Those who have flocked to its first sessions will already know The Return of the King isn’t just the end of a very big fairytale, it’s a monster of a war movie. Its battle scenes are bigger and gutsier than its immediate predecessors and much of its summer blockbuster competition — even if Master and Commander and The Last Samurai are grounded in military history and supposedly, the real world. [More]
Day: December 21, 2003
Entertainment Weekly
Here are the scans from the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly featuring the entire cast of LOTR as the ‘Entertainer of the Year’. [More]
Another BIG thank you to Cyloran for sending this in! With the entire backlog of emails this took a few days to find. [More]
Another BIG thank you to Cyloran for sending this in!
Elijah Wood on Good Morning America
12/17/03
GMA: It is the cinematic finale that everybody’s talking about, the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the last installment in the epic trilogy that opens today. Actually, it already has opened in some places. Being talked about as a leading contender for the Best Picture Oscar time, with us this morning is the man, or I should say, the hobbit at the center of it all, Frodo himself is here, Elijah Wood. It is a pleasure to have you here.
EW: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.
GMA: This has been quite an adventure! Not only on the screen but what you’ve gone through all this time.
EW: The last four years of our lives have been a complete journey making these movies. It’s wild to see it come to an end.
GMA: Alright, it’s all over. The thing’s done. Who got to keep the Ring?
EW: I did, actually.
GMA: You did?
EW: I have the Ring at home. I have it in a small little box that I’ve got sort of tucked away.
GMA: How many Rings were there?
EW: There were quite a lot. There wasn’t just the single one. Andy Serkis got the Ring as well because he plays Gollum, so the two Ringbearers most appropriately were given the Ring.
GMA: Does it fit?
EW: It does. It does fit. But I don’t put it on. It would be a bad omen.
GMA: I was about to say, that would be a little strange. Are you sad it’s over?
EW: I am. I mean, it’s been such an incredible journey getting to know these people, living in New Zealand, making these films. It’s a bit surreal. I don’t think we all anticipated it coming to an end. It sort of felt like it would just carry on for the rest of our lives.
GMA: I was curious how you end something like this, because you are so close for so long, and I asked Liv Tyler how it all ended yesterday and she said, we had to come back for pickups in June.
EW: That’s right.
GMA: She said that was the last time we all saw each other.
EW: Yes.
GMA: But I understand there was really a very touching way that it all ended after each of you did your last scene.
EW: Yeah. They gave each actor a farewell, a little party, where they showed about two minutes of footage of that particular actor with bloopers and sort of funny music, Peter Jackson gave a speech to everyone about that particular actor, our producer Barry gave a speech, and then we were called on to give a speech, which was very difficult. I mean, it was very difficult to imagine that it had come to an end, so it was incredibly emotional and we were also each given our sword. I was given Sting, which was wonderful, and the last clappers from the last take of the last shot, so it was very emotional, and a very appropriate way to say goodbye to the actors, and very gracious of them.
GMA: A very nice thing for a director to do, tho.
EW: Indeed.
GMA: A very nice way to make it, and that really does, and it becomes sort of family, anyway.
EW: Oh, yeah!
GMA: Now! Was it really the last time? This is so successful . . . now, Tolkien only wrote a trilogy, but could there be a . . . I mean, the world has been saved and Middle Earth is okay and all that, but –
EW: That’s right.
GMA: Could you put it together again?
EW: My God, I would love it. I know that they’re thinking of doing The Hobbit. Frodo doesn’t exist in The Hobbit, so that possibly might happen. But Frodo has gone to the Undying Lands, so Frodo is sort of dead, essentially, at the end of this film.
GMA: It’s so hard to pick a clip because there’s really no moment sort of representative, but let’s take a look. Here’s a moment where Frodo has to make a very difficult decision.
(Show Frodo, Sam, Gollum clip)
GMA: True that a group of you got a tattoo as a commemoration of all of this?
EW: Yes, very true.
GMA: Including Ian McKellan?
EW: That’s right.
GMA: All in the same place?
EW: All in the same place.
GMA: I’m not going to make you show the tattoo, which I know you wouldn’t do anyway.
EW: Thank you very much for respecting that.
GMA: Want to tell me where it is?
EW: I have mine on my waist.
GMA: We can each pick a different body part, can we?
EW: We all kind of, well, that was sort of nice. We all sort of picked different spots which I think made the same tattoo individual to each individual, so that was nice.
GMA: Well it is wonderful. Congratulations. A long four years but well worth the effort, I’m sure. Thanks every so much.
EW: Well, thank you.
