Jeff Bezos took to the stage at the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiere to thank those involved for ignoring his notes on the show.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had its premiere in London’s Leicester Square last night.
The show’s stars were in attendance, including Lenny Henry, Morfydd Clark, and Markella Kavenagh, as well as showrunners Patrick McKay and John D. Payne.
Amazon chief Jeff Bezos appeared onstage to introduce the first episode, and joked at his own expense regarding advice he gave the show’s makers.
What did Jeff Bezos say about Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power?
As reported by Variety, Jeff Bezos quipped: “Every showrunner’s dream – and I mean every showrunner – their dream is to get notes on scripts and early cuts from the founder and executive chairman. They loved that.
“I need to thank you both for listening whenever it helped but mostly I need to thank you for ignoring me at exactly the right times.”
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Bezos also thanked his showrunners, stating: “One of the best decisions we made was to bet on this relatively unknown team. Some people even questioned our choice. But we saw something special. J.D., Patrick, thank you for taking this on and putting your whole selves into it. Everybody here in this audience, you are all about to see that we made the right choice.”
“Don’t eff this up!”
Bezos also spoke about his lifelong love of Tolkien, telling the audience: “My grandfather’s the one who introduced me to Tolkien. I fell in love immediately, I was probably 13 or 14 years old. I fell in love with the adventure of course, with the detailed universe, with the feelings of hope and optimism, with the idea that everybody has a role to play.
He also revealed what advice his son gave him regards the show, saying: “I’m happy to report that that cycle continues today. My kids have become Tolkien fans as well. In fact one of my boys I think approaches the level of a Tolkien scholar he knows so much about this universe.
“After Amazon got involved in this project, my son came up to me one day, he looked me in the eyes, very sincerely, and he said: ‘Dad, please don’t eff this up.’ And he was right. We know that this world is important to so many people, we know it’s a privilege to work inside this world and we know it’s a big responsibility.”
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power hits Amazon Prime Video on September 2.
