"If I died tomorrow, I would feel that I've lived an extremely accomplished life."

With a few months until the release of the next installment of "The Lord of the Rings", Orlando Bloom's popularity hasn't waned. And yet, the young actor has managed to keep a cool head, even if he admits taking advantage a little bit of his fame. Today he is reflecting on the reasons that pushed him to become an actor, and reveals to us some surprising aspects of his character.

One : How did you go about putting yourself in the skin of an elf who has more than 2000 years of existence under his belt ?
Orlando : I concentrated on the physical abilities of Legolas, on his manner of moving. I tried to illustrate with movements what is going on inside his head. Legolas' gestures are elegant and supple, like a cat. During the battle scenes I was always thinking about the image of a cat that turns and lands on his feet. The movements of Legolas should be athletic and graceful, almost like in a ballet, but it was very hard to do. But I gave it my all, because I wanted to show how strong Legolas is both mentally and physically, sort of like a samurai warrior.

One : How is your character going to change in the next two installments of "The Lord of the Rings" ?
Orlando : He's going to become a lot closer to the dwarf Gimli. In the beginning Legolas doesn't really put up with him, because traditionally, elves consider dwarves to be dirty creatures that exploit the earth without giving anything back. But the relationship between Legolas and Gimli evolves when they are forced to become a team and to support each other mutually. They end up respecting their differences and, in the final battles, they laugh together and even compare the number of enemies they've slained.

One : Who is the one person who has had the most influence on you over the course of your life ?
Orlando : My father, Harry Bloom, even though he passed away when I was four. He was a legendary figure in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and he was even imprisoned for his beliefs. He worked alongside Nelson Mandela to end that particular injustice. He was a great man who gave everything to this cause, and, once his work was completed, he passed on, as if he knew that he had acheived his mission.

"If someone offers me a film where I'm supposed to kiss a girl, I'm all for it !"

One : Why did you want to become an actor ?
Orlando : Because of girls ! (laughs) No, honestly, I don't do this work for the money or the fame. If someone offers me a film where I am supposed to kiss a girl, I'm all for it! I would even work for free. (laughs) I still have trouble believing that I get paid to do something that I love. But, seriously, when I was a kid I had a very vivid imagination and I was always drawn to heroic characters that I discovered in the theatre or the cinema. When I was old enough to understand that these characters were simply fictional heroes interpreted by actors, I realised that I could be Superman or an Indian or a gangster.

One : Who are your favorite actors ?
Orlando : Paul Newman, it was his film "The Conman"(?) that made me want to act. I also like Daniel Day Lewis ("The Last of the Mohicans") and Johnny Depp for their integrity and their career choices.

One : A lot of fans consider you a sex symbol. What do you think about that ?
Orlando : All the attention that I get is kind of scary. Luckily a lot of people don't recognize me without Legolas' blonde wig. But I also know that I'm extremely lucky and I really appreciate the life I'm leading right now. If I died tomorrow, I would feel that I've lived an extremely accomplished life.

One : Are you afraid that success will go to your head ?
Orlando : No, because my friends and family wouldn't let that sort of thing happen to me. My older sister, Samantha, who is also an actor, will put me back on the right track if I become arrogant. And my best friends would give me a good thrashing if they thought that I was getting a big head. (laughs)

One : What kind of films do you want to do in the future ?
Orlando : I like films with integrity that tell a great story. But, also I would really like to do a comedy. I think that the people who surround me like my sense of humour and they find me funny. That might surprise your readers, but I really have a funny temperament.

One : Can you reveal to us one thing that the public doesn't know about you ?
Orlando : I am a vegetarian and I don't eat any dairy products.

One : What role do you play in your new film "The Kelly Gang" ?
Orlando : I play Joe Byrne, a thief who is part of Ned Kelly's Gang, who is the legendary Australian bandit interpreted by Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale). The film tells the story of this gang who helped poor people during the 19th century in Australia by robbing a series of banks and trains. The members of the gang were criminals, but also were great guys et my character is a real ladies' man. So I'm going to have to kiss several actresses in the film. What a great job ! (laughs)

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"It was my son who insisted that I accept the role of Aragorn. He loves Tolkien and he convinced me to do this film."

