Elijah Wood says Lord of the Rings ‘orc’ modeled after Harvey Weinstein

Two decades after Lord of the Rings first premiered, Elijah Wood has spilt a little known secret surrounding the iconic trilogy.

Peter Jackson’s famed The Lord of the Rings trilogy turns 20 this year – and star Elijah Wood has a secret to share.

The 40-year-old US actor claimed that a monstrous orc costume was designed to look like disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein as payback for his rough negotiations regarding the flick.

Wood, who played Frodo Baggins in the film franchise, stopped by Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert podcast to discuss that anecdote involving the fantasy-adventure flick.

The LOTR franchise was based on author J. R. R. Tolkien’s books, and Weinstein’s then-production company, Miramax, had bought the rights to the literature.

“It’s funny – this was recently spoken about because (LOTR actors) Dom [Monaghan] and Bill [Boyd] have a podcast, The Friendship Onion. They were talking to Sean Astin [who played Samwise Gamgee] about his first memory of getting to New Zealand,” recalled Wood.

“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**k you,” Wood told Shepard.

“I think that is OK to talk about now – the guy is f**king incarcerated,” Wood joked. “F**k him.”

One of the orcs on LOTR was designed to look like Weinstein.

Convicted rapist and disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Picture: Johannes Eisele/AFP

Negotiations broke down with Weinstein after director Jackson, 59, had a specific vision for the films. However, by the mid-1990s, it appeared the movies weren’t going to be made the way he wanted, so Jackson reportedly asked Weinstein, 69, about taking them to other studios.

“And Miramax said, ‘We will only give it back to you in turnaround, but two things have to happen. One: You have to go get it set up this weekend. And two: Whoever agrees has to agree to make all three at once,’” according to Shepard, a professed fan of the films.

“The window of time was insane,” Wood explained. Jackson shopped it around Hollywood and wound up striking a deal with New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye, “Who said, ‘We have to do three,’ which is insane,” Wood continued. “An incredible risk. Miramax thought there was no chance in hell.”

But the trilogy was released in theatres from 2001 until 2003 and also spawned the prequel trilogy for The Hobbit.

Lord of the Rings catapulted Wood to fame.

Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual battery.

Last month, the former Weinstein Company head responded to a claim from Angelina Jolie that said she had to “escape” a meeting with him earlier in her career.

“It is brazenly untrue and clickbait publicity,” Weinstein said in a statement at the time. “You’re Angelina Jolie, every male and female in the world, I’m sure, shows interest in you. Is the whole world assaulting you?”

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Elijah Wood says Lord of the Rings ‘orc’ modeled after Harvey Weinstein