Three minutes later, Anne Hathaway indicated that she was ready.
"Gilbert, it's your turn!" Charles Roven signaled.
Gilbert sighed helplessly. "Do I have to play Aragorn again?"
"What else?!" Charles Roven patted his increasingly large belly and said, "You want me to do it? Should Aragorn be a fat man?"
Gilbert spread his hands in resignation and stepped forward to act opposite Anne Hathaway.
By now, he was already quite accustomed to this. In hindsight, he should have called Viggo Mortensen over. That way, he wouldn't have to keep playing Aragorn for the actresses auditioning.
Seeing that the director himself was playing opposite her, Anne Hathaway became even more nervous.
Gilbert noticed and reassured her, "Don't be nervous. Just act as if this were a normal scene and ignore who I am."
Anne Hathaway nodded, took a deep breath to calm herself, and indicated that she was ready.
The camera, already set up, started recording as Gilbert and Anne Hathaway performed a scene.
"Imagine this is Rivendell, the breathtaking home of the Elves. You are Arwen, standing on a bridge, speaking with Aragorn. A stream flows beneath you…"
With no set design, everything had to be imagined. Gilbert briefly described the setting, and they began.
"Do you still remember the first time we met?" Anne Hathaway's beautiful eyes gazed at the director in front of her, her heart pounding as she acted opposite him.
Though Gilbert was a director and felt slightly awkward performing himself, he had become quite used to it after today's auditions.
"I thought I had wandered into a dream."
"Many years have passed since then. Back then, you didn't carry so many burdens." As Anne Hathaway spoke, her hand instinctively reached out to brush Gilbert's hair aside.
The gesture was so natural that Gilbert was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't written in the script or emphasized beforehand—it was something Anne Hathaway added on the spot.
This kind of spontaneous performance, as long as it didn't disrupt the scene, was a good sign.
"Do you remember what I once said?" Anne Hathaway bravely met Gilbert's gaze.
Gilbert's fingers lightly touched the necklace hanging around Anne Hathaway's neck. At that moment, Anne Hathaway closed her eyes.
The necklace was a fake—the real one was still being crafted.
Many of the jewelry pieces in The Lord of the Rings were designed and created by the renowned jeweler Harry Winston.
Harry Winston highly valued this collaboration and had assigned its top designers to work directly with the production team, providing on-the-spot design solutions.
The audition continued as Gilbert delivered his lines: "You said you were willing to choose the same fate as me, to forsake your people's immortality."
When she heard this line, Anne Hathaway opened her eyes again.
Even someone like Gilbert, who had seen countless beauties, was momentarily struck by the way she opened her eyes and lifted her head.
The audition ended there. Gilbert clapped his hands and told Anne Hathaway, "Go home and wait for our response. We'll notify you as soon as we have a decision."
After Anne Hathaway left, Gilbert asked the others for their opinions. "What do you all think?"
Charles Roven was the first to praise her. "In terms of looks, very few of the actresses auditioning today can compare to Anne Hathaway. I think she's quite good."
Assistant director Anne Burton had a different opinion. "I feel like she's a bit too sweet. I think Eva Green would be better."
LeBron, the second assistant director newly recruited after James Gunn went solo, disagreed. "I don't think Eva Green fits either. If we're considering her, we might as well use a Victoria's Secret Angel."
Earlier, Gilbert had reached a deal with Victoria's Secret to feature its Angels in the film as stunning Elves.
Victoria's Secret had sent Gilbert a list of models. Gilbert took a quick glance at it and was instantly furious.
"Since when are there Black Elves?!"
His assistant, startled by his reaction, quickly explained, "I heard that this model is one of the top-ranked Victoria's Secret Angels and very popular."
Indeed, ignoring her skin color, this Black model was quite a beauty. The problem was that she would stand out too much among a cast of fair-skinned Elves, potentially stealing focus from the scene.
Unless The Lord of the Rings introduced a lore explanation for mutations, her presence would feel out of place and break immersion. It simply didn't make sense.
So, Gilbert immediately demanded that Victoria's Secret replace her, specifying that only white models should be cast—no Black, no dark-skinned Latinas, just pure white Angels.
This was just a minor issue. Since the current industry trends weren't what they would be in the future, Victoria's Secret didn't want to miss this opportunity and quickly complied with Gilbert's request.
If this had been twenty years later, Arwen herself might have been cast as a Black woman—probably an overweight one with thick lips, making her completely unappealing.
It wasn't as if there were no beautiful Black actresses, but the problem was that the ones cast in such roles were often unattractive.
This wasn't true representation; it was just another form of discrimination, one that only made audiences resent Black actors even more.
Ironically, many people from that community remained blissfully unaware, celebrating their increased presence in films without realizing how it was actually harming their image.
