I remember watching the 'making of' and behind the scenes for LoTR movies, on the dvds. I think it was a ridiculous amount of bts lol. It makes me miss the days of practical effects being the foundation, with CGI being a cherry on top.

I joke that my partner read the Bible (Catholic boi) and I read The Silmarillion/LoTRs.

I saw a short the other day from one of the bts, and the tech was talking about how they wanted a different, ethereal reflection in the eyes of Galadriel/Cate Blanchett, so they constructed a huge ring with Christmas lights on it to have it seem like she had stars in her eyes. She is by far my favourite character in the books, just ahead of Turin Turambar and Beren and Luthien. I reckon Turin Turambar's story would be such a dark movie adaption, I'm dying to see it made with love like LoTR!

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/crs9dk43LoY#bottom-sheet

I love the books so fucking much, I love the movies (not the Hobbit movies, they didn't need to add a lady elf to be a romance for Fili? Kili? One of them lol), I love the art book of John Howe, the maps he painted and the scenes he added are stunning. It's such a vastly rich world.

My only complaint is the lack of female characters; it's a very male-centric tale but not misogynistic; I think Tolkien wrote what he knew and he knew his wife so she's Goldberry, but other female characters (besides maybe Galadriel) are quite limited.