Fans of The Lord of the Rings have been mistaken for years. It was a different orc who was supposed to resemble Harvey Weinstein

For years, there has been an interesting fact circulating about The Lord of the Rings films, namely that in The Return of the King, there was an orc whose mask was modeled after Harvey Weinstein. It was a dig at Peter Jackson's difficult experiences with the producer, with whom he ultimately ended his collaboration, although this too wasn’t without its difficulties.

Weinstein agreed to sell LOTR to another studio, but gave Jackson almost impossible conditions: he had a weekend to find someone, and whoever undertook the production of these films had to decide on all three at once. Then Bob Shaye and New Line Cinema came along, thanks to whom Jackson was able to break free and carry out the project his way.

Jackson included several digs at Weinstein in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the most famous of which is the aforementioned orc mask. But after this trivia came to light, fans were convinced that it was Gothmog, Sauron's commander in the Battle of Pelennor Fields, because of what they saw as a striking resemblance.

Gothmog | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema, 2003

However, it turns out that it was a completely different orc. Michael Asquith, who worked on LOTR movies and created several orc masks, confessed that he was the author of the mask modeled to resemble Weinstein, and that it wasn’t Gothmog, nor was it worn by any significant character, but only by someone in the background. He even shared a photo of the mask.

Asquith also admitted that although the Gothmog mask created by Bill Hunt isn’t actually the one from the legends, he cannot rule out the possibility that Hunt may also have been inspired by the look of the infamous producer.

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