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Hey
Folks,
Doing the interview with Orlando was a blast!
Our favourite Elf was very laid-back, and appeared to be having a lot of fun with both the RotK Premiere, and with the press...and we were no exception! :o)
Now, without further ado...may
I present...our interview with Orlando Bloom!
How's everyone? Are you bored of this junket yet?
No! Are you bored of promoting the movie yet?
No. No, I'm not, actually...funny enough.
Did you imagine you would be at this place when you started this in '99? You're in a totally different spot than you were when you started out.
Yeah. No, no it's not easy to say how it will all pan out, but I'm very grateful to be working, to be doing all of this stuff. It's great stuff. I think what's most fortunate for me about having worked on the Lord of the Rings is it thrust me straight into this forum, this great forum, which, if I'd come into the movie business on any other movie, it would have been very different. I would've had to build...work my way up to this level of work that I'm getting and working in now. Whereas I think because Lord of the Rings was such a critical and financial, and, in so many ways, a huge success, I think it could have put me a few rungs up the ladder...it gave me that much a of kick-start, a jump-start, and I think that's been great from that perspective.
But on the other side, you were kind of hit with this instant fame that was kind of overwhelming.
Yeah, I don't feel like it's been overnight, just because with the wig and stuff...this is such an ensemble, I don't feel like...I feel like the star of this movie is this movie, and what Peter Jackson has done in creating it. Peter Jackson is the star of this movie. I think the talent and all the cast are just the players that have helped bring this movie to a conclusion this time around, but it's definitely helped me and I'm really grateful to it. I'm saying that at all...I'm not taking that away from it, but, in terms of an instant thing, I had the blonde wig to disguise me and it's part of an ensemble. It definitely threw me into the big leagues, though, in terms of being able to meet with the right people and audition for good roles and hopefully get good roles. You know, I'm happy with - It raised the bar, in simple terms - because I'm rambling some here on my own… (laughter)
It's just like...you're singled out. I mean there are a million Orlando Bloom web sites or Legolas fan sites out there, and there's definitely the girls, and the …
But again, I think that because of the movie, it put us all into that category...I mean, Legolas is kind of the boy of the group...Frodo is the boy and he's the Ring-Bearer and everything, but Leggy is kind of like...he's kind of a safe place...he's blonde and he's an action hero and Elves are angelic spirits, and he's got this timeless...kind of...androgynous quality to him, and I'm really grateful to the fans. I'm really glad that they picked up on Legolas...I mean, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing, because I really think that's what...the fact that they go and see the movies is great.
Have you been out to any of the sites to see any of those Leggy fans?
I haven't. I haven't done any of that. I've been told an awful lot about it, and again, it's great that people...I think the Internet is another thing that's relatively new to the world and they've picked up on different ways of doing things...and I happen to be one of them. (laughter)
Right. Given the time, it's been some time since you guys first shot this, and the experience you have under your belt now, do you ever look at yourself on-screen and go "Ah, I wish I could have done that differently?"
Yeah...yeah...definitely...yeah... I mean, that's why I'm so grateful to Pete, as well, because I think about stuff I shot that didn't make it, and instead of thinking "Oh damn, I wish that had made it," I think "Well, I'm sure I pulled his bluff there," (laughter) or...I mean, Pete really understood who Leggy was. I think he captured who all these characters were, and Legolas, in the book, he's very present...he doesn't …he's not more than…he's just...he's a very present part of the fellowship. His accuracy with a bow gives him that satin-like quality and that protector-like quality...that kind of...overseer. He never sleeps...he's always the one awake checking to see everyone's cool, so he...Pete...got that and gave me that and that's what this character is, and I'm really grateful for that, you know?
Now, your big scene in this was part of the re-shoots, correct? With the Oliphaunt sequence…
Yeah
Was that a direct result of the sliding down …
Yes…
...and the other stunt?
Exactly …
Take us through that.
