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Here\u2019s a transcript of a long but interesting roundtable question and answer session that Evangeline Lilly conducted with a number of reporters on her final day on the set of The Hobbit as Tauriel. As you’ll gather as you read along, the contents were under strict embargo until recently.<\/p>\n
The transcript traverses not just her role, but also Lilly’s recently released children’s book, The Squickerwonkers<\/i>.<\/p>\n
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Question:<\/b> What did you do today? What were you shooting today?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Today was a piece of cake. Today I just, thank you so much, I got to spend all day today watching Orlando work. He does all the talking in this scene and I sort of nod and smile and look cute, which is unusual, because normally I spend most of my time on this film killing Orcs, which is a lot of fun. <\/p>\n
But I’ve earned the day of rest because I’ve just spent the rest of the week absolutely annihilating myself. I’ve never been so physically exhausted in all of my career. I spent, what was it, Tuesday, I think it was. I was doing stunts all morning. And then I was doing massively heavy emotions and stunts combined, all afternoon. <\/p>\n
And by about, I would guess it was probably around eight P.M., I’d been here since about five-thirty, I actually started thinking to myself, “I think I’m going to throw up. And if I do it on camera, I’ll be really embarrassed.” Because you just can’t stop working, it’s not an option for an actor. You have to keep going. The show must go on. But I thankfully did not vomit in front of camera and in front of the world, because I’m sure Peter would’ve used it on a blog post if I had!<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> (overlaps) Probably on Facebook.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Yeah.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> What kind of stunts were you doing? What kind of action were you getting to–<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> I was killing Orcs, as usual. What was particularly exhausting was that for the first time ever in the films, we’ve been filming– I filmed for over a year. For the first time in that year, I’m actually getting my ass kicked by an Orc. Because he’s a particularly large, powerful, strong and incredible Orc. And he catches me off-guard, which is hard to do. It’s very hard to catch an Elf off-guard. Unfortunately, this Elf gets a bit blinded by love and she gets caught off-guard and she is in a deep pile of doo-doo in the scene that I was shooting on Tuesday…<\/p>\n
So, I was doing a lot of stuff that caused me to believe that I would have whiplash the next day and I was getting my head bashed into stones and getting thrown across huge expanses of space and screaming and yelling and crying! It was exhausting.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> And this was all being done by the men in the green suits?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Of course it was! We love the men in the green suits! They’re non-committal.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> We were speaking to Lee earlier about Elves being very Zen and obviously your character is a lot more aggressive, shall we say? How were you drawing your inspiration from for this? Because obviously, the Elves that have gone before you have been slightly more…<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> That’s absolutely right. I’ve intentionally ignored their incredible performances because I fear that I will try to copy them because they’re good! They did a great job and they’ve established what everyone believes is an Elf and so, I’m in deep, deep water right now because I’ve done something completely different and people are going to probably hate me for it. But it’s true to Tolkien’s creation. The Silvan Elves were a very different breed of Elves than the High Elves, and in Tolkien’s own words, “They were less wise and more dangerous.” And that is what I’ve been playing. <\/p>\n
Sometimes I watch myself, because I’ve seen most of the second film now doing ADR and that sort of thing. And I think, “Have I over– Have I gone too far with being aggressive and a little ball of fury?” But hopefully not. Hopefully, people love it. And hopefully people just really enjoy watching a female Elf kick butt. I think online the technical term is that Tauriel is a “B-A-M-F.” I think that’s the technical term. <\/p>\n
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Question:<\/b> She’s going to be new and fresh to everybody, so why do you think that they going to fall in love with her? What made you say, “I want to be her for a while,” and think that people are really going to respond to her?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> There’s a couple of reasons. The first one I just described, which is everybody likes a BAMF. And especially if it’s female, and especially if it’s female wearing tight pants and long hair. I mean, that appeals to everybody, right. Lara Croft proved that to the world. But on top of that what I particularly like about what they’ve done with my character is because she is, for a lack of a better way of putting it, perhaps slightly more human than the other Elves, in that we might be able to relate to some of the ways that she acts and some of the ways that she feels, more than we could relate to a High Elf. <\/p>\n
