Why JOHN RHYS-DAVIES Had Such a Harsh Reaction to Being Cast as GIMLI in LORD OF THE RINGS

John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones, The Lord of the Rings) joins us this week for one of my favorite interviews yet. The guy is prolific! He gets into everything from his pessimism heading into Lord of the Rings, the intimidation of working alongside Sean Connery, the immense difficulty of filming Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, and so much more. John was an open book this week, going on to talk about the pain of losing a child, his outlook on life after death, and the current vacuum of creativity our industry is stuck in. Hope you enjoy.

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Why JOHN RHYS-DAVIES Had Such a Harsh Reaction to Being Cast as GIMLI in LORD OF THE RINGS #insideofyou #johnrhysdavies #lotr

[matthewgraham]

He really said 'Certainty of death, small chance of success. What are we waiting for?'

[terrylong]

Wow. John Rhys Davis went to New Zealand fully expecting to find a trainwreck and wound up starring in a masterpiece.

[SuperCanayaZ]

You have to thank the children of the actors for convincing their parents to take these roles. Viggo's eldest son also told his father that he should accept the role of Aragon when it was offered to Viggo.

[Guilhermemezari]

Christ he's indeed perfect to be an angry dwarf.

[jwoellhof]

JRD shows up to NZ all worked up with an exit strategy that included acting like an angry old dwarf, in order to convince them that he was not who they wanted to be their angry old dwarf.

[DuncanJimmy]

The rivalry and banter between Gimli and Legolas is easily one of the best things about the trilogy. Still remains, IMHO, one of the best trilogies ever made.

[NealX_Gaming]

The irony of this man playing a dwarf when he is like 7 feet tall still gets me. EDIT: based on some of these responses I have a correction to make; I should have said he was 9 feet tall just to watch heads explode with rage.

[Amadeus]

Peter Jackson: "We tried multiple times but we finally got him."
John Rhys Davis: "THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE!"

[wallywest]

He's such a legend. IMO his Gimli is the gold standard for how a fantasy dwarf should be portrayed. The trilogy was great, but he definitely elevated it. Can't imagine anyone else in that role.

[mrquirky]

I feel like John Rhys-Davies and Brian Blessed are secretly brothers separated at birth. They both have the same boisterous energy and grand gravitas that makes all of their characters so memorable.

[MrLuccatoni]

There's Sean Connery's sibilants, there's James Earl Jones resonance, there's Alan Rickman's diction, there's Jeremy Irons nasal tones and there's the joyous, clear sound of Rhys Davies

[xavierpaquin]

That LOTR came out at the level of quality that it did is a miracle

[CanImperator]

After all, it was considered un-filmable. Sean Connery even passed on the role of Gandalf. John's skepticism was pretty reasonable. But I'm glad he stuck around and Peter Jackson proved the doubters wrong.

[panda]

Ah, Gimli's optimism at its best.

Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?

[Zikar]

Lord of the Rings really was lightning in a bottle.
The fact that the crew were both passionate and talented, the fact that the studio backed them all the way with huge budgets and resources, the quality of the actors, the fact that technology had just gotten to the point where they could convincingly pull off fully CGI creatures (but also not so cheap or easy to work with that they could do everything that way), the fact that the general audience were ready for a trilogy of super-long fantasy epics. Every single aspect at every single point was just the best it could have been and that's a miracle.

It all just hit in a way that I don't think we'll see replicated for a long long time.

[DaveBell-lb]

Prof. Arturo was my favorite from sliders. Also great on Indiana Jones.

[RVered]

I have a rudimentary knowledge of LOTR and Tolkien, so I was stunned to discover this man is 1.85m (6' 1), the tallest of the Fellowship actors! The effects and cinematography were so good that I never doubted he was a very short individual. Nowadays, when CGI and cinematography try to make someone appear bigger or smaller, it looks like a joke.

[DYKWINNING]

Met John at Comic Con about 13 years ago, I was still a teenager, he gave some great advice:
"Don't smoke the devils lettuce, you'll lose serious IQ points that you wont get back."
Great guy!

[heavypen]

I think John Rhys Davis had a point about being skeptical. I interviewed Fran Walsh, one of the screenwriters, and she told me that they started filming with a 75-page treatment. Paraphrasing Walsh, she likened writing the first script to laying tracks before a speeding locomotive. I said, "You mean like Wile E Coyote?" And she said, "Yes, but with a little less grace." Met John Rhys Davis too... what a great cast. Fabulous group of people.

[patmcbride]

I always picture him warning Indy about "bad dates".