Elijah Wood - Frodo
New York, USA, October 2003
What is your character's
most defining moment ?
Probably the most significant choice that Frodo makes is that of actually
accepting his responsibility and taking the ring. After that, he then deals with
that responsibility over the course of the first two films, and in the coming
film it's about what that ring finally does to him. But the decision to actually
take that responsibility on I think defines the character.
Are your Rings colleagues
going to be friends for life ?
Certainly. I mean, there is a Fellowship that has come out of working on this
that extends beyond the Fellowship of nine, and we've become a family. I think
that's one of the greatest gifts that the film gave us.
Why do you think Rings has
been so successful ?
It's kind of a "necessary" thing - there haven't been movies like this
in a while. It's almost old-school filmmaking - you know, the way it used to be.
Which of the other roles
would you like to have played ?
I love Gollum. I've always loved Gollum. I don't know if I would have liked to
have played Gollum, but I loved him from when I read the Hobbit.
Describe Peter Jackson in
three words.
Enthusiastic. I'll change that... Passionate. And... visionary storyteller.
Or... mad! Add a fourth.
What is your fondest memory
of New Zealand ?
It's a simple memory of going to breakfast at either Eva Dixon's or Fidel's,
which is on Cuba Street. It just became such a common thing that we would on
Sundays, which tended to be normally our only day off, or any other day when we
had free time. Normally it would be followed by going to the record store right
next door.
What is your favourite piece
of Lord Of The Rings memorabilia ?
Because it's so iconic, it is probably the ring. But I've just gotton Sting,
something I've wanted to get my hands on for quite a while. So actually I'd say
Sting, because the significance behind Sting is that it was originally Bilbo's
sword. Growing up, I was such a fan of The Hobbit and it's his sword throughout,
so I feel like I've got even more history having that sword.
How does it feel to say
goodbye ?
It's mixed. I've loved working on these movies so much, and being able to to go
back every year has been amazing for us because we didn't want to say goodbye to
it in the first place, so we've had this reunion every year. But this last time
we had to say goodbye. And that was really difficult to accept, and incredibly
overwhelming. They gave each other their own farewell party and Peter Jackson
would come up and make a speech and Barrie (M. Osborne) the producer would make
a speech, and we got the clapper from our last take. That was really special,
but it drove the point home even more that this was it, and there was this real
sense of... "Oh God" At the same time, we can celebrate the fact that
we've completed it, and there's something really wonderful about that - that
after four years we've come to the end and we can say we've done it. Also, after
all this time, we've made such close friends and those friendships will carry
on. So in a lot of ways the journey will continue, just in a different way.