title: Iggy Pop

text: Pop also sings on "We're All Gonna Die" on Slash's first solo album "Slash", which was released in April 2010. He appeared as a character in the video game "Lego Rock Band" to sing his song "The Passenger" and also lent his voice for the in-game tutorial. With reference to the song "The Passenger", Pop has appeared on NZ television advertising phone networks, showing that he could get a band to play together by conference call. He was inducted as part of the Stooges into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2010.


title: Iggy Pop

text: After a March 2010 stage diving accident, Pop claimed he would no longer stage dive. However, he did so on three occasions at a concert in Madrid, Spain on April 30, 2010, and did similarly at London's Hammersmith Apollo on May 2, 2010. On July 9, 2010, Pop again stage dived in Zottegem, Belgium, causing bleeding from the face. In June 2010, Pop appeared at Yonge and Dundas Square in Toronto with the reformed Stooges on the NXNE main stage. In 2011 he teamed up with The Lilies, a collaboration between Sergio Dias of Os Mutantes and French group Tahiti Boy & The Palmtree Family, to record the single "Why?".


title: Iggy Pop

text: On April 7, 2011, at age 63, Pop performed "Real Wild Child" on the tenth season of "American Idol"; the "Los Angeles Times" music blog "Iggy Pop & Hiss" described Pop as being "still magnetic, still disturbing". He is also featured on Kesha's song "Dirty Love" on her second album "Warrior". On August 25, 2013, Iggy and the Stooges co-headlined RiotFest 2013's Day 2, performing in Toronto and Denver along with The Replacements.


title: Iggy Pop

text: On October 14, 2014, Pop gave the fourth annual BBC Music John Peel Lecture in Salford, on the topic of "Free Music in a Capitalist Society". He used the lecture to discuss his experiences of the music industry, and his reflections on the effect of the internet on the consumption of music and the broader media. Pop hosts a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 6, where he covers an eclectic range of music from punk to jazz, he also champions and pushes new artists such as Shame, Fat White Family, False Heads, and Sleaford Mods.


title: Iggy Pop

text: In January 2015, it was announced that Pop contributed the theme song to Alex Cox's film "Bill, the Galactic Hero". He also collaborated with New Order on the song "Stray Dog" of their album "Music Complete" released in September of that year. Pop also collaborated with Tomoyasu Hotei on the songs "How The Cookie Crumbles" and "Walking Through The Night" from the album "Strangers", also released that same year.


title: Iggy Pop

text: On June 22, 2016, Stooges guitarist James Williamson made an official statement saying that the Stooges were no more:


title: Iggy Pop

text: Williamson also added that touring had become boring, and trying to balance the band's career as well as Pop's was a difficult task.


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2016, Pop recorded an album with Josh Homme titled "Post Pop Depression". The album was released on March 18, with a tour of Europe and North America entitled Post Pop Depression Tour to follow, starting from March 28. On both sides of the Atlantic, the album set a new peak chart position for Iggy Pop albums, becoming his first ever US Top 20 album and first ever UK Top 5 album.


title: Iggy Pop

text: On October 28, 2016, Pop released the double live album "Post Iggy Pop Depression: Live At The Royal Albert Hall" on Eagle Rock Entertainment (on DVD+2CD and digital formats).


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2017, Pop composed and performed vocals on the Oneohtrix Point Never song "The Pure and the Damned" on the soundtrack for the crime film "Good Time".


title: Iggy Pop

text: On July 27, 2018, Pop released a joint EP with Underworld, titled "Teatime Dub Encounters". Pop and Underworld had both contributed tracks to Danny Boyle's 1996 movie "Trainspotting".


title: Iggy Pop

text: On April 10, 2020, Pop released an alternate mix of his hit song "China Girl", as part of the forthcoming May 29, 2020, release of "The Bowie Years", a new seven-disc deluxe box set, due to feature expanded remastered versions of his David Bowie-produced 1977 albums "The Idiot" and "Lust for Life". The box set includes remastered versions of both studio projects, along with outtakes, alternate mixes and a 40-page book. As well, the two original albums are paired with an additional album of live material to create separate stand-alone two-disc deluxe editions.


title: Iggy Pop

text: In December 2020, Pop featured on a rework of Elvis Costello's song "No Flag" from Costello's 2020 album "Hey Clockface". The song is a re-recording, with Pop providing the vocals, translated to French for this version.


title: Iggy Pop

text: A new digital track by Pop was released in December 2020, titled "Dirty Little Virus". Lyrically, it is about the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Iggy Pop

text: On his new album "Breathe" by Hammond master Lonnie Smith, Pop provides vocals on two tracks, "Why Can't We Live Together" (a cover version of the Timmy Thomas original) and on "Sunshine Superman" (a cover version of the Donovan original). The album was released in March 2021.


title: Iggy Pop

text: Pop collaborated with Belgian composer and violinist Catherine Graindorge on three tracks on her new EP "The Dictator". It was released in September 2022.


title: Iggy Pop

text: On October 28, 2022, "Frenzy", the first single from Pop's still to be titled upcoming album, was released. The song features Duff McKagan and Chad Smith.


title: Iggy Pop

text: On November 10, 2022, it was announced the forthcoming release on January 6, 2023 (on Atlantic Records and producer Andrew Watt's Gold Tooth Records) of "Every Loser", Iggy Pop's twentieth studio album.


title: Iggy Pop

text: As an actor Pop has appeared in a number of movies, including "Sid and Nancy" (a non-speaking cameo role), "The Color of Money", "Hardware" (voice only), "", "The Rugrats Movie", "Snow Day", "Coffee and Cigarettes" (opposite Tom Waits, in the third segment of the film, ""), "Cry-Baby", "Dead Man", "Tank Girl" and "Atolladero", a Spanish science fiction Western. He was wanted to play Funboy in the original "The Crow" movie, but his recording schedule would not permit him. In February 2009, he played the character Victor in the movie "Suck". Pop was featured alongside indie starlet Greta Gerwig in the film "Art House", which premiered at the Nashville Film Festival in April 2010.


title: Iggy Pop

text: Pop has appeared in many television series, including "Tales from the Crypt", "The Adventures of Pete & Pete", where he played Nona's dad in the second and third season, and "", in which he played Yelgrun in the episode "The Magnificent Ferengi". With the Stooges, he was featured in an episode of MTV's "Bam's Unholy Union" as the main band performing at Bam Margera's wedding. Additionally, a portion of the music video for Pop's "Butt Town" was featured on an episode of "Beavis and Butthead". Pop voiced Lil' Rummy on the Comedy Central show "Lil' Bush", and also provided the voice for a character in the English-language version of the 2007 animated film "Persepolis".


title: Iggy Pop

text: Pop has been profiled in several rockumentaries and has had songs on many soundtracks, including "Crocodile Dundee II"; "Trainspotting"; "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"; ""; "Arizona Dream"; "Repo Man"; "Black Rain"; ""; "Shocker"; and "".


title: Iggy Pop

text: Pop worked with Johnny Depp on several films: they appeared together in "Cry-Baby" and "Dead Man". Pop provided the soundtrack for "The Brave", which was directed by and starred Depp, and music for Depp's 1993 film "Arizona Dream".


title: Iggy Pop

text: Pop also voiced a cameo in the "American Dad!" episode "American Dream Factory" as Jerry, the drummer, in Steve Smith's band. He makes an appearance in "FLicKeR", a 2008 feature documentary by Nik Sheehan about Brion Gysin and the Dreamachine. Pop played himself as the DJ of the fictional rock station Liberty Rock Radio 97. 8 in the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV". The Stooges song "I Wanna Be Your Dog" was featured on the same station. Pop also featured as a voice talent in the 2004 ATARI video game "DRIV3R" (as Baccus and other characters), which was produced by Reflections Interactive. Pop appears as a character in the Adult Swim animated comedy/adventure series "The Venture Bros.". He is one of the bodyguards, along with Klaus Nomi, of David Bowie, who is "The Sovereign" of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Pop has some unclear super-powers, which he uses when he and Nomi turn against Bowie.


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2012, Pop played the conscience of a clown named Elliot (Denis Lavant) in the French film "" ("Morning Star") directed by .


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2013, Pop appeared briefly in the French film "Les gamins" then he voiced The Caterpillar in the television series "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland".


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2014, Pop presented (narrated) the BBC documentary "Burroughs at 100". William Burroughs profoundly affected Pop's writing, inspiring lyrics in the famous "Lust for Life". It was aired in the US on "This American Life" on January 30, 2015, in the episode "Burroughs 101", commemorating his 101st birthday.


title: Iggy Pop

text: Pop voiced the character Texas Red on the Adult Swim animated comedy Mr. Pickles, which ran from 2014 to 2019.


title: Iggy Pop

text: Based on 's German translation of Walt Whitman's poetry cycle in 2005, a radio drama and bilingual double-CD audio book "Kinder Adams/Children of Adam" was released by Hörbuch Hamburg in 2014, including a complete reading by Pop.


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2015, Pop had a starring role as Vicious in the Björn Tagemose-directed silent film "Gutterdämmerung" opposite Grace Jones, Henry Rollins and Lemmy.


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2016, Pop was featured as a main subject in the documentary "Danny Says" starring alongside Danny Fields, Alice Cooper, Judy Collins, Wayne Kramer, Jac Holzman and more. In the same year, Pop starred in Toby Tobias' thriller "Blood Orange" in which he plays an aging rock star. Also during 2016, Jim Jarmusch directed "Gimme Danger", a documentary movie about the band.


title: Iggy Pop

text: Also in 2016, he participated, with Michel Houellebecq and others, in Erik Lieshout's documentary "".


