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Sitting down with Billy and Dom was a real treat! It was very obvious that the travelling back and forth from New Zealand, and the endless interviews was weighing on Dom just a little bit, but Billy on the hand...was talkative as a Hobbit could be! hehe We had a great time, and tired or not, they were both fun to be with, and willing to stay and talk with us as long as time permitted. Billy and Dom were both perfect gentlemen, and I hope that you enjoy this interview half as much as I did doing it!
Now without further ado... may I present Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan!
So you've played in bands?
Billy: Yeah, Yeah…I've played in bands…a few years, when I was younger, I used to play in bands and write all the music.
Did you compose it out or did you just kind of come up with it?
Billy: Well, I wanted something that sounded old and sort of Celtic, you know, like an old song from Pippin's family. So I listened to some Celtic tunes…(Dom laughs) Am I right?
What did you think, hearing it with Shore's score under it and kind of inter-cut, really made this hell of a scene but altogether…?
Billy: Yeah, it's great because it really was completely acappella when we sang, and then because of the noise in it too, you have to loop it, you have to layer it, so we actually recorded it in Abbey Road.
Oh, yeah, really?
Billy: Yeah
Cool.
Billy: So, you know, singing in Abbey Road was one of the highlights of my career, and by that time Howard had already orchestrated some music around it so that's where…
That's cool...he didn't come up with the lyrics, just the melody?
Billy: The lyrics are a Tolkien poem...I think from the Fellowship…I think from the first movie.
If you could play any rock star, who would you play?
Billy: Ahhh...Jeff Butler.
Oh really? Good answer.
Billy : Thank you.
So what do you guys think about finally saying bye to New Zealand? How was that like?
Dom
: That we'll be back, you know. We've already talked about going
back to see Pete, when he's filming King Kong, you know, so that will be some
point next year, when we go back. You know, Billy and I and Elijah, we were
looking at places to buy when we were there last time, you know, with a view
of maybe in the next two or three years, buying somewhere between us so we
can escape there, and hang out and have Christmas and new year and all that
with our families as well. So, we take a little piece of New Zealand with
us, and we loved it, so it will always be there. Should I turn the phone off,
Bill?
(Sound of a cellphone ringing)
Billy: Good idea
(chuckling)
You know, seeing it actually…seeing the finished product, seeing the “into the west,” seeing the whole wrap-up book, you know…what was your favorite moment of actually seeing it on film again? What was your favorite parts of the movie?
Dom:
Mmm, Pippin finding Merry on the battlefield.
Billy: Yeah.
Dom: How the story goes full-circle. I like Merry and Pippin
leaving each other, and the confusion of Pippin, and the anger of Merry while
he's trying to explain in a very quick way that Pippin once again has ******
up and they're not going to see each other, and Pippin's kind of confused
and suddenly, he gets it, and neither of us have time to process those thoughts
because he disappears, you know…I like how the audience are left with a kind
of feeling of slight jeopardy.
Will we see more of that in the extended?
Dom:
Uhhm…maybe…I mean, I don't know. I think they kind of touched on
that quite, quite well in the theatrical release.
Billy: Yeah
Dom: What you'll probably see more of in the extended is
you (Billy) in Minas Tirith missing me, and me in Rohan missing you.
Billy: Yeah.
Dom: I don't think there is much in the theatrical release.
Billy: I think that the thing, that…because of the back-story,
the audience already knows that we're so close...they kinda know that Merry
and Pippin are the greatest of friends, so when they split up, there is that
sort of loss. But I think the actual breakup, when we split up, is pretty
much what we filmed.
After you find him on the battlefield, and, at least from a fan's perspective, it's like, okay, how did they all of a sudden get healthy and be riding on the horses? Does that lead into the Houses of Healing?
Billy
: Yeah…I was healthy anyway…I'm actually all right that point. I've
just been in Minas Tirith …I was all right.
Dom : Yeah, I mean, I was hurt, but we do go to the Houses
of Healing, which was cut from the movie…it's a shame, but, you know, in Middle
Earth they have certain plants and things like that that allow you to heal
very quickly, so, at least that's a part that I'm sure it will be in the extended
cut.
Billy: …and your arm is still…
Dom: …my arm is still kind of wounded…
Billy : …yeah, from that Oliphaunt…
Dom: ...yeah.
