{"id":81509,"date":"2013-10-30T10:56:50","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T15:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=81509"},"modified":"2013-10-31T11:13:45","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T16:13:45","slug":"evangeline-lilly-gets-personal-with-torn-about-tauriel-and-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2013\/10\/30\/81509-evangeline-lilly-gets-personal-with-torn-about-tauriel-and-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangeline Lilly gets personal with TORn about Tauriel and ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Evangeline<\/a>
(Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Desolation<\/a>WELLINGTON, New Zealand \u2014 Those outside of the movie making business often don\u2019t understand what The Producer does on a film. The quickest answer is: They get the movie made. They get things done.<\/p>\n

In the case of Zane Weiner on \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d it meant getting in touch with someone nobody was meant to get in touch with.<\/p>\n

Evangeline Lilly.<\/p>\n

Living in Hawaii, she was a month removed from the birth of her child, email turned off, not taking calls about work and still confined to bed rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I was still in bed with the baby,\u201d she told TheOneRing.net in full Tauriel outfit and gear during a lunch break on a full day of filming on \u201cThe Hobbit.\u201d<\/p>\n

This lunch tent, while perhaps not glamorous, is an essential part of Stone Street Studios and making Peter Jackson movies, designed to feed and shelter quite an enormous crowd. Breakfast was served there for anybody wanting to start the day off right. Coffee and tea were available on any sound stage but also in the tent \u2014 a first stop for many on a shoot.<\/p>\n

Mark Hadlow nailed it when he said, \u201cA film crew marches on its stomach.\u201d<\/p>\n

When lunch is called for on either the main or second unit, catering is ready. Two long self-service tables are identically lined with a few choices for the main course, including vegetarian offerings. Eaters pick up their own plates and cutlery, napkins and condiments and serve themselves. Always there is a salad and plentiful fresh vegies, a bread (often my favorite item) and variety that often had me taking small portions of everything. The procedure was the same for any actor, or grip, make-up artist, special effects or set dresser: Get in line, get food, find a table.<\/p>\n

\"ELquote\"Unlike the well known division between orcs and elves on the LOTR lunch tables, dwarves could be found eating with goblins and generally there were no Middle-earth racial lines drawn at lunchtime.<\/p>\n

Even for those in costumes or prosthetics it wasn\u2019t easy to pass up the daily decadent desserts and I know I wasn\u2019t alone in deciding, nearly always, that each day\u2019s particularly amazing offering, with rich chocolates or fresh fruits and cream, couldn\u2019t be skipped.<\/p>\n

Sodas were only available on Fizzy Fridays with most opting for daily tea or coffee with a skilled barista always at the ready, willing to create. I enjoyed cold water, making several in-trip meals. One big cultural advantage New Zealand holds to the U.S. is the size of its drinks. A small American McDonalds soda is the largest beverage you are likely to find at any Kiwi eatery \u2014 a small but healthier difference.<\/p>\n

On other film sets, high profile actors might eat from one menu while crew or extras go to another. Not so at Stone Street, where everybody from top to bottom was offered the same seriously delicious chow.<\/p>\n

Jackson, busy with lunch meetings (and more about that in some future writing) was rarely sighted in the tent, instead meeting responsibilities as he ate in an office. Tables near the front of the tent were given, out of deference, to the leading actors \u2014 a courtesy because they often had big challenges with costumes, beards, prosthetics and hair. I was invited to these seats on a few occasions to sit with talent or, like this day, to talk with Lilly about Tauriel.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy partner Norman actually got a text message from Zane Wiener saying: \u2018Is your girl interested in being involved in Peter Jackson\u2019s The Hobbit?\u2019 And I went: \u2018Why are you getting text messages for my work?\u2019 \u201c
\nLilly had shut down email and phone and her own agents weren\u2019t able to reach her at the time.<\/p>\n

At lunch, in full Tauriel garb, Lilly\u2019s massive and intricate auburn elf wig was wrapped to keep it safe from weather and the hazards of food. Her partner was not far, nor was her baby, now old enough to get around and excel at being cute. On a Peter Jackson movie, family is, well, like family, and it wasn\u2019t just Lilly there for the movie, the trio was.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy intention was not to work during the first year of my baby\u2019s life. I was going to take that year and just be with my baby but I\u2019ve always been a diehard fan of \u2018Rings,\u2019 the books \u2014 Tolkien\u2019s \u2018Rings.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Lilly is no stranger to popular culture fandom. If any reader is somehow not aware, she was one of the central figures in the hit television series \u201cLost,\u201d one of the most iconic shows in the last decade, playing female lead Kate. While she wasn\u2019t a household name when she took the part, she was certainly a famous worldwide brand after.<\/p>\n