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2021 Pop appeared with Nico Rosberg - 2016 Formula One champion - in a video advert for the German State Railways' (Deutsche Bahn) high speed train services. The backing music, appropriately, was Pop's song 'The Passenger'.


title: Iggy Pop

text: He Died with a Felafel in his Hand - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Died_with_a_Felafel_in_His_Hand_(film)


title: Iggy Pop

text: "The Passenger" was the putative name for a biographical film about Pop's early career with the Stooges. The film was to be directed by Nick Gomez and Elijah Wood was to play Pop.


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 1995, an established journal of classical scholarship, "Classics Ireland", published Pop's reflections on the applicability of Edward Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" to the modern world in a short article, "Caesar Lives", (Vol. 2, 1995). Pop also relates how reading Gibbon while on tour in the Southern United States inspired him to a spontaneous soliloquy he called "Caesar".


title: Iggy Pop

text: Pop lives near Miami, Florida. He has been married three times: to Wendy Weissberg (for several weeks in 1968 before the marriage was annulled shortly thereafter), to Suchi Asano (from 1984 until their divorce in 1999), and to his longtime partner Nina Alu, whom he married in 2008. He has a son, Eric Benson, born in 1970 from a relationship with Paulette Benson.


title: Iggy Pop

text: At age 23, Pop had a relationship with 13-year old Sable Starr. Since the emergence of the MeToo movement, the relationship has been up for debate. "Look Away", a documentary about sexual abuse in the rock music industry, is named after an Iggy Pop song about Starr.


title: Iggy Pop

text: In the 1990s, Pop became friends with Johnny Depp, Jim Jarmusch, and tattoo artist Jonathan Shaw. Shaw said the four wore matching rings depicting a skull, and all but Pop received a similar skull-and-crossbones tattoo.


title: Iggy Pop

text: Iggy played himself as a puppet in the Film "Squirrell Mountain 'Iggy to the Rescue'" including singing the song in the film 'Frozen Peas"


title: Iggy Pop

text: In 2017, shortly after his 70th birthday, Pop was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Consul general in Miami on behalf of the French government.


title: Iggy Pop

text: A photo of Pop on stage with fans at the Sydney Opera House in 2019 taken by Antoine Veling won the Culture Category of the Sony World Photography Awards.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Kawhi Anthony Leonard ( ; born June 29, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A two-time NBA champion, he is a five-time All-Star with three All-NBA First Team selections. Nicknamed the "Claw" or "Klaw" for his ball-hawking skills, he has earned seven All-Defensive Team selections and won Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2015 and 2016. In 2021, he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard played two seasons of college basketball for the San Diego State Aztecs and was named a consensus second-team All-American as a sophomore. He opted to forgo his final two seasons of college eligibility to enter the 2011 NBA draft. He was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 15th overall pick before being traded to the San Antonio Spurs on draft night.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: With the Spurs, Leonard won an NBA championship in 2014, when he was named the Finals Most Valuable Player. After seven seasons with the Spurs, Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors in 2018. In 2019, he led the Raptors to their first NBA championship in franchise history and won his second Finals MVP award (one of only three players to win Finals MVP with multiple teams, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James). He subsequently moved to his hometown of Los Angeles and signed with the Clippers as a free agent in July 2019.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard attended Canyon Springs High School in Moreno Valley, California, before transferring to Martin Luther King High School for his junior year. In his senior year there, he and Tony Snell led the King High Wolves to a 30–3 record. Leonard averaged 22.6 points, 13.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3 blocks per game that year and was named California Mr. Basketball.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Leonard was listed in the recruiting rankings of 2009 as the No. 8 small forward and the No. 48 player nationwide.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: As a freshman at San Diego State University in 2009–10, Leonard averaged 12.7 points and 9.9 rebounds per game for the Aztecs. He helped the team achieve a 25–9 record and led them to win the Mountain West Conference (MWC) tournament title. The Aztecs thus received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament but would lose in the first round to Tennessee, 62–59, with Leonard recording 12 points and 10 rebounds. He led the MWC in rebounding and was named MWC Freshman of the Year, First Team All-MWC, and the 2010 MWC tournament MVP.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: During his sophomore season, Leonard averaged 15.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per contest as the Aztecs finished with a 34–3 record and won back-to-back conference tournament championships. Led by Leonard, San Diego State once again made the NCAA tournament. This time the Aztecs advanced to the Sweet 16, but then they lost to eventual national champions, Connecticut. Leonard was named to the Second Team All-America and left San Diego State to enter the 2011 NBA draft.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On February 1, 2020, San Diego State retired Leonard's number 15, making him the first Aztecs men's basketball player to have his jersey raised to the rafters. It was the third number retirement in program history, after Michael Cage (44) and Milton “Milky” Phelps (22).


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: According to "Sports Illustrated", NBA scouts were aware in 2011 that Leonard had a strong work ethic and was a "physical marvel, 6'7" with a 7'3" wingspan and 11-inch hands, too strong to screen and too long to elude". Nevertheless, they found him "difficult to pin down". "Sporting News" has asserted that Leonard was known more for his defense and rebounding than for his offensive capabilities when he first entered the league. He was compared to Metta World Peace and Gerald Wallace, and his outside shooting (or lack thereof) was a concern.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard was selected with the 15th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers but was traded that night to the San Antonio Spurs along with the rights to Erazem Lorbek and Dāvis Bertāns in exchange for George Hill. On December 10, 2011, following the conclusion of the NBA lockout, he signed a multi-year deal with the Spurs.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard and teammate Tiago Splitter were selected to play in the 2012 Rising Stars Challenge as members of Team Chuck. Although he suited up for the event, he did not play due to a calf strain. After starter Richard Jefferson was traded to the Golden State Warriors for Stephen Jackson, Leonard was promoted to the starting small forward position while Jackson served as his backup.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: At season's end, Leonard placed fourth in Rookie of the Year voting and was named to the 2012 NBA All-Rookie First Team.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In the summer of 2012, Leonard was among several NBA up-and-comers chosen to play for the 2012 USA men's basketball Select Team. They trained with the Olympic team, which included Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Chris Paul.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On October 26, 2012, the Spurs exercised the team option on Leonard, re-signing him through the 2013–14 season.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard was selected to play for the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge where he was once again drafted to Team Chuck. He recorded 20 points and 7 rebounds as Team Chuck defeated Team Shaq for the second straight year 163–135.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: The San Antonio Spurs advanced to the NBA Finals where they faced the Miami Heat. Leonard averaged 14.6 points and 11.1 rebounds during the Finals as the Spurs lost the series in seven games.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On April 6, 2014, Leonard scored a season-high 26 points in the Spurs' 112–92 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. He finished the season averaging 12.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.7 steals while shooting 52.2% from the field. Leonard helped the Spurs to a 62–20 record – the number one seed in the NBA – and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team for the first time.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: The Spurs and the Miami Heat met once again in the NBA Finals. On June 10, 2014, in Game 3 of the series, Leonard scored a then career-high 29 points in a 111–92 victory. San Antonio went on to win the series 4–1. Leonard averaged 17.8 points on 61% shooting and was named NBA Finals MVP. He was the third-youngest winner of the award (22 years and 351 days), behind only Magic Johnson—who won in both 1980 (20 years and 278 days) and 1982 (22 years and 298 days). Leonard was also only the sixth player, and the first since Chauncey Billups in 2004, to win Finals MVP in a season in which they were not an All-Star.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: After missing the final six preseason games and the season opener against the Dallas Mavericks due to an infection in his right eye caused by conjunctivitis, Leonard made his season debut against the Phoenix Suns on October 31 despite still suffering from blurry vision. He continued to play through the blurred vision and on November 10, 2014, he scored a season-high 26 points in the Spurs' 89–85 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Following a three-game stint on the sidelines between December 17 and 20, Leonard had an injection in his injured right hand on December 22 and was ruled out indefinitely. He returned to action on January 16, 2015, after missing 15 games, recording 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals to lead the Spurs to a 110–96 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On April 5, Leonard recorded 26 points and a career-high 7 steals in a 107–92 win over the Golden State Warriors. On April 23, Leonard was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, joining Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players to win both NBA Defensive Player of the Year and NBA Finals MVP. The next day, he scored a playoff career-high 32 points in a Game 3 first-round victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Spurs went on to lose the series in seven games.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On July 16, 2015, Leonard re-signed with the Spurs to a five-year, $90 million contract. On October 28, he scored a then career-high 32 points in a 112–106 season-opening loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. On December 3, he scored 27 points and made a career-high seven three-pointers in a 103–83 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. On January 21, 2016, he was named as a starter to the Western Conference team for the 2016 All-Star Game, earning his first All-Star selection and became the sixth Spurs player in franchise history to be selected as an All-Star starter, joining George Gervin, Larry Kenon, Alvin Robertson, David Robinson and Tim Duncan.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On March 23, 2016, Leonard had another 32-point outing in a 112–88 win over the Miami Heat, helping the Spurs extend their franchise-record home winning streak to 45 games (dating to 2014–15 season). On April 2, he set a new career-high with 33 points in a 102–95 win over the Toronto Raptors, helping the Spurs set a franchise record with their 64th victory. The Spurs topped their 63-win season in 2005–06 and extended their NBA-record home winning streak to start the season to 39 games. Leonard helped the Spurs finish second in the Western Conference with a 67–15 record, and earned Defensive Player of the Year honors for a second straight year, becoming the first non-center to win the honor in back-to-back seasons since Dennis Rodman in 1989–90 and 1990–91. Additionally, he finished runner-up in the MVP voting behind Stephen Curry.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In Game 3 of the first-round playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies, Leonard helped the Spurs go up 3–0 in the series with a 32-point effort, tying his playoff career-high. After sweeping the Grizzlies, the Spurs moved on to face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round. In Game 3 of the series against the Thunder, Leonard helped his team go up 2–1 with 31 points and 11 rebounds. However, the Spurs went on to lose the next three games, bowing out of the playoffs with a 4–2 defeat.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In the Spurs' season opener on October 25, 2016, Leonard recorded a career-high 35 points and five steals in a 129–100 win over the Golden State Warriors. On January 14, 2017, he set a new career high with 38 points in a 108–105 loss to the Phoenix Suns, becoming the first Spur to record three consecutive 30-point games since Tony Parker in 2012. On January 19, he was named a starter for the Western Conference All-Star team in the 2017 NBA All-Star Game and had 34 points against the Denver Nuggets for his fifth straight 30-point performance. Two days later, he set a new career high with 41 points in a 118–115 overtime win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, becoming the first San Antonio player to score at least 30 in six straight games since Mike Mitchell in 1986. He subsequently earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors for games played from January 16 through 22.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On February 13, 2017, Leonard made 13 of 23 shots including two three-pointers and finished with 32 points, six rebounds and four steals in a 110–106 win over the Indiana Pacers. It was his fifth straight 30-point game. With their 42nd victory of the season coming against the Pacers, the Spurs extended their streak of consecutive winning seasons to a league-record 20. On March 6, after being named Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career, Leonard scored 39 points to lead the Spurs to a 112–110 win over the Houston Rockets. It was his 91st straight game scoring in double figures, matching San Antonio's longest streak since Tim Duncan did so in 2002–03.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On April 15, 2017, Leonard matched his postseason high with 32 points in a 111–82 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Two days later, in Game 2, Leonard had a postseason career-high 37 points and added 11 rebounds in a 96–82 win over Memphis to take a 2–0 series lead. In Game 4 of the series in Memphis, Leonard had another postseason personal best with 43 points in a 110–108 overtime loss; the loss tied the series at 2–2. Behind a 29-point effort from Leonard in Game 6, the Spurs advanced to the Western Conference semifinals by beating Memphis 103–96 to take the series 4–2. The Spurs went on to advance to the Western Conference Finals with a 4–2 triumph over the Houston Rockets in the second round, despite playing without Leonard in Game 6 due to an ankle injury.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In the third quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors, Leonard landed on Zaza Pachulia's foot after attempting a field goal and re-aggravated his existing ankle injury. He exited the game with 26 points and sat out the remainder of the series as the Spurs lost to the Warriors in four games. Leonard finished the season with averages of 25.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game in the regular season, and 27.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.7 steals for the playoffs. He was subsequently selected to the All-NBA First Team for the second straight year, as well as earning All-Defensive First Team honors for the third consecutive season.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard missed the first 27 games of the season with a right quadriceps injury, making his season debut on December 12, 2017, against the Dallas Mavericks. He appeared in nine games between December 12 and January 13. He returned from a three-game absence on January 13 against the Denver Nuggets after straining his left shoulder against the Phoenix Suns on January 5. On January 17, he was ruled out for an indefinite period of time to continue his rehabilitation process from right quadriceps tendinopathy. Leonard was subsequently cleared to play by the Spurs medical staff, but he solicited a second opinion from his own doctors. In March, the Spurs held a players-only meeting in which Leonard's teammates reportedly entreated him to return to the court; the meeting was described as "tense and emotional". Leonard did not play again in 2018.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In June 2018, reports surfaced claiming that Leonard had requested a trade from the Spurs and that he did so after months of tension between his camp and the Spurs stemming from a disagreement over his injury rehabilitation program. A month later, on July 18, Leonard and teammate Danny Green were traded to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Pöltl and a protected 2019 first-round draft pick. It was a risky move for the Raptors and their president, Masai Ujiri, given the concerns over Leonard's health and the possibility of him leaving as a free agent at the end of the season. In his debut for the Raptors in their season opener on October 17, Leonard had 24 points and 12 rebounds in a 116–104 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Two days later, he had 31 points and 10 rebounds in a 113–101 win over the Boston Celtics.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played November 26 – December 2. On January 1, 2019, he scored a career-high 45 points in a 122–116 win over the Utah Jazz. On January 31, against the Milwaukee Bucks, Leonard's career-high streak of scoring at least 20 points in 22 consecutive games ended when he had 16 points in a 105–92 loss.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers, Leonard had a playoff career-high 45 points, on 16-of-23 (69.6%) shooting, to lead the Raptors in a 108–95 victory. He became just the second player in Raptors history to eclipse 40 points in a playoff game, joining Vince Carter (50 points, 2001). In the deciding Game 7, Leonard hit a shot from the corner at the buzzer that bounced off the rim four times before falling to give the Raptors a 92–90 victory over the 76ers to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. He finished the game with 41 points on 16-of-39 shooting. This was the first Game 7 buzzer beater in NBA history and caused the normally calm Leonard to let out a victorious scream as he was swarmed by his teammates. Leonard said of the shot afterward: "It was great. That's something I've never experienced before, Game 7, game-winning shot. It was a blessing to be able to get to that point and make that shot and feel that moment. It's something I can look back on in my career."


