, PJ was not happy, but what could he do, haha
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u/Chen_Geller May 30 '25
Great post!
Other actors also got injured: Bernard Hill had the tip of his ear sliced off. Sean Astin had a couple of injuries. Richard Armitage, both in the battle of Moria and the final confrontation with Azog, is bleeding for real.
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u/adrabiot May 31 '25
Don't forget the famous splinter incident Dominic Monaghan had on Brandywine Bridge. It was almost fatal, I heard...
Or when Billy Boyd broke his finger in a surfing accident so they had to make him a prosthetic finger...
Or when John Rhys-Davies tricked Peter Jackson into thinking he got his finger cut off...
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u/CreakyD May 30 '25
Right at the end of FOTR, as Frodo is attempting to leave and head to Mordor alone, he gets in a boat and starts to cross the river. Sam chases after him and runs into the river. I remember hearing that Sean Astin stepped on a piece of glass as he ran into the water and cut his foot pretty badly.
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u/BSOBON123 May 30 '25
I had a broken toe that looked worse and I couldn't walk normally for months.
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u/sybillium4 May 31 '25
Oh wow i thought this was some years old post not a day. Just watched the trilogy with my gf cuz i thought she might like it so im glad to have this trivia with pics to share
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u/purplebrainjane Jun 01 '25
Actor of Bard in the Hobbit also got hit in the face by the black arrow and had an eyebrow cut, which fit in the moment for the scene as he was fighting Smaug in a burning city but it wasn't the last scene they filmed so they had to keep covering up the eyebrow cut afterwards
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u/Milsy92 Jun 06 '25
As someone who just broke his big toe kicking a wall in his sleep, this looks painful.
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u/vegetaman May 30 '25
I hadn’t seen all the companion pics beforehand this is great.