Thanks to Cyloran for the transcript! Photos to come soon.
Jay Leno: Great to have you here, on the cover of all the magazines like GQ. Very cool. (much cheering and squealing from the audience). I know you’re from England, but where abouts?
Orlando Bloom: Canterbury and Kent, just outside of London.
JL: Okay, you grew up there. Now when did you get into the whole show business . . . when did you first do a play or get on stage or anything of that nature?
OB: You know, I always really loved performing as a kid. I once . . . my first performance was a little embarrassing because I was doing a play at a local theatre and it was quite a big deal because it was the whole of Canterbury was there, and I was a monkey. Dressed in a monkey suit. There were three of us. And this monkey suit was really hot, you know? It was like one of those sort of synthetic suits, and I was only four, and I’ll never forget it. I think it’s lived with me ever since, I’ve been really paranoid about making the same mistake, but I, um, I itched my butt on stage because it was, like, I had this terrible itch, and of course the audience went mad with laughter. But I was a monkey, so it was sort of what a monkey would do! But I was like, “what did I do?” because I’d sort of broken the routine out of what I was supposed to be doing, so I was like, Uh! So it was sort of stage fright.
JL: I was going to say, considering the other things monkeys do, that’s not bad. Now when did you first leave home to do acting and all that?
OB: I was about sixteen, I moved to London, but I sort of finished my education in London and I sort of moved from Canterbury up to London because my best friend was at University up there and I sort of felt like the big city was the place to go if I was going to make it as an actor.
JL: So you went to acting school. Did you do all of those sort of theatrical . . . you know, the exercises?
OB: Oh, yeah! I went to drama school so, yeah, I was at Guild’s Hall for three years and they get you to do all sorts of exercises to get you in the . . . you know, to help you loosen up and sort of be natural and stuff. One of the exercises we had to do, you had to go and study animals at the zoo, you know, in order to find . . . it’s quite useful way for a character to actually find the animal’s movement and whatever. I kind of wanted to be an ape because I kind of liked the idea of idea of sort of being a bad — (hits chest ala an ape and accidentally hits his mike).
JL: That’s very ape-like.
OB: Yeah. But my teacher insisted on me being a lizard so I wouldn’t do things like that (mimes beating on chest). And I had this sort of more stillness and composure, so I was a lizard, and that just meant that I had to hold this one position for like hours on end and occasionally jog my head and stick my tongue out.
JL: Have you still got the lizard tongue out? Because that could come in handy, actually.
OB: You want to see my tongue just –
(Audience squeals and cheers.)
OB: (laughing) It was sort of like that –! (quickly sticks out tongue, audience goes wild)
JL: Very good! That was very good! And you’re actually, I understand you, I know you ride motorcycles like I do. Did you break your back once? Did I hear that?
OB: I did, yeah.
JL: And how did –?
OB: That kind of changed my life. I was 21 and some friends had an apartment with a roof terrace and a landing below their apartment, and the door had been warped by the weather and it had been kicking open from the outside in. And I walked into their apartment and I thought, wow this is great. I looked out the window and the roof terrace was about a meter and a half to the left and down, and I thought I could just hop across. But instead I got onto this piece of lead flashing running down the wall, like a drain pipe but not, and I just fell back. I didn’t, it was rusty and old and it wasn’t much to hold on to and I fell back three floors and landed on a –
JL: Three floors?
OB: Yeah. I had a sort of really narrow escape because I landed the roof terrace below that was belonging to the neighbors below, and there was an old washing machine that was left out and I fell in-between the railings that were going around it and the washing machine, and I was just like there. They couldn’t get to me because there was nobody in the apartment, they had to get helicopters and firemen with fire engines to try and get to me. It was pretty trippy.
JL: When you break your back aren’t you sort of confined to a wheelchair? I mean, that’s pretty serious.
OB: It was a very narrow escape. They told me I wouldn’t walk for a while, they didn’t think the first four days, because I had no strength in my legs, but I bruised my spinal cord and I hadn’t severed it so I was very very lucky, and it sort of kind of changed my whole approach to life. Because I was a little bit reckless. I’d broke my leg on a motor bike and I had sort of broken my other leg skiing and snowboarding and had injuries. Not very elf-like. Like Legolas would never fall off a motor bike, you know what I mean? But it was . . . I kind of think of it as a really good thing. I think that things that happen to you that feel like their going to ruin your life actually there’s always something really positive to have out of it.
JL: I think that’s a really good attitude to have. Now tell us about Return of the King. These are epic movies. I’m astounded when I see them how visual they are. It’s almost like you have to see them 4 times to go, hey, I didn’t see that dragon in the corner before! Tell us about what happens in this one.