With more than 30 films to his credit, among them "Witness" with Harrison Ford, "G.I. Jane" with Demi Moore, and "A Perfect Murder" with Michael Douglas, Viggo Mortensen is no beginner. And yet he would have to wait for the role of Aragorn to become a world-wide star.

One : It's been said that you identified with the role of Aragorn by living as a woodsman during the filming of "The Lord of the Rings". Is that true ?
Viggo : No, I didn't go that far. I love nature and open spaces, but I didn't live in the woods, otherwise I would have never been on time on the plateau. (laughs) But on the other hand I did sleep in the character's clothes for several days to give them a worn look, and I carried Aragorn's sword with me everywhere. One evening a police officer stopped me when I was leaving my appartment to go to the set. He was alarmed to see me walking the street with a sword and I had to explain to him that I was just going to work. (laughs)

One : How would you describe the character Aragorn ?
Viggo : He's the greatest voyager and hunter of his time. Of all the characters, he's the one who has travelled the most and had the most contacts with different cultures, races, and languages. He understands and respects what makes the people of Middle-Earth different. He knows that the most important common thing to all these beings is arbitrary freedom.

One : You weren't the first choice of director Peter Jackson to interpret Aragorn. Did that make you hestitate before accepting the role ?
Viggo : When Peter Jackson called me, he explained to me that the actor chosen to begin with wasn't going to do it. Even though the filming had already started he asked me if i wanted the role. But I was very hesitant because I had never read Tolkien's books, and I knew that I would have no time to prepare for the role. If I accepted I had to take a plane that very evening and head to New Zealand to start filming the next day. The filming was going to take a considerable amount of time, and I didn't want to be separated from my 14 year-old son for such a long time. In short I had a lot of good reasons to turn it down. But in the end, it was my son who insisted that I accept the role. He loves Tolkien and he convinced me to do this film. I read the books on the plane to New Zealand and I realized that Tolkien took some inspiration from a lot of Nordic (or Celtic if you prefer) legends. And as I'm half Danish (or Dutch if you prefer), I was raised on those sort of myths in my childhood. So I didn't have any trouble familiarising myself with this fantastic universe.

"During a battle scene, I broke one of my front teeth."

One : Did you already know how to handle a sword before filming ?
Viggo : No, my only experience was with wooden swords that I would play with when I was a kid, pretending to be a knight. But I trained with Bob Anderson, an extraordinary man, who taught fencing to the most famous Hollywood stars during the age of films with capes and swords. Thanks to his training, I was able to pull off a large number of my own stunts in the film. The battle scenes were particularly exhausting. We worked at night for three months in a row and I spent my time fighting Orcs and Uruk-hais... But I love physical scenes, so, I'm not complaining.

One : Why did you get a tatoo of an elf symbol with the other actors at the end of filming ?
Viggo : It's true that we already had so many scars from being injured during filming, that we hardly needed to add another one! But it was a way of thanking one another and reaffirming the ties that we developped after months of filming.

One : Did you get hurt a lot during the course filming ?
Viggo : I strained a lot of muscles, I had broken toes and during one battle scene, I broke one of my front teeth. I didn't want to ruin a whole day of filming, so I suggested that we glue it back in with some super glue but the director refused. (laughs) So finally I went to the dentist during the lunch break and a few hours later I was back to finish the scene.

One : In addition to acting, you're also a poet and a painter. At what age did you start to develop all these talents ?
Viggo : I don't know exactly, but according to my mother, it was drawing that interested me at first. She told me that where ever I went, I always had a crayon in my hand. Recently, she sent me a scrap book filled with my childhood drawings that she had just found. The oldest one was when I was seven. I've always drawn and painted and my work is on exhibit in New York. I'm actually writing my third collection of poetry and I'm exhibiting some of my photos in a gallery in Manhattan.

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Source : One (N° 18)