Elijah did this interview
Q: What's it like in New Zealand?
EW: I'll tell you what it's like in New Zealand. New Zealand is gorgeous. It's so beautiful and with this project, we've been able to travel around and we're going to continue to travel to various locations and many places that people don't normally get to see, so that's been really great.
Q: How do you think the landscape of New Zealand compares to Middle-earth?
EW: That’s actually the first thing I thought when Peter showed me all the pictures and things of the locations… this is Middle-earth. I mean it has every sort of geographical, geological formation, landscape, it's got everything, you know. So, it's absolutely perfect for New Zealand.
Q: What is it like physically, going by helicopter to locations, etc.? Have you done this before?
EW: There's so many elements to what we do everyday. We fly to locations in helicopters, to the tops of mountains and to remote locations. It's overwhelming, but absolutely brilliant. It's such an adventure. It actually feels in some ways like the adventure that's taking place in the film, because we're working hard and we're going everywhere and there's just all of these magical, magical elements to what we're doing. It's really, really incredible and it's an experience of a lifetime. I'll never have another experience like this. It's truly wonderful.
Q: What was your first meeting like with Peter Jackson?
EW: I met Peter after he had seen my audition tape. I auditioned prior to meeting him and I was so set on meeting him, initially, because I really wanted to just talk to him and sit down. I read first and then he came to Los Angeles and I got to read for him again, for him personally, and I met Fran and Peter and that was just incredible. I had been waiting for that for a while. I mean, I'm a fan of his work. Heavenly Creatures is one of my favorite films.
So I was thrilled in a geeky sort of way, you know. And it was just wonderful. I found him to be really sweet and lovely, both of them. And talking to him about the movie was just wonderful. I mean, he's so, so passionate about the project and he's been working on it for almost three years now. So, really, it's kind of in his blood, you know. And I remember the moment I met him. After I read for him, he actually showed me a lot of the drawings and sketches and pictures of locations to kind of give me an idea of what the vision of the film was and where he was going with it.
But one of the things that I really loved about his ideas for the film was that he really wanted to make the movie realistic because it is a fantasy film and fantasy books. But the thing about these books and what we're doing with the movie is that they are so real that you believe that Frodo existed. You believe that Gandalf existed. There's a certain quality in some fantasy novels that you don't feel as if they really existed. They feel too far away. And one thing he really wanted to covey with this film is the realism.
The Hobbits were to be slightly dirty and the sets and the atmosphere to be lived in and to be realistic and aged, so it didn't have that weird, sort of cheesy fantasy look to it and that was just music to my ears, because that's what I wanted it to be as well. It's just wonderful. The guy is so excited and he never loses energy. And he seems to have this endless energy, you know, constantly has ideas and is thinking and moving forward. It is inspiring.
Q: How does this project, when you know you're going to be on the film for eighteen months, feel differently than other projects you've worked on?
EW: I think that on every film that I've worked on, as a rule the people that you work with become a bit of a second family because you tend to work together for an average of about three, four months, and so you have that family atmosphere. This makes me look at everything else that I've done and realize that because this is a year of my life and a year spent with these people, they will become even more of a second family to me.
It really etches in stone that a lot of these people will end up becoming lifelong friends. And the thing that I realize now is that when the movie is over, it's going to be the most impossible thing to leave because I will have spent so much time with it. And that's when it hit me, on New Years. Usually at New Years, you think, well, what am I going to do this year. I've got so much on my plate and so many things can happen and the only thing that was in my head was, well, I'm doing The Lord Of The Rings, that's all year and that's amazing.
It's really incredible. Three movies at one time over the span of a year. I'm living in New Zealand for a year. It's absolutely overwhelming, but I couldn't ask for a better crew, better cast and the cast I'm working with is just amazing! I'm so blessed and lucky to be a part of this project and to be playing Frodo. It is just the most wonderful, brilliant role and he ends up being a hero, so you can't beat that.
Q. Had you read The Lord of the Rings trilogy before you took the role of Frodo Baggins?
Elijah Wood: I'd read The Hobbit, which was a beloved book from childhood. So I was familiar with the material, enough to want to be a part of it. But in a turn that fans will probably deem sacrilege, I didn't finish the trilogy while we were making the movies. If I was a fan and I read that the actor playing Frodo hadn't read the books, I'd want to burn him at the stake.
Q. And did you subsequently finish them?
Elijah Wood: No, I'm embarrassed to say. But the environment on the set was so geared to Tolkien that we were constantly surrounded by the history of Middle-earth, books, references. The Lord of the Rings was constantly around us. I had enough information to feed my character and have an understanding of the stories.
Q. Were you aware of the intensity of the interest in the films while you were in New Zealand making them?
Elijah Wood: It was something I was aware of when I got there. Then the Web sites started booming as we were filming. What I felt was a certain passion that made me want to follow Peter's [Jackson, the director] vision. I wanted to create a Frodo that would be true to millions of fans.
Q. That sounds like a tall order.
Elijah Wood: Any time you take a book to film, you're taking what's personal to people--and everyone has a personal interpretation when they read. So you're trying to make a Frodo that's true to readers' vision. Still, once we started filming, the fear and pressure kind of drifted away and I gained confidence in what I was doing. I feel I've done the best Frodo I can.