OB: Well, this is the last chapter of the three and I think the last of any movie is always the most exciting, you know? Because it’s sort of the dramatic conclusions to what’s been two films already and this is the third. So really you get a sense of closure on this and you see what happens to the Ring. I mean, if you don’t know, the books obviously quite well read and well known and everything but basically it all ends well. You just get a real sense of Aragorn becomes King, Frodo and Sam go off to Mt. Doom and do their business with the Ring and it sort of works out well.
JL: And you have blonde hair and blue eyes.
OB: That’s right, yeah.
JL: (to audience) He’s not a natural blonde. (cues monitor) Let’s take a look. What’s happening here? You know this scene?
OB: This is, I think this is as we enter the Paths of the Dead. This is about Aragorn assuming his responsibility to become a king. Part of it, he can call on the Dead to help him fight.
(Shows clip of Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli entering Paths of the Dead)
JL: Terrific job! Orlando, please, please come back and see us again!
OB: Love to.
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Dimatariel writes: I just found out a Norwegian TV channel, TV2, broadcasted 10 minutes worth of footage from “The Return Of The King” on their website! The problem is, the sound quality is bad, and you’ve got to be a member and pay a small fee and stuff like that to see it, so I’ve published a small sort of summary of all the nine clips. !!!SPOILERS!!! [More]
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Dimatariel writes: I just found out a Norwegian TV channel, TV2, broadcasted 10 minutes worth of footage from “The Return Of The King” on their website! The problem is, the sound quality is bad, and you’ve got to be a member and pay a small fee and stuff like that to see it, so I’ve published a small sort of summary of all the nine clips here:
Clip 1: Called “I Am On Your Side”, this is Frodo, Sam and Gollum, I’m not quite sure where they are, and it all begins with Frodo holding Sam back, as if preventing him from attacking Gollum. “Sam, no!” he cries, and then Sam replies something I can’t quite make out, which ends with: “He means to murder us!” Gollum screams then, and says humbly: “Never! Sméagol wouldn’t hurt a fly! Stupid hobbit! Fat hobbit who hates Sméagol! He makes up nasty lies!” he screams, pointing at Sam. “You little maggot!” Sam cries, and almost attacks Gollum again, with Frodo pulling him away. “YOU’RE the liar!” Sam cries to Gollum. Frodo says angrily at Sam: “Sam! We’re lost!” Sam replies then: “I don’t care! I won’t wait around for him to kill us!” “I’m not sending him away,” Frodo says, and Sam says to him: “You don’t see it, do you? He’s a villain.” Frodo says, seriously: “We can’t do this by ourselves, Sam. Not without a guide. I need you on your side.” Sam whispers: “I am on your side, Mister Frodo.” Frodo says to him: “I know, Sam. I know. And so is he,” he adds, referring to Gollum, who approaches him. “Come, Sméagol,” he says, taking Gollum’s hand and leading the way. As they walk off, Gollum grins evily at Sam.
Clip 2: Called “Something For The Road”. This is in a stable, I think, with Gandalf lifting Pippin up on Shadowfax as they prepare to leave. “How far is Minas Tirith?” Pippin asks, and Gandalf replies: “Three days’ ride, as the Nazgûl flies. Let us hope we won’t have one of those on our tail.” Then Merry comes in, handing something to Pippin. “Here,” he says, “something for the road.” Pippin looks at it, then says: “The last of the pipe weed”, or something like that. “I know you’ve run out,” Merry says seriously. “You smoke too much.” Pippin looks down at him. “But… we’ll see each other soon. Won’t we?” Both he and Merry look at Gandalf, who seems worried as he gets up on Shadowfax behind Pippin. “I don’t know,” Merry says. Then he mumbles something I can’t make out, but he seems about ready to cry. “Merry,” Pippin whispers, as Gandalf eagers Shadowfax to get moving. “Merry!” Pippin cries desperately as they ride off out of the stable and onto the road. It’s un unbelievably touchy scene, no doubt Merry and Pippin will finally create a few need-to-weep scenes in this film!
Clip 3: With the title “It Is Time”, this is Arwen, I don’t know quite where she is but it does look like Rivendell, and she’s approaching Elrond saying: “Tell me what you have seen.” “Arwen,” he says, and she continues: “You have the gift of foresight. What did you see?” Elrond stares at her seriously and says: “I looked into your future and I saw death.” Arwen says: “But there is also life.” She approaches him, saying: “You saw there was a child. You saw my son.” Elrond stares out at the view as he says: “That future is almost gone.” Arwen follows him. I think she says something like: “It is not past,” and then he says: “Nothing is certain.” Arwen kneels at his side, the first thing she says I can’t make out, but the rest is: “If I leave him now, I will regret it forever. It is time.”
