Peter: [Wormtongue rides to Orthanc] That’s a computer-generated horse and rider riding down a model of Isengard. And this is an extra scene for the DVD that… We didn’t use it in the theatrical cut, but it’s basically giving Saruman the information that Aragorn, the supposed lost King, is out and about. It was ultimately information that we didn’t think Saruman needed to know.

Philippa: We [?] between Aragorn being Saruman’s adversary and Gandalf being Saruman’s adversary in terms of the typical antagonist/protagonists thing, and that was when we wanted Aragorn to become Saruman’s adversary – the guy he’s going to take out – but it was premature.

Peter: It was the first scene we ever shot with Wormtongue. It’s weird when you do scenes out of order; because you see how he’s dabbing his cut lip with a handkerchief: we figured that he’d probably have a cut lip from being thrown down the stairs, even though we hadn’t actually filmed that yet. And as it is, when you see him thrown down the stairs, you don’t really get the idea that he cuts his lip at all! [laughs]

Philippa: [laughing] No!

Peter: But here, because we were shooting this first, we just were guessing, really. Sometimes we were doing things like six months ahead of the next scene, and [Philippa: God!] because we were shooting three films at once, we had to do it all muddled up and mixed up.

Philippa: [at same time as Peter] We had no idea what we were doing. (beat) What I love in that scene is when he starts picking the scab on his scalp, and that was one of those things where Peter King and Peter Owen had designed this very thin wig – it’s like he had psoriasis on his scalp.

Peter: Yeah.

Philippa: And then he started picking at it: it was one of those genius moments –.

Peter: And did he eat it?

Philippa: [laughing] Yuck!

Peter: Because that’s what you want to happen if somebody’s picking at their scalp –

Philippa: [disgusted] Oh! No, that’s…

Peter: – you want him to sort of like… little crunchy chippies or something.

Philippa: That’s ‘Braindead’!

Peter: No…

Fran: Not everyone’s reduced to your personal habits. [All three laugh] (beat) [Théoden puts on his gloves] This scene here really shows you the great fashion sense of Rohan: the colour and the variety. [Philippa laughs] [?Garb]

Peter: Well Théoden’s obviously got the most expensive gloves in the entire kingdom…

Philippa: That’s what they said –.

Peter: … and gets to show them off! [laughs]

Philippa: That’s why they’re in the state they’re in! It’s the amount of money this guy’s spent on his clothes – it bankrupted the kingdom.

Peter: They could do with a Gap branch opening up at Edoras, couldn’t they? They sort of need something to get away from the browns and greens! [Fran agrees]