david wenham played faramir in lord of the rings.
david wenham played faramir in lord of the rings.
who plays faramir in lord of the rings?
david wenham
jackson's explanation is that he needed another adventure to delay frodo and sam, because the episode at cirith ungol was moved to the third movie, and so a new climax was needed. in fact, according to the timeline given by tolkien, frodo and sam had only reached the black gate at the time of the fall of isengard. jackson also argues that it was necessary for faramir to be tempted by the ring because in his films everyone else was tempted, and letting faramir be immune would be inconsistent in the eyes of a film audience. co-screenwriter philippa boyens and actor david wenham defended the changes to faramir's character in order to increase dramatic tension: faramir's "sea-green incorruptible" nature in the book would not have "[translated] well filmically". wenham (who had not read the book until after filming had commenced) also found tolkien's original "dramatically dead".
faramir
the filmmakers' decision to leave shelob for the third film meant that faramir had to become an obstacle for frodo and sam. in the book, faramir (like aragorn) quickly recognises the ring as a danger and a temptation, and does not hesitate long before letting frodo and sam go. in the film, faramir first decides that the ring shall go to gondor and his father denethor, as a way to prove his worth. in the film, faramir takes frodo, sam and the ring to the battle of osgiliath—they do not go there in the book. jackson winks to readers with sam's line, "by all rights we shouldn't even be here, but we are." after seeing how strongly the ring affects frodo during the nazgûl attack, faramir changes his mind and lets them go. these changes reshape the book's contrast between faramir and boromir, who in "the fellowship of the ring" attempted to take the ring for himself. on the other hand, (which can be seen only in the film's extended version), it is actually their father who wants the ring and urges boromir to get it, while faramir only wants to prove himself to his father. boyens contends these plot changes were needed to keep the ring menacing. wenham commented on the dvd documentaries that he had not read the book prior to reading the script, so the film's version of faramir was the faramir he knew. when he later read the book and noticed the major difference, he approached the writers about it, and they explained to him that if he did say "i wouldn't pick that thing up even if it lay by the wayside", it would basically strip the one ring of all corruptive power.
the lord of the rings: the two towers