In the current issue of the fanclub magazine Peter Jackson answers
a fan's question as to why he changed the character of Faramir so much
from the book thus;
'We felt that the problem with Faramir's character that was presented
to us straight out of the pages of the book was the fact that he is
able to shrug off the ring too easily. There is no conflict with
Faramir; He essentially captures the Hobbits very quickly and in the
book, he turns around and lets them go. He has an opportunity to take
the Ring but he shrugs it away with seeming ease and says;' If I saw
this thing lying along the side of the road, I wouldn't even pick it
up..'The simple premise that our movies hinge on is ; The ring is so
potently powerful that anyone who comes into contract with it is going
to be one way or another affected by it. We felt that Faramir's
attitude would in the minds of a cinema audience and certainly one that
was unfamiliar with JRR Tolkien give the feeling that the Ring had
suddenly lost its potency and its strength...'
Now, I love the film version of The Two Towers and I had accepted that
Faramir had to undergo some changes for the sake of the whole film, but
this is a most unsatisfactory answer. It looks as if PJ did not 'get'
the character of Faramir, and certainly misread the episode in
Ithilien. Faramir does not simply turn round and let Frodo go. He
exerts all his intelligence and powers of persuasion to get the truth
out of the hobbit in a battle of wits which is far from lacking in
tension or conflict. The 'trial' scene where he questions Frodo is
certainly one of the most visually dramatic in the book.
Faramir is tempted; he just does not put on a placard saying 'I AM
BEING TEMPTED'. When he says he would not take the Ring, he is
acknowledging, sadly, that it has done its worst to him already by
killing his brother, and that has burned all desire out of this man.
The ring knows that, and moves on.
I think that the character of Faramir in the book is so attractive it
would take the shine off the main characters, and I still think PJ was
a bit afraid of Faramir. But why? spectacular cameos often make films;
everyone remembers Robert Duval's Wagner-loving Colonel Kilgore in
Apocalypse Now even when they can't remember Brando's Kurtz;
scene-stealing does not diminish films, it enriches them.
PJ also misunderstands the way the Ring exerts its power in the book.
He says;
'in the Two Towers the Ring is hardly featured at all; Frodo doesn't
put it on; he doesn't come across anyone other than Faramir...we felt
it would basically contradict everything we tried to establish in the
FOTR if our only 'Ring encounter ' in TTT was one that is effectively
shrugged away...'
This is baffling; 'Frodo doesn't come across anyone other than
Faramir..' What about Gollum? In fact, the encounter with Gollum shows
with terrifying clarity the power of the Ring. The scene where Gollum
abases himself before the 'Master of the Precious' says more about the
power of the Ring than all the rolling of eyes and sfx wailing employed
elsewhere in the film to impart a sense of its deadly attraction.
In the book Tolkien conveys the power of the Ring through delination of
character. It does not have a resident banshee that screeches at
everyone who passes. PJ had a great set of actors, I think they could
have conveyed the lure of the ring quite well simply by doing their
stuff, as in the scene where Bilbo is shown arguing with Gandalf over
leaving the Ring in Bag End. The most chilling aspect of TTT is really
the accelerating disingegration of Frodo, well brought to screen by
Elijah Wood but only obscured by making the Ring's power so theatrical.
Also it is not really necessary to keep pointing out the power of the
ring. 10,000 Uruk-hai are tramping across the screen solely because of
the power of the ring, I think even the junior members of the audience
and those unaquainted with Tolkien can draw the conclusion that it is a
Very Powerful Thing.
These are minor quibbles with a film I love, but I think they are
potential weaknesses. PJ seemed to have a rather weary exasperated tone
in replying which suggests that although he has been asked this
question before he has not substantially altered his interpretation of
Faramir in Return Of The King, so this is the cinematic version that we
have to make do with, and it does not do justice to the character in
the book.
This being an epic film PJ was perhaps anxious to drive the message
home with no danger of misunderstanding, and so lost the power of
subltety and understatement. I think he could have trusted the audience
more, used his actors more and above all taken a chance with Faramir.
Just musing, no offence to any fans of PJ or Faramir