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: The Raptors continued their 2019 NBA playoffs march against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks. In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Leonard scored 36 points, including eight in the second overtime, to help the Raptors beat Milwaukee 118–112 to cut the Bucks' series lead to 2–1. In Game 5, he helped the Raptors take a 3–2 lead with 35 points on five 3-pointers to go with seven rebounds and nine assists in a 105–99 win. In Game 6, he had 27 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Raptors into the NBA Finals for the first time with a 100–94 victory. Leonard put an exclamation point on the conference victory with a huge dunk on Giannis Antetokounmpo that was set up by a Kyle Lowry steal.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard led the Raptors into the 2019 Finals on the back of what was being described as an all-time great NBA playoff performance. In Game 2, Leonard had 34 points and 14 rebounds in a 109–104 loss to the Golden State Warriors. Leonard helped the Raptors take a 3–1 series lead with 36 points and 12 rebounds in a 105–92 Game 4 win on the road in Oakland. In Game 6, he scored 22 points in a 114–110 win to help lift the Raptors to a 4–2 series victory in claiming his second NBA championship. He was subsequently named NBA Finals MVP for the second time, becoming just the third Finals MVP to have won the award with two teams, joining LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He is also the first person to win Finals MVP with a team from each conference. Leonard scored 732 points during the 2019 playoffs; this was the third-best scoring total for a single NBA postseason in league history, behind only LeBron James (748, 2018) and Michael Jordan (759, 1992).


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On July 10, 2019, Leonard signed with the Los Angeles Clippers to a reported three-year, $103 million contract, which included an opt-out clause in 2021.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard debuted for the Clippers on October 22, 2019, where he put up 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in a 112–102 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. On October 24, he recorded 21 points and tied a career-high 9 assists in a 141–122 win over the Golden State Warriors. On December 11, Leonard returned to Toronto for the first since joining the Clippers and was met with a tribute and a standing ovation from the crowd before scoring 23 points and recording six assists in 112–92 win over the Raptors. Two days later, Leonard scored a then season-high 42 points along with 11 rebounds in a 124–117 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was the first time in franchise history that two players eclipsed 40 points, as teammate Paul George scored 46 points. On Christmas Day, the Clippers and Lakers met once again in a much anticipated matchup, in which Leonard put up 35 points on 11-of-19 shooting and 12 rebounds to lead the Clippers to a 111–106 comeback win despite trailing by as much as 15. On January 14, 2020, Leonard scored a season-high 43 points in just 29 minutes in a 128–103 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from January 13 through 19. On January 24, Leonard recorded his first career triple-double with 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 122–117 win over the Miami Heat. On February 16, Leonard was named the NBA All-Star Game MVP of the 2020 NBA All-Star Game.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: After the 2019–20 NBA season was suspended on March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Leonard and the Clippers returned to action in the NBA Bubble at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando on July 30. Leonard played six out of the team's eight seeding games and was eventually selected to the NBA's All-Bubble Second Team, averaging 28.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists. In the first round of the 2020 NBA playoffs, the Clippers eliminated the Dallas Mavericks in six games while Leonard recorded over 30 points in five consecutive games and averaged 32.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 5.2 assists for the series. The Clippers were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, losing in seven games after surrendering a 3–1 series lead. In Game 7, Leonard performed poorly, scoring only 14 points while shooting 6-of-22 from the field. Leonard was selected to his fourth All-NBA Team.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In the Clippers' season opener on December 22, 2020, Leonard recorded 26 points and two steals in a 116–109 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. On December 25, in the fourth quarter of a game against the Denver Nuggets, Leonard received an elbow to the face from teammate Serge Ibaka, causing a facial injury which forced Leonard out of the game early. Leonard suffered a wound in his mouth as a result of his injury, which required him to get eight stitches. After being absent for two games due to the injury, Leonard returned to the Clippers wearing a clear plastic mask with a 128–105 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on December 30, recording a game-high 28 points and seven assists.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Playing in 52 out of the 72 regular season games, Leonard led the Clippers to a 47–25 record and the fourth-place finish in the Western Conference. For the season he averaged 24.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and a career-high 5.2 assists. After his stellar play on both ends of the floor, he was awarded with his seventh All-Defensive Team selection and fifth All-NBA Team selection third All-NBA First Team. In the first round of the 2021 NBA playoffs the Clippers faced the Dallas Mavericks for the rematch of the previous year. After losing the first two games at home, the Clippers bounced back with Leonard scoring 36 and 29 points respectively in games played in Dallas to even the series. After dropping Game 5, Leonard led the Clippers in the elimination Game 6, tying his career-high 45 points and subsequently recorded 28 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and four steals in the decisive Game 7 win, to advance to the next round.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In the Western Conference Semifinals the Clippers were again facing a 0–2 deficit at the beginning of the series, this time to the first-seeded Utah Jazz. Leonard led another comeback while scoring 34 and 31 points respectively in convincing victories at home to even the series. He, however, got injured at the end of Game 4 after being fouled by Joe Ingles. Leonard was ruled out for the remainder of the series with a knee sprain, as the Clippers won the next two games and advanced to the first Western Conference Finals in franchise history. The Clippers' playoffs run was then cut short by the Phoenix Suns in six games, with Leonard unable to recover and missing the entire series. On July 13, Leonard underwent surgery to repair a partial tear of the ACL in his right knee.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: After opting out of the final year of his original contract, Leonard re-signed with the Clippers on August 12, 2021 to a max four-year, $176.3 million contract with the fourth year being a player option. Leonard remained inactive the entire season after recovering from his partial tear the ACL in his right knee. Without Leonard, the Clippers finished the season 42–40 and qualified for the play-in tournament, but failed to qualify for the playoffs after being defeated by both the Minnesota Timberwolves and the New Orleans Pelicans.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard made his return from injury on October 3, 2022, putting up 11 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals in a 102–97 preseason win over the Trail Blazers. On October 20, Leonard made his regular season return, putting up 14 points, seven rebounds, and two assists off the bench in a 103–97 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. On December 5, Leonard put up a game-winner in a 119–117 win over the Charlotte Hornets. On December 12, Leonard recorded 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field, nine rebounds and six assists, as the Clippers beat the Boston Celtics 113–93. On December 17, Leonard scored a season-high 31 points and the Clippers rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Washington Wizards 102–93.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard is regarded as one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, thanks to his combination of athleticism, size and intelligence. Highly versatile, he is capable of guarding at least three positions, and has frequently been deployed against the opposing team's star player.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Known early in his career primarily as an elite defender and floor spacer, Leonard began taking on a larger offensive responsibility from the 2015–16 season on and quickly established himself as one of the most efficient scorers in the league. He has developed a versatile offensive game, capable of hitting shots reliably from midrange and 3-point range, posting up his opponents and shooting pull-up jumpers and fadeaways. Playmaking has been cited as a weakness of Leonard's—in his first eight seasons, he had never averaged more than 3.5 assists per game. Leonard improved his passing game in the 2019–20 season, logging a career high 4.9 assists per game, nearly doubling his career average.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard is the son of Mark Leonard and Kim Robertson. He is the youngest child of the family and has four sisters. His father was shot and killed on January 18, 2008, at the Compton car wash he owned. Leonard insisted on playing the next evening and broke down emotionally after the game. , the murderer had still not been found. Leonard is the cousin of American football wide receiver Stevie Johnson.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In 2018, Leonard reportedly signed a multi-year endorsement deal with New Balance, the multinational sports footwear and apparel corporation. He had previously signed with Air Jordan brand, a subsidiary of Nike. In June 2019, Leonard filed a federal lawsuit against Nike. According to the lawsuit, Nike copyrighted Leonard's "Klaw" logo without his consent.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: In January 2020, after the death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash, Leonard revealed that he and Bryant shared the same pilot, Ara Zobayan, who also perished in the crash along with Bryant and seven others.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: Leonard is known for his quiet and private demeanor. He rarely gives interviews and avoids questions about his private life. Leonard has also said that he does not actively consume news media or use social media.


