“The Lord of the Rings” actor injured himself on set and had the best excuse

“The Lord of the Rings” – Gimli actor fights with Uruk-Hai

Rhys-Davies was the greatest actor of the Companions, but he played a dwarf with Gimli who wasn’t particularly tall. But you have doubles and stunt men on set who are supposed to give the impression that Gimli was always played by the same person. One of them was Brett Beattie. He stepped in when Rhys-Davies was too big to take on. He was especially used in the battle of Helm’s Deep, as Gimli played a large part in the victory over the hordes of Isengard. But the shooting for it was quite demanding. Even in the making-of you can see how the New Zealand extras, especially in battle scenes, hardly showed any consideration and literally smashed each other’s skulls. Beattie also got it in the end. He caught his face while trying to handle an ax. So he said in the interview:

“I injured my eyebrow. Because I was wearing a prosthetic mask, the blood couldn’t drain. So the blood collected under the mask until a piece of the artificial eye sac broke open and the blood just streamed out.”

Elsewhere, Beattie injured his knee several times, which is why he eventually had to undergo an operation. When the surgeon asked where he got all the injuries, Beattie had the coolest explanation: “Well, I just fought Uruk-Hai in Helm’s Deep.”

Incidentally, Beattie was later also involved in the “Hobbit” films. However, it will be missing from the planned Amazon series. The dwarfs hardly play a role in this. You can find out exactly what the series is about in the video above.

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