Treebeard's Stumper 13 December 2002

Size Shifting

The holidays bring many treats, including movies! Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are school favorites of course, and they share a stumper about size. Hagrid would tower over Gimli, but the actors Robbie Coltrane and John Rhys-Davies both stand 6'1" tall. Gandalf hit his head in Bilbo's house, but actor Ian McKellen is only a bit taller than Ian Holm and Elijah Wood. Surely these movies are not all blue screen mattes and CGI effects. How did they do it? We have research to do at The Two Towers premiere next week! Can you make your own photo example?

I checked the cast info at The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Clockwise from upper-left, the Fellowship of the Ring actors are:    Aragorn Viggo Mortensen 5'11"    Gandalf Ian McKellen 5'11"    Legolas Orlando Bloom 5'11"    Boromir Sean Bean 5'11"    Gimli John Rhys-Davies 6'1"    Pippin Billy Boyd 5'7"    Merry Dominic Monaghan 5'6"    Frodo Elijah Wood 5'7"    Sam Sean Astin 5'5" From the Harry Potter cast, we also have:    Hagrid Robbie Coltrane 6'1"    Harry Daniel Radcliff 5'3"

There is some logic to this casting, but there is also real movie magic. I wish I could find a photo of Hagrid the Giant and Gimli the Dwarf side by side! How do these movies perform such convincing size shifting of their cast? Can you make your own photo example?

Answer

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