title: Kawhi Leonard

text: On May 3, 2021, Leonard took to Instagram Live for the first time ever, chatting with high school basketball player Mikey Williams and announced that he will release a hip hop album titled "Culture Jam" sometime in 2021. Leonard described the project as "merging hip-hop and basketball together". He also shared a snippet of a track titled "Everything Different" featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Rod Wave. The album will benefit a charitable organization created in memory of Kobe and Gigi Bryant. On July 23, 2021, he released the songs "Waves" and "Everything Different".


title: OECD

text: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , "OCDE") is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum whose member countries describe themselves as committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members.


title: OECD

text: The majority of OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index (HDI), and are regarded as developed countries. Their collective population is 1.38 billion. , the OECD member countries collectively comprised 62.2% of global nominal GDP (US$49.6 trillion) and 42.8% of global GDP (Int$54.2 trillion) at purchasing power parity. The OECD is an official United Nations observer.


title: OECD

text: In April 1948, the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), was established to help administer the Marshall Plan, which was rejected by both the Soviet Union and its satellite states. This would be achieved by allocating the United States' financial aid and implementing economic programs for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. Only Western European states were members of the OEEC. Its Secretary Generals were the Frenchmen Robert Marjolin (1948–1955) and René Sergent (1955–1960). On 14 December 1960, the OEEC was reformed into the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, coming into force in late September 1961, and the membership was extended to non-European states, the USA and Canada.


title: OECD

text: The OECD's headquarters are at the Château de la Muette in Paris, France. The OECD is funded by contributions from member countries at varying rates and had a total budget of € 386 million in 2019, and is recognised as a highly influential publisher of mostly economic data through publications as well as annual evaluations and rankings of member countries.


title: OECD

text: The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) was formed in 1948 to administer American and Canadian aid in the framework of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. Similar reconstruction aid was sent to the war-torn Republic of China and post-war Korea, under the title of Official Development Assistance (ODA), provided by the OEEC's Development Assistance Committee (DAC), which Korea joined in 2010.


title: OECD

text: The organisation began its operations on 16 April 1948, originating from the work done by the Committee of European Economic Co-operation in 1947 in preparation for the Marshall Plan. Since 1949, it has been headquartered in the Château de la Muette in Paris, France. Succeeding the Marshall Plan, the OEEC became focused on economic issues.


title: OECD

text: In the 1950s, the OEEC provided the framework for negotiations aimed at determining conditions for setting up a European Free Trade Area, to bring the European Economic Community of the Inner Six and the other OEEC members together on a multilateral basis. In 1958, a European Nuclear Energy Agency was set up under the OEEC.


title: OECD

text: By the end of the 1950s, with the job of rebuilding Europe effectively complete, some leading countries felt that the OEEC had outlived its purpose but could be adapted to fulfil a more global mission, which proved to be a cumbersome task. Following several (occasionally unruly) meetings at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, which began in January 1960, a resolution was reached to create a body that would not only solve European and Atlantic economic issues, but also devise policies that could assist less developed countries. This reconstituted organisation would bring the US and Canada, who were already OEEC observers, on board as full members, and the OEEC would set to work straight away on convincing Japan to join the organisation.


title: OECD

text: Following the 1957 Rome Treaties to launch the European Economic Community, the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was brought together to reform the OEEC. The Convention was signed in December 1960, and the OECD officially superseded the OEEC in September 1961, consisting of the European founder countries of the OEEC, with the additions of the United States and Canada. Three countries, (Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy)—all OEEC members—ratified the OECD Convention after September 1961, but are nevertheless considered founding members. The official founding members are:


title: OECD

text: During the next 12 years, Japan, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand also joined the organisation. Yugoslavia had observer status in the organisation starting with the establishment of the OECD until its dissolution as a country. The OECD also created agencies such as the OECD Development Centre (1961), International Energy Agency (IEA, 1974), and Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering.


title: OECD

text: Unlike the organisations of the United Nations system, OECD uses the spelling "organisation" with an "s" in its name rather than "organization".


title: OECD

text: Following the Revolutions of 1989, the OECD began assisting countries in Central Europe (especially the Visegrád Group) to prepare market economy reforms. In 1990, the Centre for Co-operation with European Economies in Transition (now succeeded by the Centre for Cooperation with Non-Members) was established, and in 1991, the programme, "Partners in Transition," was launched for the benefit of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland, including a membership option for these countries. As a result of this, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as Mexico and South Korea became members of the OECD between 1994 and 2000.


title: OECD

text: In the 1990s, several European countries, now members of the European Union, expressed their willingness to join the organisation. In 1995, Cyprus applied for membership, but according to the Cypriot government, it was vetoed by Turkey. In 1996, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed a Joint Declaration expressing willingness to become members of the OECD, and Slovenia also applied for membership that same year. In 2005, Malta applied to join the organisation. The EU is lobbying for the admission of all EU member states. Romania reaffirmed in 2012 its intention to become a member of the organisation through the letter addressed by Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta to then-OECD Secretary-General José Ángel Gurría. In September 2012, the government of Bulgaria confirmed it would apply for membership before the OECD Secretariat.


title: OECD

text: The OECD established a working group headed by ambassador Seiichiro Noboru to work out a plan for the enlargement with non-members. The working group defined four criteria that must be fulfilled: "like-mindedness," "significant player," "mutual benefit" and "global considerations." The working group's recommendations were presented at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on 13 May 2004, and on 16 May 2007, the OECD Ministerial Council decided to open accession discussions with Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia, and Slovenia, and to strengthen cooperation with Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa through a process of enhanced engagement. Chile, Slovenia, Israel, and Estonia all became members in 2010. In March 2014, the OECD halted membership talks with Russia in response to its role in the 2014 Annexation of Crimea.


title: OECD

text: In 2013, the OECD decided to open membership talks with Colombia and Latvia. In 2015, the organisation opened talks with Costa Rica and Lithuania. Latvia became a member on 1 July 2016, and Lithuania soon followed on 5 July 2018. Colombia signed the accession agreement on 30 May 2018 and became a member on 28 April 2020. On 15 May 2020, the OECD decided to extend a formal invitation for Costa Rica to join the OECD, which joined as a member on 25 May 2021.


title: OECD

text: Other countries that have expressed interest in OECD membership are Argentina, Peru, Malaysia, Brazil, and Croatia.


title: OECD

text: In January 2022, the OECD reported that it had begun talks aiming toward joining Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania.


title: OECD

text: In March 2022, the OECD suspended the participation of Russia and Belarus due to the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: OECD

text: In June 2022, during the annual OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, the Roadmaps for the Accession to the OECD Convention for Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania were adopted.


title: OECD

text: The OECD publishes and updates a model tax convention that serves as a template for allocating taxation rights between countries. This model is accompanied by a set of commentaries that reflect OECD-level interpretation of the content of the model convention provisions. In general, this model allocates the primary right to tax to the country from which capital investment originates (i.e., the home, or resident country) rather than the country in which the investment is made (the host, or source country). As a result, it is most effective between two countries with reciprocal investment flows (such as among the OECD member countries), but can be unbalanced when one of the signatory countries is economically weaker than the other (such as between OECD and non-OECD pairings). Additionally, the OECD has published and updated the Transfer Pricing Guidelines since 1995. The Transfer Pricing Guidelines serve as a template for the profit allocation of inter-company transactions to countries. The latest version, of July 2017, incorporates the approved Actions developed under the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project initiated by the G20.