Back at the audition, Charles Roven asked Gilbert for his opinion. "You acted opposite her. What do you think?"
Gilbert responded, "My only concern is that the film has a lot of action scenes. Can she handle them?"
Charles Roven rolled his eyes. Gilbert's comment basically meant he was very satisfied with Anne Hathaway's performance.
A few more actresses auditioned afterward, each with their strengths, but none seemed more suitable than Anne Hathaway.
Unless Liv Tyler could be brought back, Gilbert felt that Anne Hathaway was the best fit for the role.
Gilbert had the final say on casting decisions. If he believed an actor was the right choice, the others usually wouldn't object.
And so, Anne Hathaway successfully landed the role of Arwen.
When she received the phone call informing her of the news, her mind went blank. It wasn't until she had hung up and sat in silence for a while that the realization sank in—she had won the role.
"Yes! I finally got it!" Anne Hathaway jumped with excitement, feeling that her journey to stardom had officially begun.
However, she soon realized that the path to stardom wasn't that simple.
She was beautiful, resembling a medieval princess, but she lacked many necessary skills.
After signing the contract, the production team immediately sent her to an equestrian center for horseback riding lessons. In addition, she had to undergo sword training and learn Elvish.
During her audition with Gilbert, they had performed in English. However, for the actual shoot, Gilbert wanted the actors to deliver their performances in Elvish.
Stunt coordinator Luca Farias designed a movement routine specifically for Arwen, emphasizing light footwork and swordplay to showcase the character's agility and grace.
The fight choreography in The Lord of the Rings differed from the exaggerated, fast-paced martial arts seen in The Matrix. Including Chinese kung fu in a purely Western fantasy film would have felt out of place.
If the action scenes in The Matrix were defined by speed and flashiness, Gilbert wanted the action in The Lord of the Rings to be controlled and, most importantly, elegant.
Elegance was a key element. Gilbert wanted to capture it on the big screen, ensuring that the movements were not only clear but also visually stunning.
This posed a challenge for Luca and his stunt team, who had to tailor each action sequence to fit the unique characteristics of every actor and character.
Meanwhile, the actors had to cooperate by training diligently—stretching, building endurance, horseback riding, and more.
During one of his visits to the training sessions, Gilbert made it clear to everyone:
"Our filming schedule will be grueling, so you need to build your stamina. I don't want anyone collapsing from exhaustion."
Although the actors groaned and complained, no one objected.
Nothing in Hollywood came without effort. If they wanted to be stars—true, dazzling stars—they had to work for it.
Training was actually the easy part. Even Tom Cruise had to practice dance routines when working with Gilbert. Compared to that, this was nothing.
Besides Arwen, another major female role, Éowyn, also went through a complicated casting process.
Initially, Gilbert considered British actress Kate Beckinsale for the part. However, she was also being courted by Michael Bay for Pearl Harbor.
After some deliberation, she ultimately decided that a lead role in Pearl Harbor was more attractive than a supporting role in The Lord of the Rings.
It was rare for an actor to be chosen by Gilbert and then turn him down, but in this case, the decision was understandable.
After all, Michael Bay had held his ground against Gilbert in their previous clash, and while he had come out on the losing end, it wasn't a humiliating defeat.
In fact, because he had managed to withstand Gilbert's challenge, Bay's reputation in Hollywood had grown significantly.
While The Lord of the Rings was undoubtedly the hotter project, Pearl Harbor still had the appeal of an A-list blockbuster.
Kate Beckinsale's refusal came as a surprise to Gilbert, but unlike the long struggle to cast Arwen, he quickly found a replacement—Elizabeth Banks, who stood out in auditions.
She was a relatively new actress with experience in both film and television. Born in 1974, she was now 25 and at the peak of her beauty.
Unlike Arwen, who needed an ethereal elegance, Éowyn required a stronger, more resolute appearance.
Elizabeth Banks had sharp features and a commanding presence, which immediately caught Gilbert's eye.
With all the roles cast, the production entered an intensive three-month training period—just the first step in preparing for filming.
Gilbert and the production team carefully planned the schedule, opting to film exterior shots and scenes featuring less combat-intensive characters first.
The main reason for this approach was to give the lead actors as much time as possible to train.
According to the plan, their training would last over six months, and their principal scenes wouldn't be shot until the following year.
Such a massive project required meticulous planning and coordination.
Fortunately, Gilbert had extensive experience, and his team consisted of Hollywood's top professionals, supported by skilled producers.
With proper planning, there was no reason they couldn't execute everything smoothly.
Outside of the intense casting and pre-production work for The Lord of the Rings, Gilbert also made time to attend the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, where he once again met Natalie Portman.
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