Part 1 of 4 "Lord of the Rings" Audition Script. Complete and unabridged. Original script is spiral-bound and printed on tan paper, photocopied from a fax sent from victoria burrows in Jan. 13, 1999. Each tan page bears the phrase "Do not copy", in red, along the center. The first page of each scene bears teh word "file" printed in red. There are many hand-written markings throughout the script. LORD OF THE RINGS - (c) Three Foot Six Ltd ARAGORN & ARWEN Whilst in Lothlorien, Aragorn comes upon Arwen who is singing by herself in a glade. Entranced, Elrond's daughter reminds him of the fabled Luthien, a legendary Elvish Princess who gave up her immortality so she could marry a mortal man. (N.B: This sequence does not take place in the Ring Trilogy proper. It is described instead in Appendix (A) Part V, and has been freely adapted here for the purposes of this Audition.) ARAGORN Luthien? ARWEN Who are you? Why do you call me by that name? ARAGORN Because ... forgive me Lady, I took you for the very Luthien of whom you sing. (pause) If you are not she, then you walk in her likeness. ARWEN So many have said, yet her name is not mine. Though perhaps my fate will not be unlike hers. (pause) Who are you? ARAGORN I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. ARWEN (nods) Islidur's heir, and lord of the Dunedain. (pause) Then we are kin, at least from afar. I am Arwen, Elrond's daughter. ARAGORN (surprised) My lord Elrond's daughter? (pause) I dwelt in this house from childhood, yet I've heard no word of you. (CONTINUED) CONTINUED: ARWEN You've lived no more than a score of years in Middle-earth. It's many times that since I've been here. ARAGORN looks surprised, for she seems, if anything, younger than him. ARWEN (laughs) Do not wonder. The children of the Eldar live long. ARAGORN Yes. It's said, many spans the life of a man. ARWEN I've already lived in this world so long that to me, you're but a yearling shoot next to a tree of many summers. ARAGORN (sighs) I know it. I am mortal, and you are Elf kind. ARWEN Yes - that is our fate. (pause) Why do you look at me so? ARAGORN Because your beauty pierces my heart. ARWEN Alas, then. For that, there can be no easy remedy. ARAGORN I am not one so easily daunted. ARWEN With your hope, I could also hope. -END- ------------------------------------------------------------------ LORD OF THE RINGS - (c) Three Foot Six Ltd ARAGORN - SCENE 2 Following an ambush Aragorn realises that he and his men have been deliberately drawn away from Minas Tirith, the mighty city of which he is the rightful King. ARAGORN (calling) Legolas! I need your Elf-eyes! LEGOLAS hurries over to ARAGORN. ARAGORN (cont'd) What do you see? There ... LEGOLAS peers into the distand murk ... LEGOLAS Flames ... and Nazgul! There is war at Minas Tirith! ARAGORN (angry) He has taken us for fools! This skirmish in the south has been a ploy ... a diversion to keep us from the field of battle! LEGOLAS Minas Tirith is two days ride! How can we hope to get there in time? ARAGORN suddenly turns, a look of grim determination on his face. ARAGORN I will not see the White City fall! We must take the Paths of the Dead! LEGOLAS (shocked) Is it your want to seek death? The Shadow-men will suffer no living man to pass through their hidden halls! ARAGORN (grim determination) They will suffer me! -END- ------------------------------------------------------------------ LORD OF THE RINGS - (c) Three Foot Six Ltd ARWEN - SCENE 2 ARWEN has defiantly arrived on the eve of Battle. ARAGORN has just discovered the identity of the cloaked archer. ARAGORN (surprised) Arwen! ARWEN I came to fight. ARAGORN This is madness! Your immortality will not save you from an Orc blade. ARWEN draws her side sword. ARWEN I can look after myself as well as any Man! ARAGORN reaches for ARWEN'S sword. ARAGORN Give me that! ARWEN holds the sword point to his throat. ARWEN A solider never surrenders their weapon. ARAGORN (angrily swatting sword out of the way) You are no soldier - in two hours this place will be besieged, crawling with orcs! ARWEN I have lived through worse. ARAGORN You know nothing of war. ARWEN I know about loss. -END- ------------------------------------------------------------------ LORD OF THE RINGS - (c) Three Foot Six Ltd BILBO Having pulled a surprise disappearing act on his fellow Hobbits, BILBO BAGGINS sits down to discuss his future plans with the Wizard, GANDALF. BILBO Hello! I wondered if you would turn up. GANDALF I'm glad to find you visible. I suppose you feel very pleased with yourself. BILBO I do. That flash of smoke when I vanished - a little addition of your own? GANDALF It was. You have kept that ring secret all these years - no need to make an obvious a display of it now. BILBO (laughs) You are an interfering old busybody, but I expect you know best, as usual. GANDALF I know enough to make sure you see your plan through. You mean to continue? BILBO Yes, oh yes. I need a holiday - a very long holiday. The Hobbit starts in on his final packing. BILBO I don't expect I shall return. In fact, I don't mean to. BILBO meets his old friend's eye. BILBO (cont'd) I am old, Gandalf. I don't look it, but I am beginning to feel it in my heart. (pause) I feel all thin. (CONTINUED) CONTINUED: BILBO (cont'd) Sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter, scraped over too much bread. (pause) I need a change - or something. GANDALF I believe your plan is probably for the best. BILBO Well - everything's set now. All the arrangements made. I want to see mountains again. Mountains. And then find somewhere I can rest without a pack of relatives prying around or confounding visitors hanging on the bell. Somewhere I can finish my book. (smiles) I have thought up a good ending for it: ... and he lived happily ever after to the end of his days. GANDALF I hope he will. Who will