GMA: Frodo. The movie opens today.
samwise cheesegrater writes: I thought you guys at TORN might like this. Lord of the rings elves, Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom talk marriage, sex symbols and liberation with Nui Te Koha in the Herald-Sun. [More]
samwise cheesegrater writes: I thought you guys at TORN might like this.
Lord of the rings elves, Liv Tyler and Orlando Bloom talk marriage, sex symbols and liberation with Nui Te Koha in the Herald-Sun.
Liv Tyler: Orlando just ate a cricket lollipop. A lollipop with a cricket inside!
Orlando Bloom: I’ll do anything, man. Im an adrenalin junkie. In New Zealand, they throw themselves off bridges with rope attached. When I saw that, I thought “Fuck it, I’ll give that a go.”
Nui Te Koha: Were you as adventurous when you were in Australia making New Kelly?
OB: did you see Ned Kelly? Did you like it?
Nui Te Koha: Ummm…
OB: (smiling) Oh, you didn’t like it.
LT: I didn’t see it. I love heath ledger.
Nui Te Koha: You can probably pick it up in the specials bin at wal-mart.
LT: really?
Nui Te Koha: How is married life, Liv (to singer royston landon)?
LT: at first, when we got married and moved into our new house that we’ve been rebuilding for two years, I had spent so much time being really excited about it. Then it became a bit overwhelming for me. I had a bit of an identity crisis for a minute, like: ‘I’m grown up. I’m married. I have this huge house and I don’t know what to do’. But we’ve been living there for a few months and I love it. We have a puppy. We feel so lucky.
Nui Te Koha: You sound maternal.
LT: I feel good. I feel like I’m in a nice calm place in my life because I really went through a moment there where I was like ‘Aaaaargh!!’ I have come out the other side feeling good.
Nui Te Koha: There is a scene in ROTK where you see your future children. Do you see that in real life too?
LT: Not exactly. I have always wanted to be a mother. I was the only child of my mom and dad. I have a lot of half-brother and sisters. From a young age, I always thought I’d like to have a big family because I’m really mothering to everyone.
Nui Te Koha: Orlando, you are a sex symbol now.
OB: All that attention from beautiful women is very flattering, but I’m all about the work man, getting that done. That is what floats my boat at the moment. I trained for three years to be an actor, and got that done. The rest is…I never really signed on for it. Liv always gave me really good advice on how to conduct myself. Listen, we had to fight them off with a stick when we had Liv around. Nobody knew who we were. We were just actors on a film here. Liv Tyler was the hot chick in all the hot movies.
LT: It’s all changed now. Now I’m beating them off with a stick!
Nui Te Koha: What was the best thing about playing an elf?
LT: I found it funny playing an elf. I used to laugh at us all the time.
OB: They are immortal, ageless, angelic spirits. They kick ass! They represent everything that JRR Tolkein thought the world should be. The elves inhabit the world in a way where they don’t take from it. They give back.
Nui Te Koha: Orlando, do you still have to campaign for film roles?
OB: I have auditioned for every role I’ve ever had. I am about to work on a ridley scott film, Kingdom and Heaven, and I was screen tested for that. It was really intense: nine hours. I audition for everything and I feel good about that. It feels like I’ve earned the role.
Nui Te Koha: You’ve just finished Troy with Eric Bana.
OB: He is so brilliant. He is the funniest guy you’ll ever meet and the sweetest as well. He militantly hold on to being a guy doing his job. He is a great family man and a great example.
Nui Te Koha: Liv, are you disappointed your character Arwen, does not have much screentime across the trilogy?
LT: No. peter was saying the original idea of arwen was – its going to sound really bad saying this – a marketing thing to get studios interested. They knew they needed some kind of money: obviously if there was a female character played by a big actress, that would add to it.
Nui Te Koha: Originally, Jackson wrote a bigger part for Arwen?
LT: Yes. When I first came down here, that is what I had seen. I hadn’t read the book yet. I was just starting to get into that whole world and found it very difficult. I felt like there was something wrong with me. I was depressed, I couldn’t find the character. I was doing everything I could to connect with her. that’s all I know how to do. Im not trained. Its an internal thing for me.
Nui Te Koha: Then Jackson scrapped a lot of Arwen’s lines and back story?
LT: From that moment, I was so liberated and excited and fell in love with her and who she was. At times it was hard because it wasn’t a big role any more. I didn’t have that much to do. I mean, how do we connect these two characters (Arwen and Aragorn) who are on the opposite side of the world from each other? How do we make them emotionally invested in their love relationship? I think peter found a very good way of doing that through flashback.
Nui Te Koha: thanks a lot!!