Summary

Philippa Boyens talks about prioritizing adapting key moments like Helm’s fate to maintain authenticity in Tolkien’s world for
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Boyens points out how she follows narrative breadcrumbs in Tolkien’s appendices to develop lesser-known aspects of Middle-earth.
She also reveals that one story she would love to adapt is the love story of Beren and Lúthien from
The Silmarillion
due to its mythic nature and intriguing characters.

When it comes to the little kernels of information that can be pulled from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium, there’s probably no one with more experience on how that can be turned into a filmic story than Philippa Boyens. As a writer who has worked on all three of the Lord of the Rings movies, all three of The Hobbit movies, and now The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, it seems like Boyens is totally tapped into Tolkien’s work. Her latest project jumps into the recent past to the story of Helm’s Deep and the people of Rohan. In the film, the people of Rohan are attacked by an army of Dunlendings after their king, Helm (Brian Cox), ruthlessly kills Freca (Shaun Dooley), a Dunlending lord, with one blow. As a result, Freca’s son, Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) seeks revenge and drives the people of Rohan toward their most trusted fortress called the Hornburg where they must survive a siege.

Collider spoke with Philippa Boyens about her work on this franchise and what, for her, was the most crucial scene that had to be done right. We also discussed how Boyens finds the kernels of storytelling she needs for these eras of Middle-earth history that aren’t so well fleshed out. Finally, Boyens talked about her dream Tolkien story, involving the legendary Beren and Lúthien. If those names sound familiae, it’s because they are the characters from The Silmarillion who later went on to inspire the movie version of Arwen (Liv Tyler) and Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen). You can check out the full conversation in the player above or read the transcript below.

Philippa Boyens Points Out What Is Important To Adapt From Tolkien’s Writing
“I wanted it all to feel really authentic to the world, but also to work as a film.”

COLLIDER: What, for you, was the most important part of this movie to get right? When you’re coming into the story, there are so many aspects of it. You’ve got the lore, you’ve got these characters. What was the, “I won’t negotiate on this one?”

PHILIPPA BOYENS: “We can’t mess this up?” I think the fate of Helm was definitely one. Because it’s a slightly strange, otherworldly description that you have in the books of that moment. Kenji Kamiyama just realized it so beautifully in this film. That felt important. I was always interested in what it would be like to see Edoras under siege because we have seen the Hornburg under siege, but we’ve never seen it, or something that besieged, and that was fascinating. So, there were many elements. I mean, really, honestly, truthfully, we just needed to get all of it right. There wasn’t any moment that I wanted to be wrong. I wanted it all to feel really authentic to the world but also to work as a film. It’s really important that it works and draws the audience.

What, for you, was the most important part of adopting these less fleshed-out aspects of Tolkien’s writing? How do you go about getting his narrative voice correct?

BOYENS: After having made six of these films, there is a facility perhaps with the language, but, I think that he leaves a lot of breadcrumbs in his appendices. If you follow them, they lead you to some interesting places. So, for example, it’s interesting that Wulf was not without cause when he seeks his revenge, especially if you go into the history as written by Professor Tolkien. The Rohirrim were not always nice to the Dunlendings, who were the people who were originally there. So, he was not without cause when he seeks to take the throne.

Related Is ‘The War of the Rohirrim’ Streaming? Where To Watch the First Lord of the Rings Anime Movie This is the first film set in Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth since 2014.

But if you look at what Professor Tolkien wrote, it’s that Wulf does not remain king, which said to me that Professor Tolkien, himself, even though he didn’t write this, meant that he never saw Wulf as a legitimate king. So, therefore, if he wasn’t legitimate, what is the rest of that story about? What actions did this man take that meant he was not worthy to sit on that throne? That’s what I mean. That’s a breadcrumb as far as I’m concerned, as a writer now.

Boyens Names Beren and Lúthien as Her Ideal Tolkien Story To Adapt
“You have Aragorn and Arwen, which is such a beautiful love story, but before that, there was Lúthien and Beren.”
Image via Warner Bros. 

You just mentioned that you’ve far from dabbled in this world. You are entrenched in this world to this point. I’m curious, if you had no restrictions, what’s the ideal Middle-earth story that you would be like, “I want to take this on?”

BOYENS: I love the story of Lúthien and Beren in The Silmarillion. Also, there are threads of it, obviously, in The Lord of the Rings, but you have Aragorn and Arwen, which is such a beautiful love story, but before that, there was Lúthien and Beren. Also, it’s an earlier age, and it’s a kind of more mythic age. You’ve got some serious monsters — I love monsters — that you could bring into that storytelling. But also, she is such an incredible character, the character of Lúthien, and so there’s some of her DNA, obviously, in Arwen and Galadriel, but even in these human characters, I think — that courage to go and face down the thing that you’re most terrified of.

I couldn’t agree more with you. You should do this! I’m putting this out there into the world.

BOYENS: [Laughs] Okay, we’ll see what happens! I might be too old by the time we get there. I might need to be the person watching it in the audience, and hopefully, there’s a fantastic young female screenwriter out there who could potentially do it.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is in theaters now.

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The untold story behind Helm’s Deep, hundreds of years before the fateful war, telling the life and bloodsoaked times of its founder, Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan.Release Date December 13, 2024 Director Kenji Kamiyama Runtime 134 Minutes Main Genre Fantasy Studio(s) New Line Cinema , Warner Bros. Animation , Sola Entertainment Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Pictures Expand