Over a hundred thousand people showed up for the premiere over the weekend, what was that experience like? Was it like being a “rock star,” and did you expect this big crowd?
Billy: You know the classic shot of the Beatles coming down the stairs of the airplane? We did that, except…ummm...they're the Beatles!
Well they have the pictures on the internet already…it's like…your finger in Orlando Bloom's belly button or something…
(laughter)
Dom:
Oh ....right!
Billy: See... that's the thing…you do these things spur of the moment. Ya know, you never learn by your mistakes…
And the the rumours start...
Billy: ...you do this thing...(points a finger)...There's a button....HEY! and then it's everywhere… (lots of laughter)
Dom: It was crazy…It was good. I mean...they say we're dating...me and Elijah, cause we were going back to the place where we filmed it, you know, but...it's hard to put into words, going through a parade in town with a hundred thousand people screaming.
Well, they said it was like three percent of the population of New Zealand were there just for that…it's crazy.
Dom: Yeah it was an amazing day…absolutely amazing.
It sounds like you guys are in love with New Zealand now. Was it love at first sight or was it…how long did it take you to get into it?
Billy: Right away…right away, we got a great feeling there…so it is a sort of uhmm….loveable place….you feel like you could live there, uhhm…pretty much straight away. Lovely cafés, you know…family-run cafés and all…multi-national companies, you know, it's so…and you get bars… great food…I mean it just lays itself as a great place to live.
How isolated where you guys when you were shooting…were you able to go out and have drinks after, you know, a day's shoot?
Dom:
Oh yeah, oh sure.
Billy: ***** it was everyone in the world who was working
on the movie anyway. (laughter) It was like, there wasn't many people
who you hadn't been working with that day, so we were told we could go anywhere
we wanted.
Is there a sense of relief now that this has come and drawing to a close and you can move on and do other things?
Dom: I wouldn't say relief…I mean, it's not as if I've been feeling for the past three or four years that I want to get rid of it, you know…you have to give it the correct amount of weight that it deserves when you're coming to the end of a huge project like this, you know, but, I think there'll be a…a certain amount of freedom, actually, to be able to really do what we want and know that there isn't something at the end of the year that we're going to have to get involved with. But then, also, that sadness that we won't be doing it again.
But what's it meant to you profile-wise, opportunity-wise, and receiving-script-wise?
Billy: Uhmm…yeah it kinda helps and hinders really.... mainly helps because, you know, people see your work, so rather than being a British actor walking to your own rythym with a cap and greatcoat, you're “one of the guys from Lord of the Rings.” You're “Pippin,” or you're “Merry,” and people can go straightaway “Oh yeah, I know his work.” Or like Peter Weir, who I did Master and Commander with, is a fan of the movie, so, you meet him, and in the meeting....with him saying “I'm doing this movie and I want you to be in it…” which is, you know, a great place to be, but also, on the flip side of that, it's much harder to say “Yeah I'll do that for a month, that sounds great,” because everyone then says..if it's a tiny play in a studio space..."Why you doing that? What's happened to your career?,” and "Well...we're right here....let's help him out!" and you wanna tell them.."Well.....it's kind of a fun thing to do!"
Are you doing…I think I was reading... I heard somewhere that you've written some thing that you two wanted to do together…is that true? What is it?
Dom: Yeah, well, we were filming, Billy and I did a script which we've been going backwards and forwards over the past couple of years, which is effectively a comedy-buddy picture about two guys from Britain that get involved with scuba diving in Miami, Florida…so we're just kind of working on it and we're such big fans of the medium of comedy that we don't want really want to go to the half-way house…I mean, we want to do a great comedy film or not do it, So we're still in the process of tidying up the script and trying to make it look good, but, we tend to mix.
Would you shoot in America or go back to New Zealand and double it as Miami?
Dom: Oh, we'd probably shoot in Miami….
Yeah…that's cool…
Dom:
It'd be nice to be in Miami...
Billy: Nice and warm… beautiful women…
Dom: …beautiful….
Do you do a lot of scuba diving yourselves then, or did you do a lot when you were in…
Billy:
We did in New Zealand…
Dom: Yeah, we did some..we were scuba-diving buddies….that's
were it came from. We just found the whole process and it's hilarious, you
know, to be under water and not being able to communicate clearly to with
each other as to what we were trying to say…there was a lot of comedy that
came out of that, and we just started talking about…
Cool …is there a title?
