Did Elijah Wood Read Lord of the Rings
Elijah Woods on 'The Lord of the Rings' at 20 and Being Frodo to Fans Forever
"I'll never be upset at being associated with those films or for them existence the largest in people'due south memories of who I am," the actor says.
For more than than ii decades, the actor Elijah Wood has kept a pair of hairy hobbit feet in the aforementioned box they were given to him in.
That was just after main photography on Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy wrapped in New Zealand, and he can't recollect whether the anxiety are a fresh set or what he wore onscreen equally Frodo, the valiant hero of curt stature entrusted with destroying a malevolent aureate band.
"I'm certain over time they will degrade, considering I don't think latex lasts forever," Wood said past phone from Los Angeles. "But they were in good shape the last time I looked at them."
The odd keepsake remains a tangible reminder of the unusual production in which the 3 fantasy epics, adapted from the J.R.R. Tolkien novels, were shot dorsum to dorsum for 16 months, followed by 3 years of occasional pickup shots and fall publicity tours.
A semblance of finality only came in 2004, when the tertiary installment, "The Return of the King," swept at the Academy Awards, winning 11 trophies, including all-time moving picture.
It wasn't the trilogy'south first castor with Oscar. The starting time affiliate, "The Fellowship of the Ring," which was recently added to the Library of Congress's National Motion picture Registry, won 4 statuettes afterwards its release on Dec. xix, 2001. Xx years on, Wood, now 40, reminisced nearly the monumental filmmaking risk. Below are edited excerpts from the conversation.
When y'all think almost the "Lord of the Rings" films and how they redefined your career, what are the memories that remain most vivid for yous?
Often what I think about is the in-betwixt moments, not merely the incredible gear up pieces with hundreds of extras in orc outfits, which is certainly an extraordinary thing, simply the seemingly mundane moments, like getting our hobbit anxiety taken off considering we had to vacate set as it started to snow. We're sitting at the hotel on pinnacle of a washer and dryer, getting our feet taken off with a glass of whiskey. Or taking surf trips on weekends with the other hobbits and Orlando [Flower, who played the elf Legolas] and the camaraderie and the daily life that nosotros had. Nosotros all left the diversity of places that we came from and made our lives in New Zealand with each other. 20 years on we are nevertheless continued in that way, fifty-fifty if nosotros haven't seen each other in a long fourth dimension.
Image
At what betoken did you feel that this episode in your life had concluded? How difficult was it to leave behind such a transformative feat?
The most profound moment of feeling similar I was stepping away from it and questioning what I was going to do next came after chief photography. That was when all of u.s. were at our about exhausted. We had been intensely invested in the earth of the motion-picture show we were making, and then suddenly we weren't, which is often the instance when yous brand a movie: You're in that microcosm, and then you're thrust at the other end of information technology. And then you lot're dorsum in your reality. Information technology was that feel multiplied by a great degree. My experience of living was so defined by being in New Zealand with this group of people that the sudden shift of being home once again felt very abrupt. I just wanted to proceed to work on things that were actually small and very different from "The Lord of the Rings." I felt quite pitiful to see information technology all come to an end, merely as well fix to motility on with my life and take new experiences.
Close congenial relationships between men like the one Frodo and Sam take in the trilogy are more common at present in media. What were your thoughts virtually this friendship between these two characters dorsum and so?
My read on information technology was simply about an incredible companionship. Whilst my character of Frodo is seen equally this hero, at that place's fifty-fifty more than truthful heroism in Sam [the hobbit played by Sean Astin] and the mode he picks up the pieces of where Frodo can't keep any further. Those two need each other, and certainly Frodo needs Sam. There was a true understanding of that. When I met Sean for the first time, we were both scheduled to get our wig fitted at a hotel in Fifty.A. I immediately gave him a hug and I just said, "Hey!" because I knew who he was. We hugged each other because we knew that we were about to keep this incredible journeying together, both every bit actors with other actors, merely also there was that intuition of, "Y'all and I are going to have this journey together every bit well." That was extremely true. And so much of what we see in the film, both in our relationship and others, is reflective of the reality of what we were experiencing. The power of storytelling is in our own relatability to what is being expressed. I've heard many dissimilar takes on Sam and Frodo from the L.G.B.T.Q. customs, but too people who've had struggles with habit connecting with Gollum.
Frodo is a rather vulnerable brute with an unimaginable burden on his shoulders. What did y'all learn from embodying him for so long?
1 of the great letters of the books as it pertains to Frodo and the hobbits in general is a sense that fifty-fifty the smallest person, non only in stature but in terms of what ane feels they're capable of doing, is capable of greatness, of affecting real modify, of having real touch on. What Frodo was up confronting seemed insurmountable, and notwithstanding he was able to accomplish it largely because of goodness, kindness, a purity of centre and mayhap innocence. Those are the things that hobbits embody, and inherently why they're able to withstand the corruption of the Ring for longer than humans. But what makes Frodo unique is a way of seeing the world without any kind of pessimism. There's also courage, mayhap fifty-fifty a blind courage, of not necessarily knowing what's alee and therefore not allowing himself to be afraid. If I'm to learn one thing from all of that, information technology's that there's fortitude in his outlook that makes information technology all possible.
Do y'all recall these movies could be made today the way they were back then?
There was a great sense of a lack of oversight. Peter and the larger team were allowed to make the movies the fashion that they wanted to make them without much outside perspective. That doesn't mean the studio wasn't agape or invested. They knew the risk of making these films back to dorsum. I don't know if he would be able to make them in the same way at present. Wait, the internet's different too. There was less scrutiny on the films. In that location was less known almost them. We were able to brand the movies in a bubble. We had quaint issues, similar there would exist some photographers up on a hill, but it was pretty small. [Laughs.] I don't know if that would exist possible at present. Now the world is online and there's a slap-up deal of access afforded to pretty much anybody about anything.
Has perpetually being associated with "The Lord of the Rings" ever been overwhelming?
I accustomed a long fourth dimension ago that I would forever be linked to Frodo, so it doesn't bother me. Honestly, information technology would be such a sad burden if information technology did. [Laughs.] I'm so used to people on the street calling me Frodo and not calling me by my proper noun. It's representative of one of the greatest experiences of my life, movies that I adore and memories that I'll cherish forever. At the stop of my days, that is what I will be linked to probably more than anything else. I tin can but equate it to similar scenarios like Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford. They are associated with their archetype ["Star Wars"] characters more than others. Now that we're continuing on the precipice of 20 years, which is so difficult to encompass, my reflection is one of such gratitude and such love that I'll never exist upset at being associated with those films or for them being the largest in people'southward memories of who I am.
Did Elijah Wood Read Lord of the Rings
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/movies/elijah-wood-lord-of-the-rings.html