| Elijah Wood Articles & Interviews YM.com Exclusive Intervew - January 5, 2003 |
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| The Mysterious Mr. Wood How does your character Frodo change in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? He realizes that it was his destiny to continue taking The Ring to Mordor on his own. And so at the end of the first movie, you really see the maturation of Frodo in the sense that he accepts his destiny and has the courage to go forward without the help of The Fellowship — which is a pretty serious thing. In the second film, he's taken The Ring, he has taken that responsibility. But at this point, The Ring starts to have more of an effect on him; it influences his spirit, his psyche, the relationship he has with Gollum. How did you prepare for playing this darker side of his character? It's really just an understanding of what The Ring is doing to him. It affects him in ways that he doesn't realize right away — he starts to lose trust and faith in the people around him. So it's not so much getting in touch with a darker side; it's just understanding that wariness of other people around him and that fearfulness. We had a year and a half to film the story, so we essentially got a chance to live out the characters' journeys in real time. The changes were gradual, so you could grow with the character and slowly become manipulated by whatever surrounds him. When you first started the film, you hadn't read the book — have you gone back now to compare how true it is to the book? It's embarrassing, but I'm still in the middle of [reading the books] — I think a lot of that has to do with how close I am to them. When I was making the movie, I didn't consult the books because I was constantly surrounded by all things Middle-earth anyway. And then, after it was done, I wanted to take a break from thinking about Lord of the Rings, so I didn't want to read it. Did the cast become really close while filming the trilogy? Oh yeah. They are some of my closest friends, and we had some incredible experiences. We all learned how to surf together — that was pretty huge. There were always good times. When the four Hobbits worked together, it was just sort of magic, because we were so close. You all have an Elvish Nine tattoo — were you nervous about getting that? No, I always thought it was great. I really like tattoos that have a specific meaning and hold some sort of significance. So it was an opportunity to get a tattoo and have it be this special thing. Especially since we were all going to get it, including Ian McKellan and Sean Bean. We all held each other's hands while we went through it. Which cast members do you keep in touch with now? Viggo, Sean Astin, Dom, Billy, Orlando. I haven't seen Liv in a while, but Liv, too. Those are the people I think I'm closest with. But it's hard to keep communication with certain people, because life sort of takes hold. The true test is actually how close everybody will be once the movies are all done. Have you met any crazy Lord of the Rings fans? Nothing too strange, but there's an intensity that they have that other people don't, because The Lord of the Rings is something that they love. It goes beyond the movie for the book fans. I've also met other people with tattoos that have, like, the Elvish or The Ring tattooed around their ankle or some other kind of Lord of the Rings tattoo. Was it strange to see yourself on The Osbournes? I remember when the episode came on people were like, "So you were on the Osbournes" — like it was some normal television show. But I went to their house 'cause I know Kelly and Jack, and we went to a show, and then we went back to the house to hang out. And it's just funny, people's perspective on it as a show. 'Cause it's not really a show — it's their lives.... Did you mind being on the show? Initially they had cameras there, and I wasn't really sure about being on television — I just wanted to hang out at their house and not have to deal with it. I then went to the house again and [decided] it didn't matter. So it ended up being cool. In the past, you said you'd only been in love once, and it was puppy love. Has that changed at this point? Yeah, I think so. The first love was [the] young puppy love of a 16-year-old as opposed to being a mature adult love, which I think I've felt as well. What qualities do you look for in a girl? For me, intelligence is everything. If a woman doesn't have any kind of intelligence or knowledge, [she's] not really worth any time or effort, because good looks can only get you so far. Also, a huge thing is passion — passion about life, passion about food, about music, about anything. What are your turnoffs? I don't like women who are overly concerned with their image and use that to get somewhere. I can't stand women who aren't intelligent; I don't like selfishness. What are your guilty pleasures? Movies that are really cheesy, or music that I shouldn't really like. Like the Britney Spears song, "Slave 4 U" — I liked that song for a while, and I used to watch the video if it ever came on. TV-wise, I'm a huge Changing Rooms fan, which is a British program. BBC America often has a whole marathon, and I've been known to sit and watch the whole thing. You don't seem to be out at premieres or parties too often — why is that? I don't really like the atmosphere. I try not to do press unless I have to, and parties are just kind of ... I don't know. I don't want to condemn parties, because they can be fun. It's just that when I go home, I want to keep my life separate. It's a scene that I'm not really involved in and that I'm not really interested in. For whatever reason, it's not my thing. Do you ever get star-struck when you meet people? Absolutely! I'm hugely into music, so meeting someone from music is just the coolest thing in the world. I went to the Vanity Fair party at the Oscars — there's a party that I went to! And Elvis Costello was standing there, so I had to go up to him. He couldn't have been nicer; he was so friendly. I met Beck that night as well, who is also a really lovely guy. There's so many people I admire, and meeting them is just as exciting for me as it is for anybody else. I get star-struck all the time. I try and keep my cool so as not to offend anyone. Has anyone come up and told you they admire your work?Lucy Liu came up to me, and that made my day. I saw her out of the corner of my eye. I was like, "Keep your cool, keep your cool." I shook her hand, and she told me she was a huge fan. I gave her a hug and she was delightful — I have a crush on her. She's a beautiful, talented woman. Hopefully she'll read that. I think we live in the same city ... why don't we hang out?— Patty Adams |
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