title: OECD

text: On 1 July 2021 finance officials from 130 countries agreed on plans for a new international taxation policy known as the global minimum corporate tax. All the major economies agreed to pass national laws that would require corporations to pay at least 15% income tax in the countries they operate. This new policy would end the practice of locating world headquarters in small countries with very low taxation rates. Governments hope to recoup some of the lost revenue, estimated at $100 billion to $240 billion each year. The new system was promoted by the Biden Administration in the United States and the OECD. Secretary-General Mathias Cormann of the OECD said, "This historic package will ensure that large multinational companies pay their fair share of tax everywhere."


title: OECD

text: The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are a set of legally non-binding guidelines attached as an annex to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises. They are recommendations providing principles and standards for responsible business conduct for multinational corporations operating in or from countries adhering to the Declaration.


title: OECD

text: The OECD's work on bid rigging includes the publication of guidelines for fighting this practice in the context of public procurement. In a Policy Brief issued in October 2008, OECD noted that "programmes to systematically educate procurement officials exist in only a few OECD countries". "Guidelines for Fighting Bid Rigging in Public Procurement" were published in 2009 and incorporated into a "Recommendation on Fighting Bid Rigging in Public Procurement" which was adopted on 17 July 2012, calling on member governments "to assess their public procurement laws and practices at all levels of government to promote more effective procurement and reduce the risk of bid rigging in public tenders".


title: OECD

text: The OECD publishes books, reports, statistics, working papers, and reference materials. All titles and databases published since 1998 can be accessed via OECD iLibrary. The OECD Library & Archives collection dates from 1947, including records from the Committee for European Economic Co-operation (CEEC) and the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), predecessors of today's OECD. External researchers can consult OECD publications and archival material on the OECD premises by appointment.


title: OECD

text: The OECD releases between 300 and 500 books each year. The publications are updated to the OECD iLibrary. Most books are published in English and French. The OECD flagship titles include:


title: OECD

text: "OECD Observer", an award-winning magazine, was launched in 1962. The magazine appeared six times a year until 2010, and became quarterly in 2011 with the introduction of the "OECD Yearbook", launched for the 50th anniversary of the organisation. The online and mobile editions are updated regularly and contain news, analysis, reviews, commentaries and data on global economic, social and environmental challenges and listings of the latest OECD books. An OECD Observer Crossword was introduced in Q2 2013.


title: OECD

text: The OECD is known as a statistical agency, as it publishes comparable statistics on numerous subjects. In July 2014, the OECD publicly released its main statistical databases through the OECD Data Portal, an online platform that allows visitors to create custom charts based on official OECD indicators.


title: OECD

text: There are 15 working papers series published by the various directorates of the OECD Secretariat. They are available on iLibrary, as well as on many specialised portals.


title: OECD

text: The OECD is responsible for the OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals, a continuously updated document that is a "de facto" standard (i.e., soft law).


title: OECD

text: It has published the "OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030", which shows that tackling the key environmental problems we face today—including climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and the health impacts of pollution—is both achievable and affordable.


title: OECD

text: Delegates from the member countries attend committee and other meetings. Former Deputy Secretary-General estimated in 1997 that the cost borne by the member countries, such as sending their officials to OECD meetings and maintaining permanent delegations, is equivalent to the cost of running the secretariat. This ratio is unique among inter-governmental organisations. In other words, the OECD is more a persistent forum or network of officials and experts than an administration.


title: OECD

text: The OECD regularly holds minister-level meetings and forums as platforms for a discussion on a broad spectrum of thematic issues relevant to the OECD charter, member countries, and non-member countries.


title: OECD

text: Exchanges between OECD governments benefit from the information, analysis, and preparation of the OECD Secretariat. The secretariat collects data, monitors trends, and analyses and forecasts economic developments. Under the direction and guidance of member governments, it also researches social changes or evolving patterns in trade, environment, education, agriculture, technology, taxation and other areas.


title: OECD

text: The head of the OECD Secretariat and chair of the OECD Council is the Secretary-General. Secretary-General selections are made by consensus, meaning all member states must agree on a candidate.


title: OECD

text: Representatives of member and observer countries meet in specialised committees on specific policy areas, such as economics, trade, science, employment, education, development assistance or financial markets. There are about 200 committees, working groups and expert groups. Committees discuss policies and review progress in the given policy area.


title: OECD

text: OECD decisions are made through voting, which requires unanimity among all of those voting. However, dissenting members which do not wish to block a decision but merely to signal their disapproval can abstain from voting.


title: OECD

text: The European Commission participates in the work of the OECD alongside the EU member states. Dependent territories of member states are not members in their own right, but may have membership as part of their controlling state. As of January 2021, the Dutch Caribbean and the British territories of Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, and Bermuda "are" included as part of the OECD memberships of the Netherlands and the U.K., respectively. Other dependent territories of OECD member states "are not" members of the OECD.


title: OECD

text: The Free Territory of Trieste (Zone A) was a member of the OEEC until 1954, when it ceased to exist as an independent territorial entity.


title: OECD

text: In May 2007, the OECD decided to open accession negotiations with Russia. In March 2014, the OECD halted membership talks in response to Russia's role in that year's Crimean Annexation and continuous human and civil rights abuses. On 25 February 2022, the OECD terminated the accession process with Russia after it invaded Ukraine.


title: OECD

text: As of 2019, the OECD’s budget is composed of Part I and Part II programmes of work. All member countries contribute funding to the Part I budget, representing around two-thirds of OECD Part I expenditure. The contributions (see table below) are based on both a proportion that is shared equally among member countries and a scale that is proportional to the relative size of their economies. The Part I budget for 2019 is EUR 202.5 million. The part II budgets, meanwhile, cover programmes that are of interest to a limited number of members and are funded according to scales of contributions or other agreements among the participating countries. The consolidated Part II budgets for 2019 amount to EUR 105 million.


The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Jackson, based on 1955's "The Return of the King", the third volume of the novel "The Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2002's " ", the film is the final installment in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm, and Sean Bean.


title: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

text: Continuing the plot of the previous film, Frodo, Sam and Gollum are making their final way toward Mount Doom in Mordor in order to destroy the One Ring, unaware of Gollum's true intentions, while Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the rest are joining forces together against Sauron and his legions in Minas Tirith.


text: "The Return of the King" was financed and distributed by American studio New Line Cinema, but filmed and edited entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand, concurrently with the other two parts of the trilogy. It premiered on 1 December 2003 at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, and was then released on 17 December 2003 in the United States and on 18 December 2003 in New Zealand. The film was acclaimed by both critics and audiences, who considered it to be a landmark in filmmaking and the fantasy film genre, with praise for the visual effects, performances, action sequences, direction, screenplay, musical score, costume design and emotional depth. It grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2003 and the second highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, as well as the highest-grossing film released by New Line Cinema.


text: Like the other films in the trilogy, "The Return of the King" is widely recognized as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. The film received numerous accolades; at the 76th Academy Awards, it won all eleven awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture, tying with 1959's "Ben-Hur" and 1997's "Titanic" as the movie with the most Academy Award wins. It also became the second film series whose entries have all won Best Visual Effects, after the original "Star Wars" trilogy.


text: <section begin=Plot/>The hobbit, Sméagol, is fishing with his cousin Déagol, who discovers the One Ring in the river. Sméagol's mind is ensnared by the Ring, and he kills his cousin for it. Increasingly corrupted physically and mentally, he retreats into the Misty Mountains and becomes known as Gollum.


text: Centuries later, during the War of the Ring, Gandalf leads Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and King Théoden of Rohan to Isengard, where they reunite with Merry and Pippin. Gandalf retrieves Saruman's "palantír", and the group returns to Edoras to celebrate their victory at Helm's Deep. Pippin looks into the palantír, seeing Sauron and a burning tree. Gandalf deduces that the enemy plans to attack Gondor's capital Minas Tirith; he rides there to warn Gondor's steward Denethor. Pippin, who accompanies him, swears fealty to Denethor, whose now-dead heir Boromir had saved his life; on Gandalf's instruction, he triggers the lighting of the beacons, which call for help from Rohan.


text: Frodo, who carries the Ring, and Sam continue their journey towards Mordor, unaware that Gollum, now their guide, plans to betray them and take the Ring for himself. The trio witness the Witch-king of Angmar, lord of the nine Nazgûl, setting off towards Gondor with his army of Orcs. Gollum conspires to frame Sam for eating food supplies and desiring the Ring; influenced by the growing power of the Ring, Frodo is taken in by the deception, and orders Sam to go home. Gollum then tricks Frodo into venturing into the lair of the giant spider Shelob. Frodo narrowly escapes and confronts Gollum, who falls down a chasm after a scuffle. Shelob discovers, paralyzes, and binds Frodo, but is wounded and driven away by a returning Sam, who, mourning Frodo's apparent death, takes the Ring. Sam realizes his mistake when a group of Orcs takes Frodo captive, but manages to rescue Frodo as the Orcs fight among themselves. Now inside Mordor, the hobbits continue towards Mount Doom, their destination.


text: As King Théoden gathers his army, Elrond tells Aragorn that Arwen is dying, having refused to leave Middle-earth. Elrond gives Aragorn Andúril, reforged from the shards of King Elendil's sword Narsil, and urges him to commit to claiming Gondor's throne, to which he is heir. Joined by Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn travels the Paths of the Dead, and pledges to release the ghosts there from their curse should they come to Gondor's aid. Meanwhile, Faramir, who was earlier overwhelmed and driven back to Minas Tirith by the Witch-king, is gravely wounded in a suicide charge; believing his son to be dead, Denethor falls into madness. Gandalf marshals the defenders, but the huge Orc army breaks into the city. Denethor attempts to burn himself and Faramir on a pyre, but Pippin alerts Gandalf and they rescue Faramir. Denethor, set ablaze and in agony, jumps to his death.