Dom: Is there a title? There's a working title of Fish Out Of Water …yeah, but I'm sure that will change, once someone buys it on the internet. (Laughter)
This thing you were talking about...the great Entdraught scene, which is not in the feature, but obviously in the DVD. How upset were you, or did you understand why that scene was taken out…it's a great scene but it changes the tempo…
Billy: Improv scene, did you say?
Entdraught.
Billy: Ooh, sorry. (laughing) I thought you said improv.
Imrprov...Entdraught...
Dom:
Yeah, it's a shame when anything gets taken out…
Billy: Yeah we liked that…I mean, we loved the nods to the
book, you know...and that's a huge nod...to the Endraught also, I think, the
Orcdraught, that's all in the extended as well, isn't it?
Yes.
Billy: So that's a real kind of story point as well…that both these sides have weapons that they can use, whether it's Endraught or Orc---…that gave them that energy, you know…and yeah…we were kind of sad that that wasn't in there, and also showing the hobbits…that they are back to being hobbits very quickly, and, I think the problem was that people thought it was too comedic at that point, whereas that's the whole point…as you know, Tolkien said that if you see a hobbit thirty minutes after a huge kind of emotional moment in his life, he'll revert back to being in the bar and having a drink…they don't hold on to things…and that's what I think that scene shows, as that once [] leaves, Merry and Pippin revert back to being hobbits, and I think that's lovely, you know…shows the audience that even the horrors that these guys have gone through, they can kind of go back to being hobbits.
It seems like, to follow up on that, you said it's sad when things get left out that are obviously in the book. Have you visited any of the Tolkien sites and what do you think of the feedback from the quote “book purists,” the ones that really want to see this and they're a little bit upset they gotta wait for the extended DVD…
Dom: It's a money issue, you know…we are in the business of…show…and show business is about making money. If it was about the art form then you could have an argument, but in cinema you have to make back the money that they invested into the trilogy…which they already have done, but, you know, they have to make money, and if you show a movie in a theatre that's over three hours and forty minutes, you can only show it twice a day, whereas, if it's under three hours and twenty minutes, you can show it three times a day, which is the difference between number one at the box office and number three or four at the box office, so it's a business deal, and that's the state of the business… there's nothing we can do about it. We, as actors and artists, kind of associate ourselves more with the feelings of the Tolkien purists…we want every scene that we did to be in the movie, but…we just can't deal…it's out of our hands as well.. which is a shame.
A lot of articles have really talked about Peter Jackson and his role in filming it, and today we really heard more about how instrumental Fran and Phillipa are in that group. How much did they work together when they were filming it and how much of that is a trio?
Billy: Fran and Phillipa worked very, very closely together, most of the time off-set, so, although we have a script, I mean…pretty much, the night before we do a scene was when we'd get finished words for that scene, and that would be Fran and Phillipa sitting..working the day before, just staying ahead of the game, and Pete of course, was instrumental in the forming of the actual script, and the rythms of the scenes and stuff, but...the day to day writing was more Fran and Phillipa… and Pete had so much in his mind by that time, that if I,or anyone...like, say, for instance, there's a scene in Minas Tirith, where I'm telling Denethor that his son died to defend me and Dom, and there's a line in the book that I really liked, and I said to Pete “Well, this line's great that Pippin says…is there any chance we could put that in?” and because Pete's head was everywhere by that time, he would pick up on his cell phone to Fran and that's who would talk about it and rewrite it over, and then it would come back. So... ultimately, Pete had the final say.
Thanks Billy...thanks Dom!
Want to listen to the complete audio interview? Go here: Billy and Dom (1.6MB MP3)
Interviews conducted by Illuvatar and other members of The Printed Press, at the Los Angeles Press Junket on December 3rd, 2003. We have 14 of these interviews to release and we'll try and bring you a few a week over the next few weeks, so keep an eye, or two if you can spare them, on the main page new for more soon! :-)
Special thanks to New Line Cinema and all the Cast & Crew for taking the time to sit down with us and provide these interviews. And a very, very special thanks to all of the War of the Ring staff that pitched in their personal time to do the transcriptions!
In Fellowship,
Illuvatar ~ Webmaster - War of the Ring.net
Got a comment on what you've read? Then post a message below, if you have a question or want to discuss in more detail then head over to the WotR Community Forum.
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