Q.How did it feel when you saw the finished film? There must have been a lot of things--computer-generated images--that you were seeing for the first time.
Elijah Wood: Seeing the final film was overwhelming. You spend so much time putting it all together; there was so much blood, sweat, and tears that went into this. But then to see it laid out in such a beautiful way was kind of shocking. I was seeing a massive part of my life played out, in ways I never dreamed of. We knew sort of what it would look like; we'd seen drawings. But it was amazing to see the massive shots of those beautiful landscapes with the cities laid in digitally. The other thing about seeing it for the first time was that it made me think, "I can't believe I have to wait a year to see the next one."
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
It’s about time Elijah Wood had a breakthrough mainstream success. He was such an awesome child actor in films like Radio Flyer, and even brought serious weight to mediocre films like The Good Son and The War. As a teenager, he made some art films, but The Lord of the Rings will surely be the title that his agents put at the top of his resume when negotiating a fee for future movies. The first two films grossed over $300 million each and the third is likely to do the same. Sure, that’s largely attributable to the fan base from the books, the ensemble cast and the vision of director Peter Jackson, but it can’t hurt Wood’s asking price. Wood seems to be taking it all in stride. He’s fulfilling his press duties for the film by doing interviews, but not going out and partying for tabloid attention. He doesn’t take credit for much himself, honoring all of his collaborators from the films equally. Here’s Elijah Wood, for the last time as Frodo, discussing The Lord of the Rings.
Did your feet get torn up going barefoot all the time? I think my feet were at their healthiest in New Zealand. They’ve gone considerably downhill since the films. I mean, they were pampered, man. I had to put these feet on every day, so at the end of every day they’d be bathed and powdered and massaged.
No calluses? No, in fact they removed a lot of my calluses. They’re all back now.
Do you worry that people are going to see as Frodo for the next thirty or forty years? Well, there's really no way around that. The movies, they've almost gotten themselves into pop culture like immediately. It's stunning to me. I certainly didn't anticipate it.
Are you done with Frodo? I mean, I've left him behind, but a part of me will always be connected to that character. A peace of him will always be with me, but in terms of being recognized as Frodo for the rest of my life, it's something that I'm very proud of. I'm very proud to be a part of these films. I'm very proud of the character and simply to have to worked with all of the people that I've worked with to have worked with Peter Jackson and to be a part of something so beautiful.
Do you have Frodo toys at home now? I've got a lot of the action figures. The thing is that when the movies started coming out and the merchandise started coming in, I basically just said, “Listen, send everything. I want everything. I don't care if it's underwear. If it's got something to do with Lord of the Rings, I want it,” because when am I ever going to have an opportunity again to be a part of something that has this kind of massive merchandise. It's like being a part of Star Wars. I’ve got boxes and boxes of it. I'm going to have to put it into storage. There's a lot of stuff that I'm missing. I know that there's tons of stuff that they didn't send. Like, I don't have any of the Weta Workshop stuff. So, all of the maquettes and stuff which I've kind of held off from pressuring them because, I mean, I will get them eventually. I just haven't yet.
What's the weirdest thing that a fan has asked you or done to you? I had a woman breakdown and cry when she met me which was difficult to deal with because immediately when someone starts to cry, you want to comfort them, you know, “Poor thing.” I comforted her. I tried to make her feel better.
How old was she? She was in her late teens, early twenties. She had just seen the movies a variety of times and loved the characters. I've seen signs made, ‘Elijah, marry me.”
What did you discover about yourself through this journey? I don’t often think about myself in relation to the character that I play. But I think that Frodo ultimately accepts a responsibility and has the courage to accept the responsibility and to carry on through his journey and carry his journey out. In that way, I’d like to do the same thing. But I think that the journey that I went through as a human being working on these movies, like the journey that Frodo has, it’s kind of prepared me for anything in life and made me a stronger human being I think and maybe a more courageous human being. Maybe I did inadvertently learn that from Frodo, but it’s also from the experience as well. And then on another level, I think the experiences making these movies have profoundly affected my life.
Profoundly? Well, the time spent in New Zealand. I was 18 when I flew to New Zealand at the beginning of production, and I spent 16 months in New Zealand and consequently the last three years. And I grew up there. I grew up in New Zealand and became the person I am now as a result of those experiences and shaped by those people and shaped by New Zealand and shaped by everything that I went through while I was there. So that’s how it’s affected me.
What does New Zealand have that we don’t? There’s a real purity in New Zealand that doesn’t exist in the states. It’s actually not an easy thing to find in our world anymore. It's a unique place because it is so far away from the rest of the world. There is a sense of isolation and also being protected. It’s also nuclear free. It’s like a sanctuary for nature and for the natural world, so it teaches a lot of lessons. It’s a very powerful place to live and spent time because it is so protected and it is so geographically beautiful and pure. And the people are incredibly kind and sweet as well.