She kind of, in my mind, becomes the voice of the audience. She speaks out what the audience is thinking and feeling, and that is such a satisfying thing, I know as an audience member when I’m watching a movie, I grab hold of that character because I need to hear it. I need them to say what is going on in my head. And Tauriel does that through the whole film. <\/p>\n
And then on top of that– And I know you guys are all under lock and key, so I can say whatever I want, right? On top of that, it’s hard not to love an Elf who loves a Dwarf! That’s amazing that she, for lack of a better way of putting it, lowers herself to that place of being able to love a Dwarf. I think the world’s already fallen in love with Kili. And so the fact that she falls in love with him too, again, is just making her relatable.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> Peter King was talking about the design of your ears, actually, and how it’s slightly more mischievous even in design to match your character. Do you find that Tauriel has that mischievous–<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> I’m going to– She’s definitely mischievous. And I’m going to tell you the truth about the ears.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> (overlaps) Yes, please.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Okay? Here’s the true story. I was given, at the beginning when I first sat down for make-up tests, I was presented with three pairs of ears. One of them matched Orlando’s perfectly. One of them was slightly larger. And the third one was completely different, was pointy as shit and was humongous! And I was like, “I want those ones!” “Those are my ears.” So, they gave them to me.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> And they look good.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Well, the idea– In the end how I convinced the make-up department was that I said, “Look, they follow the line of my cheekbones. Isn’t that lovely?” And they went for it.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> They bought it.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> They bought it, they bought it.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> Peter also praised your ability to work with the long hair. How much of a struggle was that initially, to work around having hair as long as your character did?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> It’s constant. It wasn’t just an initial struggle. It’s a constant struggle, when I described that very difficult day of stunts and emotion, and how by the end of the day I’d never been so physically spent in any film set. For any of you who watched Lost, you’ve seen me work my butt off. You’ve seen me work hard physically, and I’ve still never been that exhausted. <\/p>\n
And a very huge contributing factor is the fact that I’m carrying around like twenty pounds on my head and my neck, so I think that’s part of the reason I started to feel so sick. Was because I got such a terrible headache from whipping my head around in all of my fight motions to create that beautiful flow of hair, which is a huge strain on my neck and then in this particular scene I’m doing a lot of whipping motions because I’m being thrown to the ground. And doing that with a huge amount of weight on your head, it just takes a toll on my body and I started to just really get a pounding headache, and that headache turned into nausea and that’s my wig! But it looks great!<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> There’s kind of an interesting dynamic– Listen, this isn’t the kind of movie where you’re trying to explore these things but as an actress maybe– You’re playing an Elf, with enmity between Dwarves and you’ve already said that barrier is kind of broken and there’s a lot of parallels to the real world and real problems. Do you think of those kinds of things when you’re doing what you’re doing, or is just simplified action?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> No, I think of those things from the very beginning of even choosing the role. Some people, once in a while, ask me, “What is the criteria? How do you choose the roles you choose?” And one of the first and foremost criterias for me is usually that there’s a message that’s being given to the audience. I don’t find films that are just empty entertainment entertaining. I find them really terribly boring. So, without having that altruistic message behind whatever I’m doing, I lose incentive, I feel dis-incentivized to even give my best to that performance. I think in some ways, my character Tauriel has been infused more and more with that, the more I’ve gotten involved, and I love that she says things like, “When did we allow evil to become stronger than us?” <\/p>\n
Because that speaks to everyone all over the globe. It speaks to tiny problems, it speaks to huge problems and it drives to the heart of justice. I’m very passionate about justice. And I think Tauriel is very passionate about justice, and in that passion for justice is where she finds the opening to fall in love with a Dwarf. If she didn’t care so much about justice, she would’ve never put herself in a position to even get to know him in the first place. And so I think she’s incredibly lovable in that way and I’d fall in love with her! And I used to be very nervous about the fact that I wasn’t in the book and now people are going to hate me, because I’m going to ruin these movies. <\/p>\n
And I feel a lot more confident about it now, knowing that I’ve fallen in love with her and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day, as long as I can hold my head up and say, “I think she’s great!”<\/p>\n
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Question:<\/b> What part of this experience did you not see coming? What’s been the most unexpected aspect?
