J. A. Bayona Talks Directing The Rings of Power, His Favorite Moment from LOTR & the Sundering Seas
163As a fan of J. A. Bayona’s films like A Monster Calls, The Orphanage, The Impossible, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, I had high hopes when he signed on to directed the first two episodes and executive produce The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video. But after watching the first two episodes, not only did he exceed my lofty expectations, but he also shattered the baseball like Roy Hobbs in The Natural.
One of the many reasons I was so impressed with his direction is he had to not only make you believe you were back in Middle-earth, but he also had to introduce a number of new characters and make you care about them almost immediately. The fact is, with the amount of incredible content airing on multiple platforms, if you don’t pull people in quickly, they’re likely to watch something else. But like I said, Bayona knocked it out of the park.
Before getting to watch the first two episodes, I spoke to Bayona at a long lead press day for the series. During the interview he talked about how he prepared to direct the series, what people would be surprised to learn about the making of The Rings of Power, and his favorite moment from the Lord of the Rings movies. In addition, we spent a lot of time talking about filming the Sundering Seas sequence, what it meant to show it for the first time in live-action, and why he used natural light.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres worldwide on Prime Video Friday, September 2. Watch what J. A. Bayona had to say in the player above.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power stars Morfydd Clark (Galadriel), Rob Aramayo (Elrond), Charlie Vickers (Halbrand), Benjamin Walker (High King Gil-galad) Sara Zwangobani (Marigold Brandyfoot), Charles Edwards (Celebrimbor), Nazanin Boniadi (Bronwyn), Ismael Cruz Córdova (Arondir), Trystan Gravelle (Pharazôn), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Queen Regent Míriel), Sophia Nomvete (Princess Disa), Markella Kavenagh (Elanor 'Nori' Brandyfoot), Megan Richards (Poppy Proudfellow), Owain Arthur (Prince Durin IV), Daniel Weyman (The Stranger), Maxim Baldry (Isildur), Ema Horvath (Eärien), Lenny Henry (Sadoc Burrows), Tyroe Muhafidin (Theo), Lloyd Owen (Elendil), Dylan Smith (Largo Brandyfoot), and Leon Wadham (Kemen).
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