Well, Pete loved the response to the sliding down the stairs on a shield, he loved the hopping onto the horse, and, in the first movie, running over the cave troll and taking a pop at his head. He loved the way the audience responded to that stuff, you know...those moments, and so he wanted to top it, you know. Pete's always...that's all Pete...that boyish lust for life...that kind of …he's got such a great appetite for it all, and he just wanted it to be bigger and better, and what better way to do it than bringing down an Oliphaunt by myself? It certainly is touch of class that goes on there, and I basically spent three days on probably three thousand sand bags that had been piled up and created to make the ass-end of an Oliphaunt, and then they had a rig on the top with the stunt guys, so I did the fight on the top with the stunt guys, and then they were wired and I was wired, and swinging around on wires and climbing up the arrows, and then I had a very serious conversation with my stunt double...no...with my digital double... to make sure exactly of what his motivation was... (laughter) but you know, Pete's that...he creates bits that come out with imagination.
So what was your favourite Leggy moment?
You know when the fellowship came over the crest of the hill...in the first movie? They come over one by one. I just loved seeing the fellowship come over the crest, and then I loved Leggy being a part of the fellowship. In that first thing …you know, we come between two boulders and then it finishes with Aragorn and Sean Bean there...you know...there's Boromir and everyone, and the whole fellowship come over the hill one by one, and just to see Leggy in amongst the fellowship, as a part of the fellowship...I loved that moment. I just thought "Wow, that's the fellowship." You just see them individually, and yet, sort of at one. I loved that.
Some of the cast, over the years, have talked about how they find their characters are actually not that far different in some ways from their own in their lives, but Leggy seems 180 degrees from you…
Yeah...
Is that cool to do? I mean you're not the shy, pure-but-radiant and strong elf...
(laughter) No, but it's all within me…(laughter) yeah, it was much more of a leap for me, but I found that all the hobbits were jokin' around on set, having a good time, you know, laughing and joking and playing around, and I'd be trying hold myself...to keep kind of focused and together, because...you know, at all times I wanted to be engaged because it's quite difficult to maintain that sort of engaged kind of presence when you're not really saying anything or doing too much. D'you know what I mean?
Yeah …
…But I wanted to
maintain that sense that you felt his presence, because that's what it is
in the book as well. So...um…I've forgotten what the question was…
Well...it's like he's so different from you…
Yeah…
…and that was the question…
He is very different from me, and yet, I think I kind of found parts of who he is within me. I just thought about immortality and about what it would mean to live forever, and how that would create a meditative sort of state that you would be in. I thought about Samurais for movement because I thought their physical movement was so graceful, but it was a great character to inhabit for that length of time...and you kind of hope that your characters rub off on you a bit, and I think Leggy definitely kind of changed the way I live my life, and that experience of being in New Zealand changed my life …
In what way?
I kind of was coming of age a bit, and I think I had a coming-of-age time in New Zealand, and working on that project, I grew up. I had a whole new understanding of what nature meant to me, and the environment, and since then I'm sort of …you know what I mean? It's an important part of…I suddenly was reconnected, because I'm from the country area, originally from Canterbury, in Kent, which is outside of London. I'd lived in London, you know...London being a very urban environment...for about six years, which was quite intense, and it just reconnected me with nature. Now, I think we're creating this Future Forest thing, which is a Fellowship forest, which is… basically... there's this thing called Future Forests, and actors and musicians and people in the public eye are getting involved in this company called Future Forests because they can become carbon mutual...which means that however many planes they fly or whatever kind of car they drive, they plant enough trees...to create enough…to make them carbon mutual. I think that's a great thing to do and it sort of made me aware of that, so there's that sort of thing …
We've talked a little about going from a character that is noble like that and then going into Paris, which historically has kind of been a weasel of a character that's now had to be …
(Answering over the end of the question) Well, I didn't want to play just that sort of hero role. Will Turner was that sort of hero...noble character as well. Paris was cool because he's the anti-hero. It's a great role...I mean it's a great role...the misguided youth...that lust for life, to live for love and be darned with the rest. It's really very much a coming-of-age period, you know, story for Paris in that movie …
I keep hearing about the hurricane in Mexico. How was the shoot?
