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Miranda Otto is an Australian actress who played the role of Éowyn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She will reprise the role in the upcoming animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Her career in Hollywood launched in 2000 with the movie What Lies Beneath, which starred Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer.

The Lord of the Rings[]

Miranda Otto was given the part of Éowyn of Rohan, niece of King Théoden, in The Lord of the Rings after Alison Doody turned it down due to giving birth. Otto spent six months filming her scenes. She was required to learn horseback riding and sword fighting for the part. She made her first appearance in the second movie, The Two Towers, at Edoras, and would have the most screen time of female characters in the trilogy.

In some of the fight choreography, Otto took real blows at enemy stuntmen with her sword, because Peter Jackson thought the fake blows were not real enough. In The Return of the King's extended edition DVDs, one documentary notes how Otto earned the respect and admiration of the stunt actors for the intense effort in fight scenes.

In The Two Towers and The Return of the King, Otto did many scenes with Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) which she describes as some of the most emotional. Her character in the movies has no committed love interests, but perhaps a strong admiration for Aragorn—however, in the theatrical release of the films, her character gives Faramir, played by David Wenham, a few suggestive glances at the end of The Return of the King, falling short of the kiss and romantic conversation their characters share in the books. David Wenham and Miranda Otto had previously played lovers in an Australian radio play; Wenham recalled one scene in which they could not complete a bathtub love-scene because neither actor could stop laughing.

In May 2020, Miranda Otto reunited with many of the chief cast of the films over Zoom, in Josh Gad's "One Zoom to Rule Them All".

Documentary appearances[]

Otto appears in the following features of the extended edition of the trilogy.

Personal life[]

Otto is the daughter of prolific Australian actor Barry Otto, and sister of actress Gracie Otto. She had been very passionate about ballet as a child, then in later years decided against studying a medical career to finally pursue acting. She graduated from Australian theatrical school NIDA.

She married Peter O'Brien in 2003, and they have one daughter, Darcey, with whom Otto was pregnant while filming War of the Worlds (2005).

Trivia[]

Sean AstinSean BeanCate BlanchettOrlando BloomBilly Boyd
Marton CsokasBrad DourifBernard HillIan HolmChristopher Lee
Lawrence MakoareSir Ian McKellenDominic MonaghanViggo MortensenJohn Noble
Paul NorellMiranda OttoCraig ParkerAndy SerkisJohn Rhys-Davies
Liv TylerKarl UrbanHugo WeavingDavid WenhamElijah Wood


External links[]

References[]

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