text: Théoden arrives and leads his army against the Orcs. Despite initial success against Orcs in the ensuing battle, they are decimated by the Oliphaunt-riding Haradrim and the Witch-king mortally wounds Théoden; however, his niece Éowyn slays the Witch-king with Merry's help. Théoden dies in his niece's arms. Aragorn then arrives with his Army of the Dead, who overcome Sauron's forces and win the battle. Their oath fulfilled, the Dead are released from their curse. Aragorn decides to march on Mordor to distract Sauron from Frodo, now extremely weak, and Sam; all of Sauron's remaining forces march to meet Aragorn's diversion, allowing the hobbits to reach Mount Doom. Gollum, who survived his earlier fall, attacks them, but Frodo still manages to enter the mountain. There, he succumbs to the Ring's power, putting it on his finger, but Gollum manages to bite off his finger and reclaim it. They struggle together and both fall off the ledge. Frodo clings to it with one hand as remorse and guilt flood his mind in the wake of his succumbing to the ring, when Sam's unwavering faith and belief in his friend convinces him to make one final reach for Sam's hand, saving Frodo's life. Gollum falls and dies; the Ring, which fell with him, disintegrates in the lava, causing Barad-dûr to crumble as The Eye of Sauron explodes, destroying the dark lord once and for all. Aragorn's army emerges victorious as its enemies and the lands of Mordor collapse into the earth, and Mount Doom erupts, with Frodo and Sam narrowly escaping the lava.


text: Gandalf rescues the hobbits with the help of eagles, and the surviving Fellowship is happily reunited in Minas Tirith. Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor and marries Arwen. The Hobbits return home to the Shire, where Sam marries Rosie Cotton. A few years later, Frodo who is still traumatised, departs Middle-earth for the Undying Lands with his uncle Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Elves. He leaves Sam the Red Book of Westmarch, which details their adventures. Sam returns to the Shire, where he embraces Rosie and their children.<section end=Plot/>


text: Like the preceding films in the trilogy, "The Return of the King" has an ensemble cast, and some of the cast and their respective characters include:


text: There are cameos from Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, Gino Acevedo, Rick Porras and Andrew Lesnie on the Corsair ship, although all of them but Jackson appear only in the Extended Edition. Jackson also has another unofficial cameo, as Sam's hand stepping into view when he confronts Shelob. Sean Astin's daughter played Sam and Rosie's older daughter Elanor in the last scene of the film; in the same scene, Sarah McLeod's daughter plays their younger son. Jackson's children also cameo as Gondorian extras, while Christian Rivers played a Gondorian soldier guarding the Beacon Pippin lights, and is later seen wounded. Royd Tolkien cameos as a Ranger in Osgiliath, while in the Extended Edition Howard Shore appears as a celebrating soldier at Edoras. Additionally, four of the designers of The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game are featured as Rohirrim at the Pelennor. At the end of the film, during the closing credits, each cast member gets a sketched portrait morphed with the real photograph beside their name, which were sketched by Alan Lee, an idea suggested by Ian McKellen.


text: As with all of Peter Jackson's movie adaptions of "The Lord of the Rings", many events, timelines, and geographic distances are compressed or simplified. Most major events from the books are included, though some are significantly altered. Some events and details seen in the film are not found in the books.


text: The film version of "The Return of the King" contains major scenes from the middle of Tolkien's"The Two Towers", such as the attack by Shelob and the "palantír" subplot, as Jackson realigned events of the film to fit the timeline from the book's Appendices, rather than the interlaced order of the main narrative. However, the plot of the second half of Book III is either completely omitted (chapter "The Road to Isengard") or only shown in one scene (chapter "The Voice of Saruman"). Saruman's murder by Gríma (seen only in the Extended Edition) is moved into the Isengard visit because of the cutting of the Scouring of the Shire.


text: The basis of Elrond and Arwen's subplot arguing about Arwen's fate is derived from the Appendices, but it is largely extended in the film, as is Arwen and Elrond's relevance to the story.


text: In the film, overwhelming grief over the death of Boromir has driven Denethor to despair, and he has given up any hope of defeating Sauron before Gandalf arrives in Minas Tirith. Thus, the muster of Gondor is absent from the film. In the book, he has already ordered the lighting of the beacons before Gandalf's arrival, while he refuses to light them in the film, and the sequence where Pippin secretly lights them himself was invented for the movie. The film only hints at Denethor's use of the "palantír" which drives him mad, information revealed in the Pyre scene, which includes Shadowfax and is more violent than the book. Aware of the very long distance between Rath Dínen and the front of the out-thrust battlement, Jackson has Denethor jump off the Citadel in addition to burning himself on the Pyre, one of the earliest changes.


text: The muster of Rohan, and the subplot in which the Rohirrim are aided by the primitive Drúedain during their journey to the besieged Gondor are excised from the film. The Red Arrow brought by a messenger from Gondor to ask for Rohan's aid is absent. Éowyn's presence on the battlefield is unknown to the reader until she takes off her helmet, but in the film the audience is aware, as it would have been difficult to have Miranda Otto playing a man. When hope seems lost, Gandalf comforts Pippin by telling him of the Undying Lands, based on a descriptive passage in the book's final chapter.


text: The film altered the circumstances of Théoden's death; his death speech, in which he names Éomer the new king in the book, is trimmed and delivered to Éowyn instead of Merry, with an earlier scene in the Extended Edition even implying that Éowyn is next in line for the throne. Théoden's rallying speech ("To death!") before the initial charge in the film is spoken by Éomer in the book when he believes that both Théoden and Éowyn have been killed in combat with the Witch King.


text: The Extended Edition presents shortened scenes from the book's chapters in the Houses of Healing: The Warden, the talk of Athelas, the comical conversation with the herb-master, the woman Ioreth and her saying about a King's healing hands and the subsequent realizing of Aragorn's true identity are left out altogether. The romance that develops between Éowyn and Faramir during their recoveries in the Houses of Healing is largely cut, presumably to keep the focus on Aragorn and Arwen; the subplot is briefly referenced in the Extended Edition, with a scene where the two hold hands.


text: Gollum's fall into the lava of Mount Doom was rewritten for the film, as the writers felt that simply having Gollum slip and fall was anti-climactic. Originally, an even greater deviation was planned: Frodo would heroically push Gollum over the ledge to destroy him and the Ring, but the production team realized that that would make it look as if Frodo was murdering Gollum. Instead, they had Frodo and Gollum struggle for possession of the Ring.


text: In addition to the absent footage from the film are the other major attacks by Sauron on various regions of Middle-earth, referenced only briefly in the main text of "The Return of the King", and expanded upon in the Appendices; the invasion of Rohan by the Orcs of Moria, the attacks on Lothlórien and the Woodland Realm of Thranduil by the forces of Dol Guldur, and the attack on Dale and the Lonely Mountain by a force of Easterlings, events hinted at in a comment by Legolas in the book.


text: There are several changes in the Battle of the Black Gate: Merry is not present there in the book, Pippin does not kill a troll as he does in the novel (instead, Aragorn fights one), the eagles fight and defeat some of the mounted Nazgûl, and Aragorn kills the Mouth of Sauron in the extended edition of the film but not in the book.


text: Although the film runs for another approximately 20 minutes after the climactic Downfall of Barad-dûr, many following events from the book are omitted or altered in the film. Aragorn's coronation takes place in form of a great ceremony in the Citadel of Minas Tirith, opposed to the book, where Aragorn is crowned in his tent on the Pelennor Fields before entering the city. Omitted entirely are the camp at the Field of Cormallen, Aragorn's business in Minas Tirith, Aragorn and Arwen's wedding, Galadriel and Celeborn being present at the ceremonies and their subsequent travelling along with the company, Théoden's funeral at Edoras, the complete journey back to the Shire with stops at Rivendell and Bree, and the Scouring of the Shire, which was seen by the screenwriters as anticlimactic.


text: The production of "The Lord of the Rings" series was the first where three separate entries were written and shot simultaneously (excluding pick up shoots). Jackson found "The Return of the King" the easiest of the films to make, because it contained the climax of the story. "The Return of the King" was originally the second of two planned films under Miramax from January 1997 to August 1998, and more or less in its finished structure as the first film was to end with the Battle of Helm's Deep in "The Two Towers". Filming took place under multiple units across New Zealand, between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000, with pick up shoots for six weeks in 2003 before the film's release.


text: Jackson's Middle-earth was primarily designed by Alan Lee and John Howe, who had earlier illustrated editions of Tolkien's books. It was created by Weta Workshop, who handled all the trilogy's weapons, armour, miniatures, prosthetics, and creatures; the Art Department built the sets. Richard Taylor headed Weta, while Grant Major and Dan Hennah organized the planning and building.


text: The city of Minas Tirith, glimpsed briefly in both the previous two films, is seen fully in this film, and with it the Gondorian civilization. The enormous soundstage was built at Dry Creek Quarry, outside Wellington, from the Helm's Deep set. That set's gate became Minas Tirith's second, while the Hornburg exterior became that of the Extended Edition's scene where Gandalf confronts the Witch-king. New structures included the 8m tall Gate, with broken and unbroken versions, with a working opening and closing mechanism, with its engravings inspired by the Baptistry of San Giovanni. There were also four levels of streets with heraldic motifs for every house, as inspired by Siena.