Well, it was all fine until the last two weeks...I mean the last week. I finished and I got out just in time before the set blew down from the hurricane. The hurricane kept threatening and it kept just missing and then it hit...then it hit big-time, and it took the set down, so …it was pretty...uh…there was not a lot we could do about it. It was one of those forces of nature.
Was Peterson similar to Jackson in kind of having this vision and this giant scope of a film like that?
In that sense, that it's a huge movie, yeah, but it's like actors everyone is doing it...we're all doing it... but Peterson's great. Wolfgang's got a great sense of humour and a lightness, and yet a very strong sense of what he wants and how to get it in very big, epic terms. This was a bit like going back to the old Van Heller days, but with all the advancements in film technology, it was cool...it was cool.
What was it like being on that kind of crazy ride with Mr. Depp doing "Pirates" and, we gather, just kind of making it up in a way as he went along?
It was awesome...completely awesome...and I felt very privileged to be working with Johnny because he's been like a hero of mine from afar, you know, growing up. He's...as a young actor, he's the guy you look to and go "Wow!" We all want to be as cool as Johnny, so it was amazing experience.
How surprised were you..or not...at how successful that film was? I mean, that was not on anybody's radar, frankly.
No
And it totally blew away the competition.
Yeah...I was totally shocked...I mean, I knew we were making a fun, family movie that I thought everyone would enjoy, but who knew?
Why do you think it clicked like that? The pure luck?
I think the combination of Johnny doing this great character, the special effects, combined with the visual effects...the pirates walking through the moonlight...the fact that it's a Disneyland ride that has been around forever that people have loved growing up...the fact that you've got the class of Johnny and Geoffrey, and then you've got the beauty of Keira, and I suppose I bring in a few of the girls... (laughter) and all in all it sort of...I guess...and it was fun! You know, I watched it and thought "Yeh, I can watch that again," because it's the attention to detail in the story was such that it was like "Wow! Yeah!" Your mind was still racing to catch up with what exactly was happening, and who's got the coin, and what the coin meant, and what the curse was, so you could go and watch it again, and again, for that matter, if you liked it, because it was fun, and it felt good when you left the movie.
I'm sorry, one more Middle Earth question...Legolas is very in touch with Fangorn...with Lothlorien...with...I don't think he saw the Shire, but from your aspect, where in Middle Earth would you want to be?
I always love watching the Shire, man. In the first movie, I thought that the Shire was such a great way to open, you know, and having watched all three now, I love that they go back to the Shire, and there was something really comforting about seeing it again...it felt like home. So, as Orlando looking at the movie, you go through all the madness of Mordor, and the balance between, and the Path of Caradhras and all of those crazy adventures, but...I never even went up to Hobbiton, I'm devastated to say.
You mentioned earlier that Legolas had kind of an androgynous quality, and I was just curious because Legolas has obviously a huge female following. What is it that girls dig about the whole androgyny thing? Because, I mean, from David Bowie on it's kind of popular.
I think...with Leggy...it's a thing like...he's not sexually threatening but he's kind of sexy. It's like...he's not like "I'm a man. This is the way it is honey. Come and get it." You know what I mean? But he's got this quiet-guy kind of cool presence. That's what I think androgynous means to me, I mean, David Bowie - he's just cool isn't he? Still waters run deep, that sort of thing...you kinda want to know what's going on with that guy...that's the way I thought about Bowie, and with Leggy, less is more, and I think Pete kinda got that, because he doesn't say so much, and because it's more in what he does. He left it up to the audience to make their own mind up about what they thought was going on in that guy's head, and what that meant.
Going back to Johnny Depp…
We stopped the interview here as he spoke another couple of minutes on Johnny Depp and then he had to go. We all thanked him for the interview... and we hope that you've enjoyed it as much as we did!
Want to listen to the complete audio interview? Go here: Orlando Bloom MP3 (2MB)
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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Pirates of The Caribbean - The Curse of The Black Pearl
(Orlando Bloom)
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