\nQuestion:<\/b> Mischievous grin, is that?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Yes! How honest do I be?<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> As honest as possible.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> The most surprising aspect of this was how incredibly unorganized the whole process is. I just couldn’t imagine– You always imagine big budget movies being, you know, everything is nailed down, sealed and it works like a well-oiled machine. And this is like bumbling, stumbling through with our blindfolds on. I think I once said that it was intelligent chaos, at least, because I feel like I have fallen into Peter Jackson’s mind. And it’s crazy in there!<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> That’s sort of interesting. Your character, you signed on, there are things you liked and loved, and then this process, this chaos that we all know about. How much has changed for Tauriel during that time?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> I’ll tell you what, I wish I’d known all that I knew then, because I would have signed a different deal. I’ve been lucky enough to have Fran and Phil expand the character, enrich the character, grow her, embellish her, empower her. She was originally a much more peripheral character, and she’s come deeper and deeper into the center of the story and into the foray. <\/p>\n
And I’m just really grateful for that because it’s given me a chance to do as much as I possibly can in these movies, and have a lot more fun and have more opportunities to do great work. And I definitely came into these movies thinking, “I’ll just do a little role. I’ll be in and out. Won’t take long. Won’t take much out of me,” and it was a whole different story once I got here.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> It seems like Tauriel has evolved into the place where her relationship with Kili is going to be a big part of the heart of, especially, the third film. And really, none of that was in the book. In Rings you had Aragorn and Liv Tyler.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Arwen.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> Arwen. For some reason I just blanked on her name. So there’s no equivalent to that in Tolkien’s book. So do you feel the weight of some of the emotional impact of the third, of the trilogy is kind of–<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> No, I think that it’s an access point. Because The Hobbit, I loved it as a child. It was my favorite book. And then I hadn’t read it since I was a kid. So I went back and re-read it when I got this job. And what I was surprised to realize was how basic the book is. There isn’t any emotion in it. There isn’t any characters that you become so– Other than the hobbit, other than Bilbo who you go on this journey with him. But there isn’t really a deep emotional center to the book. It’s a very nice romp. It’s a sweet little story. <\/p>\n
And to watch nine hours of film without some kind of emotional draw and payoff, nobody would sit through it. And I think in the third film particularly, like you said, the moments where Tauriel is struggling for her life, to save Kili’s life, or he’s struggling to save hers, with that emotional tears going on, which is very deep, and now I’ve acted it so I know just how emotional it gets, I think it’s an opening for the audience to feel what they are going to want to feel at the devastation that will happen at the Battle of the Five Armies. Because you need the individual stories for the audience to access the emotion. <\/p>\n
If they just see general chaos and general death and general loss, they don’t find a way to cry. And every audience member wants to cry. They want someone on that screen to make them cry. So I’m trying to make them cry.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> Beyond the romance– You talked about The Hobbit being a simple, sweet story, right? There were no female characters, really, in The Hobbit that I can recall, unless they were totally on the periphery.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Yeah, there weren’t any.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> And, I guess, stepping beyond the romantic part of your character’s journey, is that an important aspect to you, that you are bringing a female presence to this?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> (overlaps) Yeah. I think that Tolkien was writing in a time when women were considered secondary citizens in society and they were not considered pivotal parts of life events. They were just people who witnessed life whereas men were actually driving life. And I think for anyone to make a story in this day and age, when we’ve come so far with realizing women’s place in the world and acknowledging them as equal citizens in the world, and then to continue with that chauvinistic mindset of keeping women out of your story completely, I think it would be a wrong move. <\/p>\n
I think it’s important to know that he was writing at a time when that was okay. And now that’s not okay. And everybody knows that’s not okay. And nobody faults Tolkien for it. He was a result of his time. But we have evolved past that and we have to represent that. I have to say though, on that note, because people often say to me when I’m playing these women who are very violent, “Oh, cool, you’re playing an empowered woman.” And I don’t buy that. I think the industry is still so driven by male mindset that they think an empowered woman is a woman acting like a man. <\/p>\n
And I can say, “**** you.” An empowered woman is a woman who has compassion, who stands up for justice, who sacrifices herself in the face of struggle, who has he own sense– We have our own place in the world. And I don’t believe our place is turning around and shooting someone in the face because they pissed you off. That is the immaturity of unevolved men. And I think we’re bigger than that. <\/p>\n
And I think that eventually, one day, our stories, women’s stories will start to reflect that properly. But for now, it’s a baby step in the right direction. At least she’s not at home cooking the pies, and I’m happy to play her.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> That’s the extended edition.
\nQuestion:<\/b> Was this a conversation that you had with Fran and with Phil? Have you sat down and actually had that talk with them, or did you not need to?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> (overlaps) No. We haven’t. Because when I signed on, I knew what I was signing on for. She was the warrior elf. And I was excited to play the warrior elf because I knew it would be fun, I knew it would be cool. And one of the cool things about being an elf is that I never ever would kill a human being, I would never kill a dwarf. I would never– No matter how much I don’t like them. I would never kill another elf, I would never kill anything that had goodness in it. We only kill evil incarnate. <\/p>\n
And so it is a distinction from what you see in human violence, which is humans killing other humans when all of us know that every human being has shreds of good in them, no matter what they’re doing, no matter how bad it is. An orc doesn’t have a shred of good in it. It is evil incarnate. And so killing evil incarnate feels somehow more justified.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> I don’t know, fifty years from now, after we know Orcs a little bit better, you may get a chance.
