Fancy a scarring role in Lord Of The Rings?

DO you have a bulbous nose? Burns to the face? Or even some kind of a deformity?

Amazon appears to have shunned prosthetics in favour of ‘funny looking people’ for its upcoming big budget TV version of Lord Of The Rings. Filming on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic – famed for ghoulish creatures, hobbits with hairy feet and rotten-toothed orcs with thinning hair – is due to resume filming after coronavirus halted production in March.

New Zealand casting agency BGT Actors Models & Talent has put out an ‘urgent’ call for ‘funky people’ in Auckland, asking: ‘Do you look unusual?’ The casting call is looking for people with an ‘overbite, face burns, long skinny limbs, deep cheekbones, lines on your face, acne scars, ears that stick out, bulbous or interesting noses, small eyes, big eyes, any deformities, skinny faces [and] missing limbs’.

Although the post did not specify that it was for Lord Of The Rings, it was linked to an earlier call in October which was in search of ‘talent for the upcoming Amazon Original series as well as soap opera

Shortland Street. According to the Guardian, the booker who wrote the Facebook post said she was not allowed to confirm she was specifically selecting applicants for the

Amazon series. The earlier post also sought ‘short people under 4 foot 12’ and ‘tall people over 6 foot 5’.

Game of Thrones stars Robert Aramayo and Joseph Mawle – who played young Ned and Benjen Stark on Game of Thrones – are among the confirmed cast including Nazanin Boniadi, Markella Kavenagh, Owain Arthur, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova and Ema Horvath. Amazon Studios won the rights in November 2017 to produce multiple seasons which will explore new storylines preceding Tolkien’s The Fellowship Of The Ring.

Lord of the Rings has been adapted for radio four times and twice for film, most famously by Peter Jackson whose trilogy starred Ian McKellen.

‘Do you look unusual’ casting call to actors