Clip 4: “At Your Service”. This is Gandalf in the Stewart of Gondor’s hall, saying to Denethor: “I come with tidings in this dark hour, and counsel.” Denethor, sitting at the steps with Boromir’s cloven horn in his hands, says: “Perhaps you have come to explain this. Perhaps you have come to tell me why my son is dead.” Both Pippin, who is in the background, and Gandalf stare wideeyed when they see the horn. Then Pippin says: “Boromir died to defend us. My kinsman and me. He fell defending us from many foes.” He comes forwards, and Gandalf says “Pippin!”, but then the hobbit kneels in front of the Stewart and says: “I offer you my service. In payment of his death.” Gandalf seems unhappy and worried about this…
Clip 5: Called “Ready For Fight”. This is again Pippin and Gandalf, standing at a balcony with the view from Minas Tirith. Pippin is looking through some armoury, saying: “So I imagine this is just… ceremonial possessions. I mean… They don’t actually expect me to do any fighting. Do they?” He lookes worriedly up towards Gandalf. “You’re in the service of the Stewart now,” he says. “You will have to do as you’re told, Peregrin Took.” Peregrin leans on the railing, saying: “It’s so quiet.” “It’s the deep breath before the plunge,” Gandalf says. “I don’t want to be in a battle,” Pippin says. “But waiting on the edge of what I can’t escape is even worse.” Gandalf approaches him as he asks: “Is there any hope, Gandalf? For Frodo and Sam?” Gandalf replies with a slight smile: “There never was much hope. Just a fool’s hope.”
Clip 6: Called “You Have Given Us Hope”: This is Aragorn and Éowyn, preparing to leave. Aragorn says to her: “You ride with us?” She replies something like: “Only for a short distant. It is tradition for the women of the court to farewell the men.” Aragorn hesitates, then approaches her horse looking under the saddle to find she’s got a sword there. Éowyn quickly hides it again. “The men have found their captain,” she says. “They will follow him to battle. Even to death. You have given us hope.”
Clip 7: With the title: “Tell Me Everything”, this is from when Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith with Pippin asleep under his cloak, riding with many Gondorian horsemen into the courtyard, where they stop. Gandalf hears someone call out: “Mithrandir!”, and turns to see it is Faramir, who approaches him. “They have taken the bridge and the west bank.” Another Gondorian rider says: “It is what lord Denethor predicted! Long has he forseen this doom.” Gandalf says angrily, removing his cloak from Pippin: “Forseen, yet done nothing.” Faramir stares wideeyed as he spots Pippin, and the hobbit doesn’t seem too comfortable being watched. “Faramir?” Gandalf says. “This isn’t the first halfling to have crossed your path?” Faramir confirms, “No.” Now Pippin smiles, asking: “You’ve seen Frodo and Sam?” Faramir nods, and Gandalf asks: “Where? When?” Faramir replies: “In Ithilien. Not two days ago. Gandalf, they have taken the road to the Morgul vail,” or something like that. Gandalf then says: “The pass of Cirith Ungol?” Faramir nods, and Pippin asks worriedly: “What does that mean? What’s wrong?” Gandalf looks at Faramir. “Faramir, tell me everything.”
Clip 8: “More Will Come”: This is a clip which is a bit difficult to describe, because there’s a lot of bad sound in it. It’s a scene with Théoden, Aragorn, Legolas and many other ride through a Rohirrim camp, Théoden getting news from different men as he rides through, I’m guessing mostly about how many warriors have come. The scene then turns to Théoden and Aragorn, standing staring out at the Rohirrim camp. Théoden says: “Six thousand steers. That is half of what I had expected.” Aragorn mumbles something here, and then Théoden says: “More will come.” Aragorn actually speaks very low again, and I can’t make it out, but whatever he says Théoden nods at it…
Clip 9: This last clip is the one from the entrance to the Paths of the Dead, one which has been released before, so I won’t take the trouble of desciribing it… It’s called “The Road Is Blocked”, though.
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The latest edition of the Daily Mail had these LOTR related articles. [More]
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D&T Stone writes: On 13th December at 12.30 pm GMT, the TV channel ITV I here in the UK is showing a ROTK ‘making of’ entitled: The Return of the King: The Quest Fulfilled. If you can’t catch it then, it’s repeated in the bowels of the night on Thurs 18/12/03 at 01.20 am GMT. It appears to be a half hour behind the scenes type of thing.
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Ryan Gilbey writes: I meet Andy Serkis, whose leather jacket and crown of moist black curls give him a rockabilly tinge, in a Soho café. [More]
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