\nQuestion:<\/b> (overlaps) You want to tell their story.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Yeah. Yeah, we’ll start telling the Orcs’ story.<\/p>\n
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Question:<\/b> How has New Zealand suited you? What have you come to love about this part of the planet?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> (overlaps) I have found a creative home in New Zealand. Without wanting to in any way diss Hawaii, because I’ve been welcomed there with open arms and I found a loving home there, I feel that it’s creatively stifling. Here, I just blossom creatively. I feel like I’m doing my best creative work, both on set and off set. <\/p>\n
I’ve been working on– Since I came here I’ve been so inspired, I’ve created my own children’s storybook series. And I had been wanting to do that since I was a kid. And I finally, here, got so inspired and found people who are so like-minded that I knew we could do it together. And I will actually be debuting that, the first of that series, the first book in that series, at Comic-Con this year.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> That’s with Johnny, isn’t it?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> With Johnny Fraser-Allen, who is amazing.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> What were you trying to communicate with that book?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> With the book?<\/p>\n
I’ll recite the last stanza of the book so that you’ll understand what the book’s about. “And so the girl learned that night not to be too quick to judge. There’s a devil inside you might like to hide, but what if I gave it a nudge?” Because all of us have vices within us. And we might like to act like we’re really civil human beings and that we’re above everybody else and somehow better than the people who do bad things like steal and whatever else we want to judge, but none of us are above reproach. <\/p>\n
And I guess it is sort of, “Ye who is without sin be the first to cast the stone.” It’s that kind of message of loving people and things and creatures and everything, not in spite of their vices, but because of their vices. All of us with our vices are loveable.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> How are you going to keep the creative mojo going once this stops and you’re presumably going to leave New Zealand? So what’s going to happen back on mainland?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> I’m going to fall to pieces. I actually am very curious to see how that goes, because you guys, I’m sure, have heard that Pete, Fran and Phil treat their cast like a family. They open their arms up and they open their world to you, and it’s like what’s ours is yours. And wow, I’m going to be like a float adrift at sea, after they release me again into the wild. Because here, they have this infrastructure they built up and they just open it to anybody who wants to be a part of it. <\/p>\n
And it’s been an incredible gift and hopefully instead of it being a crutch, it’s actually just a launching pad, and it’s something I’ll be able to have learned from. And Fran Walsh has become, in my mind, a mentor. Somebody who has taken me by the hand and generously taught me and coached me, and I know that if I ever needed her I could pick up the phone and she would be there and she would be willing to take my hand again and help me through whatever I’m trying to do.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> This might be a little personal, but you’ve raised a child here as well while you’ve been shooting movies. Will that also be one of those changes when you get back to the United States?<\/p>\n
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Lilly:<\/b> Well, my son, he’s spent fifty percent of his life living in New Zealand. And so he’s half-Kiwi. We keep saying he’s half-Kiwi. I think that it will always be a place we’ll come back to now. And there will always be good reasons to come back. I’m from Canada originally, and New Zealand to me is like if you took all of Canada and squished it and put it on two little islands. It’s really similar. <\/p>\n
It helps satiate my homesickness, when I’m craving home. Even today I was saying, the set that we’re on, it’s got all these pine trees on it. They’re living pine trees, for crying out loud. What Peter Jackson pulls off is just ridiculous. And I know they’re living because I can smell them and it’s making me miss home.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> Of the physical skills that you’ve used in this film, what are you particularly good at? What did you find you had a knack for?<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> What am I– Well, I think probably Elvish. I’ve been told that I’m particularly good at Elvish. It may have something to do with the fact that I can speak French and there’s some similar sounds that cross-pollinate in the two languages, and maybe just because my brain has been programmed to understand language because I learnt a second language at a young age. And I have to say, when I watched the trailer and I saw Tauriel do that limbo move under the swords, I went, “Oh, my God! Was that me?” And I double-checked it and it was me! <\/p>\n
So now we’ve got three more of those in the movie because they went, “Oh, you’re good at that. You can do that.” So I don’t know, I would say Elvish probably. Yeah. And limbo. I’ll kill you all at a game of limbo.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> You could just find future roles that would combine those two things.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> (overlaps) Elvish and limbo. And I’m set.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> Thank you for filling our end of the day with the perfect ending.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> Well, You know, This is my last day on set.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> Yes, it is.
\nQuestion:<\/b> (overlaps) Congratulations.
\nQuestion:<\/b> (overlaps) Congratulations.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> (overlaps) I’m just reflecting and thinking about it. Yeah.<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b> Thank you very much.
\nQuestion:<\/b> (overlaps) Thank you.
\nQuestion:<\/b> (overlaps) Thank you so much.<\/p>\n
Lilly:<\/b> (overlaps) Thanks, guys.<\/p>\n
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Our One Last Party fundraiser on Indiegogo has just hit the $100K mark and we’re pretty stoked!<\/p>\n
If you’d like to join us as a Party of Special Magnificence in Hollywood in February — a toast to all SIX Middle-earth movies, then now is the time to throw in your support! Even if you can’t make it to Hollywood (or if you’ve already contributed), you can help out by retweeting or sharing our fundraiser across social media to get the word out. <\/p>\n