In Gandalf and Pippin's first scene with Denethor in the Throne Room of Minas Tirith, the Steward of Gondor confronts Gandalf about his 'schemes' to remove Denethor from power and replace him with Aragorn. Elijah Wood finally got to do his side of the scene one year later in the same location the squash players of Queenstown had been without a court that whole time, as the set had remained in place on the court the entire time. At the end of that period, the crew had moved to a new location. The intent was always to return to the squash court (where the set remained standing) to do Elijah Wood's scenes, but for the next five weeks, there was no rain to interrupt exterior filming. The next day, however, the sun came out and the floods abated, so exterior filming could resume. Astin's scenes were all successfully completed. Elijah Wood and Sean Astin balked at having to do such a pivotal scene without preparation ( Andy Serkis had not been cast at this point, so someone from the crew filled in for Gollum) but filming went ahead as planned.

Thus, the next day, the next scene to be filmed was the intense moment from this movie when an obsessed Frodo sides with Gollum and sends Sam on his way. The only available indoor facility that could be used for a studio set was the squash court in a local hotel. Filming was progressing on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) in the location of Queenstown when suddenly the town was hit with massive floods, and exterior filming had to be suspended.

The lord of the rings ring melted