Is there a difference between fans of the book and of the film? They’re kind of different. I mean, I think that fans of the film aren’t necessarily fans of the book, and I think the same can be said of fans of the books as well. But I think they also kind of meet in the middle. Fans of the books are also fans of the films and vice versa. And I think that at times, their passion can be the same. But fans of the books obviously have been living with these stories for quite a long time.
Do you see your contribution to the phenomenon? Yeah, I have. And I’m very proud of that. I don’t often think of it in those terms, but yeah, it also, the films have also sort of eeked themselves into pop culture immediately as well. It’s just kind of wild to think of what we’ve done and what culminated out of the 16 months of us working in New Zealand has become this phenomenon. But yeah, I certainly acknowledge my role in that and I think I’ll always be recognized for that.
Did you ever think it was weird that you were playing a 50-year-old?
What was daunting about it was the fact that there was already a massive fan base for the books and people that had already spent a lot of time with that character. So the daunting thing was to represent that character in such a way that pleased all of those people. And pleased myself and Peter. So initially, I think I was very concerned about playing him in the right way and making sure that I stayed true to the character as people had seen. And then that kind of let go once we started filming. I kind of let go and I wasn’t so worried anymore and just kind of it all felt right and I just went with it. And once the movies have come out, people seem to be pretty pleased with the way that Frodo was captured.
| | Frodo's Poems & Songs |
Here are some songs and poems sung or recited by Frodo which were in The Lord of the Rings books.
Walking Song
(sung by Frodo, originally by Bilbo)
from Fellowship of the Ring
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And wither then? I cannot say.
Song in the Woods
(sung by Frodo)
from Fellowship of the Ring
O! Wanderers in the shadowed land
despair not! For though dark they stand,
all woods there must be end at last,
and see the open sun go past:
the setting sun, the rising sun,
the day's end, or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must fail...
Song to Goldberry
(sung by Frodo)
from Fellowship of the Ring
O slender as a willow-wand! O clearer than clear water!
O reed by the pool! Fair River-daughter!
O spring-time and summer-time, and spring again after!
O wind on the waterfall, and the leaves' laughter!
Tom's Summons
(recited by Frodo)
from Fellowship of the Ring
Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!
By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow,
By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!
Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!
There is an Inn, a Merry Old Inn
(sung by Frodo)
from Fellowship of the Ring
There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.
The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five string fiddle;
And up and down he runs his bow,
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
now saving in the middle.
The landlord keeps a little dog
that is mighty fond of jokes;
When there's good cheer among the guests,
He cocks an ear at all the jests
and laughs until he chokes.
They also keep a hornéd cow
as proud as any queen;
But music turns her head like ale,
And makes her weave her tufted tail
and dance upon the green.
And O! the rows of silver dishes
and the store of silver spoons
For Sunday there's a special pair,
And these they polish up with care
on Saturday afternoons.
The Man in the Moon was drinking deep,
and the cat began to wail;
A dish and spoon on the table danced,
The cow in the garden madly pranced,
and the little dog chased his tail.
The Man in the Moon took another mug,
and then rolled beneath his chair;
And there he dozed and dreamed of ale,
Till in the sky the stars were pale,
and dawn was in the air.
Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat:
'The white horses of the Moon,
They neigh and champ their silver bits;
But their master's been and drowned his wits,
and the Sun'll be rising soon!'
So the cat on his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,
a jig that would wake the dead:
He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,
While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon:
'It's after three!' he said.
They rolled the Man slowly up the hill
and bundled him into the Moon
While his horses galloped up in rear,
And the cow came capering like a deer,
and a dish ran up with the spoon.
Now quicker the fiddle went deedle-dum-diddle;
the dog began to roar,
The cow and the horses stood on their heads;
The guests all bounded from their beds
and danced upon the floor.
With a ping and a pong the fiddle-strings broke!
the cow jumped over the Moon,
and the little dog laughed to see such fun,
And the Saturday dish went off at a run
with the silver Sunday spoon.
The round Moon rolled behind the hill,
as the Sun raised up her head.
She hardly believed her firey eyes;
For though it was day, to her surprise
they all went back to bed!
The Riddle of Strider
(recited by Frodo, originally by Gandalf)
from Fellowship of the Ring
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.
Frodo's Lament for Gandalf
(sung by Frodo)
from Fellowship of the Ring
When evening in the Shire was grey
his footsteps on the Hill were heard;
before the dawn he went away
on journey long without a word.
From Wilderland to Western shore,
from northern waste to southern hill,
through dragon-lair and hidden door
and darkling woods he walked at will.
With Dwarf and Hobbit, Elves and Men,
with mortal and immortal folk,
with bird on bough and beast in den,
in their own secret tongues he spoke.
A deadly sword, a healing hand,
a back that bent beneath its load;
a trumpet-voice, a burning brand,
a weary pilgrim on the road.
A lord of wisdom throned he sat,
swift in anger, quick to laugh;
an old man in a battered hat
who leaned upon a thorny staff.
He stood upon the bridge alone
and Fire and Shadow both defied;
his staff was broken on the stone,
in Khazad-dum his wisdom died.
Still Round the Corner
(sung by Frodo)
from Return of the King
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And altough I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
|
|