Tolkienites may not be completely aware, but \u201cLost,\u201d had and has deeply invested, zealous fans. Tolkien enthusiasts can certainly claim to be passionate, but fandoms are like snowflakes in that no two are alike and each can be grand in its own fashion.<\/p>\n

\"(Tauriel<\/a>
(Tauriel with Legolas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So there in the lunchroom, during my second week on set, I can\u2019t help but probe a little deeper when anybody says they are a \u201cdiehard.\u201d It is a response some Hollywood actors are coached to give to appeal to fans \u2014 something to say from a Comic-Con podium \u2014 and there I was, representing the most active Tolkien community on the interwebs. At the risk of being rude, especially to somebody I had barely spoken with.<\/p>\n

Really Evangeline?<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, let me rephrase that. Not a diehard fan, not like the Ringers, (a term previously discussed that implied readers of TORn) but really and truly they were some of my favorite books and for a time they were my favorite books; and out of all of the books when I was a kid, \u2018The Hobbit\u2019 was my favorite. It was my absolute favorite and my favorite part was the elves in Mirkwood forest.\u201d<\/p>\n

More exposure to Lilly taught that she doesn\u2019t pander. She doesn\u2019t try to say the right thing to appeal to somebody and she certainly isn\u2019t going to try and suck up to fandom or a reporter.<\/p>\n

\"EvangelineShe is completely unpretentious but strong, friendly \u2014 but cautious with her privacy, her work, her family. She wasn\u2019t trying to butter up TORn and be temporary best pals, but she was interested in talking about her role. After her explanation of her Hobbit fandom, \u2018diehard\u2019 felt more than appropriate. (No group and nobody has a corner on the passion market and the Canadian born Lilly definitely projects passion in her work and even in her lunch and in her childhood reading. I believed.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in love with the elves, so when I got told that I had an opportunity to be involved in \u2018The Hobbit\u2019 and be an elf and I knew I loved Tolkien and I knew I loved The Hobbit book . . . well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her imagination as a reader, the elves were more like pixies than the powerful, wise creatures that are portrayed in the films, but to play one was a big draw. But not the only draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this other element that came into play. When \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019 first came out in the theaters, I refused to see it because I thought they were going to massacre Tolkien\u2019s work and I was like \u2018I\u2019m not honoring this, I\u2019m not going to see this, I\u2019m not paying money.\u2019 ”<\/p>\n

Definitely going with \u201cdiehard\u201d now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my whole family made a night of it and they went out together and I caved and I went with them. I couldn\u2019t believe that what I was seeing on the screen was exactly what I had imagined in my mind when I read the book. So I was also, at that point, a huge fan of Peter and his work with \u2018Rings.\u2019 ”<\/p>\n

So she called Team Jackson, which included co-screenwriters, partner Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, to talk about the part. Peter wasn\u2019t available that particular day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually nursing while I had this conversation with them about what this role was and what the commitment would be. The scary thing was I\u2019d have to start work three-and-a-half months out from having had my baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd elves are supposed to be lithe and thin and delicate and graceful and at that point I was feeling anything but, but I couldn\u2019t say no because it was one of those rare opportunities to do something that actually I really, really wanted to do. I thought it was really cool. So I did it. So I said \u2018yeah.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

She couldn\u2019t say no but was there any wrestling with the decision?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only wrestle that was left at that point were two elements: Okay, am I making a stupid decision for my family? Because that wasn\u2019t in our plan. And I talked that over with Norman and everything was agreed and he was totally enthusiastic about it. And then the other thing was, Tauriel is not in the books. So do I want to be, potentially, the big black spot on \u2018The Hobbit?\u2019 You know, the thing that everyone, the Ringers, all go \u2018No we\u2019re not having it, we\u2019re not accepting her.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Lilly might have a point there. As written by Tolkien, the source material doesn\u2019t have a single female character in its pages. It isn\u2019t news around here that some fans will not accept a created character no matter what, male, female or monster. Others, including, my dear friends and fellow TORn staffers Alex and Kelly, The Happy Hobbits, are famously thrilled with Tauriel and yet haven\u2019t seen more than a few seconds of her in a trailer. Lilly seemed pretty pleased with Kelly and Alex in the reaction to the reaction video that Jackson launched into a viral orbit around the globe.<\/p>\n