read the book, I wonder? BILBO Frodo has read some already, as far as it goes. (concerned) You'll keep an eye on him won't you? GANDALF Yes, I will. Two eyes. As often as I can spare them. BILBO I'm leaving everything to him of course, except a few oddments. GANDALF Everything? A shifty look passes over BILBO'S face. GANDALF (cont'd) The Ring as well? You agreed to that, remember? (CONTINUED) CONTINUED: BILBO Yes. Of course. I suppose so. GANDALF Where is it? BILBO In an envelope. (reluctant) There on the mantelpiece. The Hobbit's expression changes from reluctant and sly, to guilty surprise. BILBO Wait, no! Here it is in my pocket. Isn't that odd now? (considering) Yet, after all. Why not? Why shouldn't I keep it? GANDALF I think, Bilbo, you should leave it behind. Is that so hard? BILBO Well, no. And yes. Now it comes to it I don't feel like parting with it. Why should I have to? You've never cared about anything else I brought back from my journey. GANDALF I think you've had it quite long enough Bilbo. You won't need it any more, unless I am quite mistaken. BILBO Why not? What business is it of yours anyway? It's mine. I found it. It came to ME! GANDALF There's no need to get angry. BILBO If I'm angry, it's your fault. It is mine. My own. My precious! The Wizard advances on the little Hobbit. BILBO's voice, shape and manner have completely changed. (CONTINUED) CONTINUED: GANDALF It has been called that before, but not by you! BILBO (raving) Gollum! That miserable, wretched ... so wicked ... he wanted to ... he would have killed me. He called me sneak! Thief! But it is mine. BILBO backs away from GANDALF BILBO (cont'd) Mine! GANDALF I am not trying to rob you. I want to help you. Trust me, as you once did. BILBO seems to cower, not only from GANDALF but from some inner demon. BILBO It has been growing in my mind. I always want to put it on ... to disappear. I tried locking it up, but I couldn't rest without it. GANDALF Follow your plan. Go away and leave the Ring behind. BILBO Perhaps it will be a relief not to have it. (with effort) I will. (decisive) The Ring will go to Frodo with all the rest. (cheers up) Yes. And now, I must really be going. I'm late, and the road is long. GANDALF Bilbo? BILBO Yes? (CONTINUED) CONTINUED: GANDALF The Ring. It is still in your pocket. BILBO Good gracious me, so it is. BILBO pulls it out and looks at it. He goes to place it on the mantelpiece, but for an instant, a spasm of anger crosses his face. He drops the Ring and it lies between them on the floor. BILBO sags from the effort but manages to turn his back on the Ring and GANDALF. BILBO (drained) There - that's done ... I must finish my packing ... where's my bag ... where did I put it? -END- ------------------------------------------------------------------ LORD OF THE RINGS - (c) Three Foot Six Ltd. BOROMIR BOROMIR, a warrior and son of the Steward of Gondor, has been part of the Fellowship of the Ring escorting FRODO. He has been steadfast and brave, but a long hidden desire to take the Ring and use it in defense of his country has overcome his loyalty to the cause. He waits until FRODO is alone, and steals up behind him. FRODO senses something behind him and turns. BOROMIR I was afraid for you Frodo. If Aragorn is right and Orcs are near, then none of us should wander alone, and you least of all, so much depends on you. (pause) And yet I know why you seek solitude. FRODO You do? BOROMIR You suffer. I see it day by day. Are you sure you do not suffer needlessly? I wish to help you. FRODO You can't help me. I know what I should do, it's only, I'm afraid of doing it. BOROMIR Afraid? No. You need advice. Won't you take mine? FRODO I think I know what your advice would be, Boromir. And it would seem like wisdom but for the warning in my heart. BOROMIR Warning? Against what? FRODO Against delay. Against the way that seems easier. Against refusal of the burden that's been laid on me. (pause) Against, if it must be said, against the strength and truth of Men. (CONTINUED) CONTINUED: BOROMIR That strength has long protected you, far away in your little country. FRODO I know your people are brave, but the world is changing. Your castle walls are strong, but if they fall, then what? BOROMIR Then we fall valiantly in battle. But they will not fall, not while there is hope. FRODO There is no hope while the Ring lasts. A strange look steals into BOROMIR'S eyes at the mention of the Ring. BOROMIR It's a strange fate that we suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing. (pause) I caught a glimpse of it in the House of Elrond. I would dearly love to see it again. FRODO No. FRODO steps away from him, suddenly tense. FRODO (cont'd) It is best kept hidden. BOROMIR (regaining composure) Very well ... but come with me at least to Minas Tirith. My city is close now and you could rest before the next stage of your journey ... FRODO does not reply and steps further away. BOROMIR grows agitated. (CONTINUED) CONTINUED: BOROMIR (cont'd) Why do you recoil? I am no thief. Yes, I wish to have the Ring, but not to keep. Lend me the Ring - let me but try my plan. FRODO No! The Council of Elrond charged me to bear it alone. BOROMIR The Council of Fools! They bade a Halfling walk into the clutches of the Enemy! It is madness! You go to your death and to the ruin of us all. Give me the Ring! BOROMIR lunges at FRODO who puts on the Ring and disappears. BOROMIR gasps, and lashes out with his sword. BOROMIR Miserable trickster! Let me get my hands on you! I see your mind - you'll take the Ring to Sauron, you will betray us! Curse you and all Halflings to death and darkness!! He stands there a moment, then appears stunned by what he has just said. Comprehension of his actions fills his mind and he begins to weep. BOROMIR (cont'd) Frodo! Come back! It was madness, Frodo?! ... What have I done???! -END-