Infamous former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has experienced what would happen if he got on Peter Jackson’s bad side.
While reflecting on his time filming Lord of the Rings, its star Elijah Wood appeared on the Armchair Podcast and told host Dax Shepard that one of the orcs in the movie was designed to look like Weinstein. The actor explained he recently brought up the subject on a podcast run by Lord of the Rings costars Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd called The Friendship Onion.
“They were talking to Sean Astin about his first memory of getting to New Zealand for the first time,” Wood told Shephard and his cohost, Monica Padman. “He had seen these orc masks. And one of the orc masks — and I remember this vividly — was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a sort of a f— you.”
“I think it’s okay to talk about this now,” Wood continued after sharing the story. “He’s f—-ing incarcerated.”
Jackson and Weinstein had simmering tension as the franchise was initially to be developed under Weinstein at Miramax. Things soured when the producer wouldn’t let Jackson make three movies based on Tolkien’s books. Lord of the Rings eventually went to New Line Cinema which approved his vision for three films.
Weinstein is serving 23 years in a New York prison for rape and sexual assault, though he is currently in Los Angeles where he faces more charges and up to 140 years in prison if convicted.