Sean Astin didn’t want to leave his family behind. 🎬
So he brought them all to the set of The Return of the King: his wife and baby daughter, settled in there among elves and hobbits, while he filmed one of the biggest movies in cinema history. Peter Jackson noticed something tender about it, and when the time came to film the epilogue, he had an idea: why not put the little girl in the scene?
Years later, Sean would tell it differently. He said that what he was most grateful for about The Lord of the Rings wasn’t the awards or the recognition, but having been able to give his wife and daughter the experience of moving to another country and living that journey alongside him. 🥹
That same girl, now grown up, graduated in 2023 — and there was her dad once again, present. Just like on the set, twenty years earlier.