New Zealand and Weta Workshop

When you're producing something as groundbreaking as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, you're expected to go out and hire some crazy-famous design production company to create all of your costumes and props.

But Jackson did just the opposite. He turned to the New Zealand-based Weta Workshop, which at the time was a small (and mostly unknown) company.

We say "at the time" because The Fellowship of the Ring made Weta Workshop a powerhouse: turns out that costume and set design for LotR is kind of a big deal. They've gone on to do work on Jackson's Hobbit, Mad Max: Fury Road, and tons of other blockbusters.

We could go on and on about Weta's surprising use of props and how seamlessly they're integrated into the movie. We could spend hours talking about how intricately the costumes of the different characters and races were put together (both for purposes of realism and subtle characterization). We could write essays on the accuracy of the armor and weapon forgery.

But it's really better if you turn to the experts.

So if the story of molding literally thousands of pairs of temporary hobbit feet sounds interesting to you, head over to our Best of the Web section for all the nitty-gritty details.