text: The Citadel's exterior was in the Stone Street Studios backlot, using forced perspective. It contained the withered White Tree, built from polystyrene by Brian Massey and the Greens Department with real branches, influenced by ancient and gnarled Lebanese olive trees. The interior was within a three-storey former factory in Wellington, its colours influenced by Charlemagne's Chapel, with a throne for Denethor carved from stone, and polystyrene statues of past kings. The Gondorian armour is designed to represent an evolution from the Númenóreans of the first film's prologue, with a simplified sea bird motif. 16th-century Italian and German armour served as inspiration, while civilians wear silver and blacks as designed by Ngila Dickson, continuing an ancient/medieval Mediterranean Basin look.


text: Minas Morgul, the Staircase and Tower of Cirith Ungol as well as Shelob's Lair were designed by Howe, with the Morgul road using forced perspective into a bluescreened miniature. Howe's design of Minas Morgul was inspired from the experience of having a wisdom tooth pulled out: in the same way, the Orcs have put their twisted designs on to a former Gondorian city. Cirith Ungol was based on Tolkien's design, but when Richard Taylor felt it as "boring", it was redesigned with more tipping angles. The interior set, like Minas Tirith, was built as a few multiple levels that numerous camera takes would suggest a larger structure.


text: The third film introduces the enormous spider Shelob. Shelob was designed in 1999, with the body based on a tunnelweb spider and the head with numerous growths selected by Peter Jackson's children from one of many sculpts. Jackson himself took great joy in planning the sequence, being an arachnophobe himself. Shelob's Lair was inspired by sandstone and sculpted from the existing Caverns of Isengard set.


text: "The Return of the King" also brings into focus the Dead Men of Dunharrow and the evil Haradrim from the south of Middle-earth, men who ride the "mûmakil". The Dead Men have a Celtic influence, as well as lines and symmetry to reflect their morbid state, while their underground city is influenced by Petra. The Haradrim were highly influenced by African culture, until Philippa Boyens expressed concern over the possibility of offensiveness, so the finished characters instead bear influence from Kiribati, in terms of weaving armour from bamboo, and the Aztecs, in use of jewellery. Also built was a single dead "mûmak". Other minor cultures include the Corsairs, with an exotic, swarthy look, and the Grey Havens, Elven structures adapted to stone, with influence from J. M. W. Turner paintings.


text: "The Return of the King" was shot during 2000, though Astin's coverage from Gollum's attempt to separate Frodo and Sam was filmed on 24 November 1999, when floods in Queenstown interrupted the focus on "The Fellowship of the Ring". Some of the earliest scenes shot for the film were in fact shot last. Hobbiton, home of the Hobbits, was shot in January 2000 with early scenes from "The Fellowship of the Ring", with the exterior shot at a Matamata farm, while interior scenes were shot at Stone Street Studios in Wellington, shared with the Grey Havens sequence. Due to the high emotions of filming the scene, the cast were in despair when they were required to shoot it three times, due to a continuity flaw in Sean Astin's costume, and then negatives producing out-of-focus reels. Also shared with the previous films was the Rivendell interior in May.


text: The Battle of the Black Gate was filmed in April at the Rangipo Desert, a former minefield. New Zealand soldiers were hired as extras while guides were on the lookout for unexploded mines. Also a cause for concern were Monaghan and Boyd's scale doubles during a charge sequence. In the meantime, Wood, Astin and Serkis filmed at Mount Ruapehu for the Mount Doom exteriors. In particular, they spent two hours shooting Sam lifting Frodo on to his back with cross-camera coverage.


text: Scenes shot in June were the Paths of the Dead across various locations, including Putangirua Pinnacles. In July the crew shot some Shelob scenes, and in August and September time was spent on the scenes in Isengard. Monaghan and Boyd tried numerous takes of their entrance, stressing the word "weed" as they smoked pipe-weed. Christopher Lee spent his part of his scene mostly alone, though McKellen and Hill arrived on the first day for a few lines to help.


text: Edoras exteriors were shot in October. The Ride of the Rohirrim, where Théoden leads the charge into the Orc army, was filmed in Twizel with 150 extras on horseback. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields has more extensive use of computer-generated imagery, in contrast to the more extensive use of live action in the Battle of Helm's Deep in the second film. Also filmed were the attempts by Faramir to recapture Osgiliath, as were scenes in the city itself. At this point production was very hectic, with Jackson moving around ten units per day, and production finally wrapped on the Minas Tirith sets, as well as second units shooting parts of the siege. Just as the Hobbit actors' first scene was hiding from a Ringwraith under a tree, their last scene was the bluescreened reaction shot of the inhabitants of Minas Tirith bowing to them.


text: The 2003 pick-ups were filmed in the Wellington studio car park, with many parts of sets and blue-screens used to finish off scenes, which the design team had to work 24 hours to get the right sets ready for a particular day. The shoot continued for two months, and became an emotional time of farewells for the cast and crew. The film has the most extensive list of re-shoots given for the trilogy. Jackson took his time to re-shoot Aragorn's coronation, rushed into a single day under second unit director Geoff Murphy on 21 December 2000. Jackson also re-shot scenes in and around Mount Doom, and Théoden's death, right after Bernard Hill was meant to wrap.


text: There was also the new character of Gothmog. This was a major new design addition for the film, as Jackson felt the Mordor Orcs were "pathetic" compared to the Uruk-hai of the second film after watching assembly cuts, and thus Weta Workshop created grotesque new "über Orcs" as antagonists for the audience to focus on. Christian Rivers also redesigned the Witch-king and all of his scenes were re-shot, because of confusion from non-readers over whether or not Sauron was on the battlefield.


text: With the positive response to Bloom, Legolas was given a fight with a "mûmak", and Howard Shore also appeared in a cameo during Legolas and Gimli's drinking game at Edoras. The final scenes shot were Aragorn escaping the Skull avalanche, and Frodo finishing his book. The cast also received various props associated with their characters, although John Rhys-Davies burned his final Gimli prosthetic. Viggo Mortensen headbutted the stunt team goodbye. Pick-ups ended on 27 June 2003.


text: Scenes shot afterwards included various live-action shots of Riders for the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and a reaction shot of Serkis as Gollum finally realizes Frodo intends to destroy the Ring, shot in Jackson's house. For the Extended DVD, in March 2004 Jackson created a few shots of skulls rolling over for the avalanche scene; this was the final piece of footage ever shot for the trilogy, and Jackson noted that it must be the first time a director had shot scenes for a film after it had already won the Oscar.


text: Post-production began in November 2002, with the completion of the 4½ hour assembly cut of the film that Annie Collins had been completing over 2001 and 2002, from 4-hour dailies. For example, Théoden leading the charge went from 150 minutes of takes to a finished 90 seconds. Jackson reunited with longtime collaborator Jamie Selkirk to edit the final film. Like "The Two Towers", they would have to deal with multiple storylines, and Jackson paid attention to each storyline at a time before deciding where to intercut. Most importantly they spent three weeks working on the last 45 minutes of the film, for appropriate intercutting and leaving out scenes such as the Mouth of Sauron, and the fates of characters like Legolas, Gimli, Éowyn and Faramir. The film inherited scenes originally planned to go into the second film, including the reforging of Narsil, Gollum's backstory, and Saruman's exit. But the Saruman scene posed a structural problem: killing off the second film's villain when the plot has Sauron as the main villain. Despite pick-ups and dubs, the scene was cut, causing controversy with fans and Saruman actor Christopher Lee, as well as a petition to restore the scene. Lee nonetheless contributed to the DVDs and was at the Copenhagen premiere, although he said he would never understand the reason for the cut and his relationship with Jackson was chilly. They would, however, later reconcile upon Lee's casting in Jackson's "Hobbit" films. Jackson only had a lock on 5 out of 10 reels, and had to churn out 3 reels in 3 weeks to help finish the film. It was finally completed on 12 November 2003. Jackson never had a chance to view the film in full due to the hectic schedule, and only saw the film from beginning to end on 1 December at the Wellington premiere; according to Elijah Wood, his response was "yup, it's good, pretty good".


text: "The Return of the King" contains 1,489 visual effect shots, nearly three times the number from the first film and almost twice that of the second. As with the two previous films, Jim Rygiel served as the visual effects supervisor. Visual effects work began with Alan Lee and Mark Lewis compositing various photographs of New Zealand landscape to create the digital arena of the Pelennor Fields in November 2002. Jackson and Christian Rivers used computers to plan the enormous battle up until February 2003, when the shots were shown to Weta Digital. To their astonishment, 60 planned shots had gone up to 250, and 50,000 characters were now 200,000. Nevertheless, they pressed on, soon delivering 100 shots a week, 20 a day, and as the deadline neared within the last two months, often working until 2 am.


text: For the battle, they recorded 450 motions for the MASSIVE digital horses (though deaths were animated), and also had to deal with late additions in the film, such as Trolls bursting through Minas Tirith's gates as well as the creatures that pull Grond to the gate, and redoing a shot of two "mûmakil" Éomer takes down that had originally taken six months in two days. On a similar note of digital creatures, Shelob's head sculpture was scanned by a Canadian company for 10 times more detail than Weta had previously been able to capture.


text: Like the previous films, there are also extensive morphs between digital doubles for the actors. This time, there was Sam falling off Shelob, where the morph takes place as Astin hits the ground. Legolas attacking a "mûmak" required numerous transitions to and fro, and Gollum's shots of him having recovered the One Ring and falling into the Crack of Doom were fully animated. For the latter scene, as well as the scene in which Mount Doom erupts and Frodo and Sam escape from the volcano, the help of the company Next Limit Technologies and their software RealFlow was required to simulate the lava. The King of the Dead is played by an actor in prosthetics, and his head occasionally morphs to a more skull-like digital version, depending on the character's mood. The Mouth of Sauron also had his mouth enlarged 200% for unsettling effect.


