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!!
