Padme wrote:Annoying Purists...where?
I thought one of the other reasons Arwen at Helms Deep was cut was because Liv wasn't gracefull enough to pull off Elf Princess during her fight scenes, i.e. she was too lanky and ill-coordinated to pull it off. It's why there are not many 5"10" ballerinas. Corus girls and other types of dancers however there's plenty of super tall women. I've seen some of Liv's other work and she isn't the most gracefull person in the world. She obviously did not inherit her daddy's sense of rhythm.
I do hope is she is in The Hobbit and Hobbit II and is shown dancing around the forrest that they get her serious dancing leasons.
Coming in late here...
I recall seeing a news item which said Liv was very uncomfortable on horseback, and with the battle scenes in particular. She tended to hide behind Viggo (smart woman!
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
) and at one point, lost control of her sword, whacked Lego's horse on the nose with it, then dropped it on the ground, where the horses trampled the very valuable weapon out of shape.
I'm sure her ineptness, which would have meant many re-takes of these scenes, was one of the reasons P.J. decided to change her role. I'm sure the storm of internet protest was also a factor. Liv was very, very upset about the criticism, and it actually had her in tears.
Liv had the misfortune of being cast as the eye candy...
In my opinion, Liv's problem is she is good for nothing BUT eye candy! She was given the chance to be more than that, and failed miserably. (Not that I'm the least bit upset that P.J. removed Xhen-Arwen from the film.) Sorry, I have ZERO respect for her! She was by far the weakest actor in the film.
Personally, I LOVED Bilbo's transformation at the Havens! To me, it showed two very important things:
1) How strong Elrond's healing powers were, or how strong the healing powers of the Havens were. (Perhaps it was similar to Lothlórien in that respect.) Or, perhaps even the though of reaching the Blessed Lands had a restorative effect.
2) The indomitable spirit of Bilbo, which was also present in Frodo, and was what made the whole marvelous adventure possible. I just LOVE it when he says, "I'm always ready for one more adventure!" (Remember Gandalf's speech about hobbits being able to surprise you, and also being as soft as butter and as tough as old tree roots....) Okay, need to look up that quote to make my meaning plain!
As you can see from Frodo's smile as he boards, the departure had a similar restorative effect on him.
I thought it was a marvellous, very well-thought-out piece of film making! The Grey Havens scene remains one of my very favourites.