A Day in the Life of 'The Lord of the Rings'

Dec. 4 -- The Lord of the Rings films, as millions of fans around the world know, are all about saving the world from an evil power, bound to a magic ring.

There are good guys — hobbits, elves, wizards, dwarves, kings, who are trying to destroy the ring; and bad guys — orcs, ringwraiths and sorcerers who are trying to possess it.

Director Peter Jackson, who is credited with one of the biggest, most ambitious productions in film history, orchestrated the principal photography for all three movies over an 18-month period, beginning in October 1999.

It was a first in filmmaking history. The first two installments — The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers — came out in 2001 and 2002.

But this summer, the cast and crew came back to New Zealand to touch up some scenes and add a few new ones for the final film — The Return of the King, which comes out Dec. 17.

Primetime spent a week and a half on the set during its final days, including a whole day with Jackson and star Viggo Mortensen, who plays the reluctant king Aragorn.

Against the Elements

The work day began long before dawn.

"I always feel tired but never to the point of falling over. You just keep going," Jackson told Primetime one morning. He had a 10-minute commute to the set of Middle Earth, which was previously an old paint factory in a suburb of the capital, Wellington.

Across town, Mortensen was running errands, picking up flowers for his trailer before going to the set for makeup.

It was a little after 7 a.m. when Jackson arrived to eat breakfast with his production team — something he did almost every day.

By 8 a.m., Jackson was blocking out the first scene of the day: Ian McKellen — Gandalf the wizard — standing in ruins. The wide shots had been filmed three years earlier, but Jackson wanted new close-ups.