text: "The Return of the King" also has practical effects. In the Pyre of Denethor sequence, as the Steward of Gondor throws Pippin out of the Tomb, John Noble threw a size double named Fon onto a prostrate Billy Boyd, who immediately pushed his head into camera to complete the illusion. A few burning torches were also reflected off a plate of glass and into the camera for when Gandalf's horse Shadowfax kicks Denethor onto the pyre. Because of Jackson's requirement for complete representation of his fantasy world, numerous miniatures were built, such as 1:72 scale miniature of Minas Tirith, which rises 7m high and is 6.5m in diameter. 1:14 scale sections of the city were also required, and the Extended Edition scene of the collapsing City of the Dead has 80,000 small skulls, amounting in total to a single cubic meter. The miniatures team concluded in November with the Black Gate, after 1000 days of shooting, and the final digital effects shot done was the Ring's destruction, on 25 November.


text: The Sound department spent the early part of the year searching for the right sounds. A Tasmanian devil was used to create Shelob's shriek, which in turn gave inspiration for Weta's animators, while the "mûmakil" is the beginning and end of a lion roar. Human screams and a donkey screech were mixed into Sauron's fall and broken glass was used for the collapsing sounds. For missile trading during Minas Tirith's siege, construction workers dropped actual 2 ton stone blocks previously lifted by a construction crane. Mixing began at a new studio on 15 August, although unfinished building work caused some annoyances. The mixers finished on 15 November, after three months of non-stop work.


text: The music was composed by Howard Shore, who previously composed the first two parts of the trilogy. Shore watched the assembly cut of the film, and had to write seven minutes of music per day to keep up with the schedule. The score sees the full introduction of the Gondor theme, originally heard during Boromir's speeches at the in "The Fellowship of the Ring" and at Osgiliath in "The Two Towers" Extended Edition. Shore also used the Gondor theme with the new ascending coda (which is unique to this film) in his score for the trailer of the film.


text: The score features the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Voices, the London Oratory School Schola and featured vocal soloists. The score is the most expansive of the three: scoring effectively the entire movie length, not including additional music written for the trailer and various alternate versions released to the public. It also uses the biggest forces in the series: sections of the score call for two sets of timpani, eight trumpets (and possibly a similar increase in the size of the horn, trombone and tuba section, as well), 85 singers in the mixed choir with additional players for all-male and all-female sections, over fifty in the boy choir and many instrumentalist "bands" playing Celtic and eastern instruments such as tin whistle or pan flute, on stage or off of it. One piece of music required an instrument invented and crafted especially for the film: a fiddle with four pairs of strings instead of single strings.


text: Actors Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler also contributed to the film's music. Boyd sings on screen as Faramir charges towards Osgiliath, Mortensen sings on screen as he is crowned King, and in the Extended Edition Tyler sings as Aragorn heals Éowyn.


text: Renée Fleming, Ben Del Maestro, Sissel Kyrkjebø and James Galway also contribute to the soundtrack as featured soloists. Fleming sings as Arwen has a vision of her son and when Gollum recovers the One Ring. Del Maestro sings when Gandalf lights his staff to save fleeing Gondorian soldiers from Osgiliath as the Nazgûl attack and as the eagles arrive at the Black Gates. Galway plays the flute and whistle as Frodo and Sam climb Mount Doom and as they return to the shire. Sissel sings "Asea Aranion", which was originally meant to score the Houses of Healing scene. The end title song, "Into the West", was composed by Shore with lyrics by Fran Walsh. Annie Lennox (formerly of Eurythmics) performed it and also received songwriting credit. The song was partially inspired by the premature death from cancer of a young New Zealand filmmaker named Cameron Duncan who had befriended Peter Jackson.


text: After two years of attention and acclaim since the release of "", audience and critical anticipation for the final entry was extremely high. The world premiere was held in Wellington's Embassy Theatre, on 1 December 2003, and was attended by the director and many of the stars. It was estimated that over 100,000 people lined the streets, more than a quarter of the city's population.


text: The theatrical edition of the film was released on VHS and DVD on 25 May 2004. The DVD was a 2-disc set with extras on the second disc. The theatrical DVD sets for the two previous films were released eight months after the films were released, but "Return of the King"'s set was completed in five because it did not have to market a sequel (the previous films had to wait for footage of their sequels to become available for a ten-minute preview). However, it contained a seven-minute trailer of the entire trilogy.


text: "The Return of the King" followed the precedent set by its predecessors by releasing an Extended Edition (251 minutes) with new editing and added special effects and music, along with four commentaries and six hours of supplementary material, plus 10 minutes of fan-club credits. However, this set took longer to produce than the others because the cast and crew, no longer based in New Zealand for the trilogy, were spread all over the world working on other projects. The set was finally released on 14 December 2004 in the UK and US. The final ten minutes comprises a listing of the charter members of the official fan club who had paid for three-year charter membership.


text: A collectors' box set was also released, which included the Extended Set plus a sculpture of Minas Tirith and a bonus 50-minute music documentary DVD, "Howard Shore: Creating The Lord of the Rings Symphony: A Composer's Journey Through Middle-earth". The DVD has a DTS-ES soundtrack. The DVD also features two humorous Easter Eggs, one where Dominic Monaghan plays a German interviewer with Elijah Wood via satellite and another where Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller attempt to convince Jackson to make a sequel, originally shown at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards. Both can be accessed via a Ring icon on the last page of both Disc 1 and 2's scene indexes. In August 2006, a Limited Edition of "The Return of the King" was released. This Limited Edition contains two discs; the first is a two-sided DVD containing both the Theatrical and Extended editions of the film. The second disc is a bonus disc that contains a new behind-the-scenes documentary.


text: The theatrical Blu-ray release was released in the United States in April 2010. The individual Blu-ray disc of "The Return of the King" was released in September 2010 with the same special features as the complete trilogy release, except there was no digital copy. The Extended Edition was released in the United States in June 2011. It has a runtime of 263 minutes.


text: "The Return of the King" was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on 30 November 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 1 December 2020 in the United States, along with the other films of the trilogy, including both the theatrical and the extended editions of the films.


text: "The Return of the King" earned $377,027,325 in the United States and Canada and $763,654,686 in other countries for a worldwide total of $1,140,682,011. In the weekend of February 20–22 of 2004, the film crossed the $1 billion mark, making it the second film in history to do so, after "Titanic". Worldwide, it is the 24th highest-grossing film of all time when not adjusted for inflation, the highest-grossing film of 2003, the second highest-grossing film of the 2000s, the highest-grossing entry in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and the highest-grossing film ever to be released by New Line Cinema. It held the record as Time Warners highest-grossing film worldwide for eight years until it was surpassed by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2" in 2011. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film had sold over 61 million tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run.


text: In the US and Canada, it is the 27th highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing 2003 film, and the highest-grossing entry in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The film set an opening Wednesday record with $34,450,834. This record was first surpassed by "Spider-Man 2" in 2004 and ranks as the seventh largest Wednesday opening. Additionally, it was ranked as the highest December opening day, holding that record for less than a decade before getting dethroned by "" in 2012. The film opened a day earlier for a midnight showing and accounted for about $8 million. This was nearly twice the first-day total of "" — which earned $18.2 million on its opening day in 2001 — as well as a significant increase over "" — which earned $26.1 million on its debut in 2002. Part of the grosses came from the Trilogy Tuesday event, in which the Extended Editions of the two previous films were played on 16 December before the first midnight screening. For two years, "The Return of the King" would hold the record for having the highest midnight screenings gross until 2005 when it was given to "". The film went on to make an opening weekend of $72,629,713, making it the second-highest opening weekend for a New Line Cinema film, behind "Austin Powers in Goldmember". In addition, it had the third largest opening weekend of that year, after "The Matrix Reloaded" and "X2". With a total gross of $125.1 million, the film had the biggest five-day Wednesday opening of all time, surpassing the previous record held by "". The next year, this record would be beaten by "Shrek 2". Its Friday-Sunday opening weekend was a record-high for December (first surpassed by "I Am Legend"). The film also set single-day records for Christmas Day and New Year's Day (both first surpassed by "Meet the Fockers").


text: Outside the US and Canada, it is the 17th highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing 2003 film and the highest-grossing film of the series. On its first day (Wednesday, 17 December 2003), the film earned $23.5 million from 19 countries and it set an opening-weekend record outside the US and Canada with $125.9 million during the five-day weekend as a whole. The combined total gross increased to $250.1 million, making it the highest worldwide opening weekend at the time, knocking out "The Matrix Revolutions". It set opening-day records in thirteen of them, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Scandinavia (as well as separately in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark), Mexico, Chile and Puerto Rico. It set opening-weekend records in the United Kingdom ($26.5 million in five days), Germany, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland. In Singapore, it surpassed "Finding Nemo" to become the country's top-grossing film. In New Zealand, where filming took place, the film set opening day, opening weekend, single-day, Friday gross, Saturday gross and Sunday gross records with $1.7 million in four days.


text: The substantial increase in initial box office totals caused optimistic studio executives to forecast that "The Return of the King" would surpass "The Two Towers" in total earnings. If this proved to be true, then this would be the first blockbuster trilogy for each successive film to earn more at the box office than its predecessor, when all three films were blockbuster successes. "The Return of the King" has helped "The Lord of the Rings" franchise to become the highest-grossing motion picture trilogy worldwide of all time with over $2.9 billion beating other notable series such as the original "Star Wars Trilogy", and became New Line's highest grossing release.


text: Through re-releases in 2005, 2011, 2017, 2020 and 2021, the film has grossed an additional $818,580 in the United States and Canada, and $4,530,321 overseas for a combined total of $5,348,901. This brings overall earnings to $377,845,905 domestic and $768,185,005 international for a worldwide total of $1,146,030,912.


text: These figures do not include income from DVD sales, TV rights, etc. It has been estimated that the gross income from non-box office sales and merchandise has been at least equal to the box office for all three films. If this is so, the total gross income for the trilogy would be in the region of $6 billion following an investment of $300 million ($426 million including marketing costs).