Lord of the Rings - General Cast Appreciation #1: "And the great thing is we actually became a family" - Elijah.

ride the lightning · 07-26-2012, 04:59 PM

supporters;
1. ride the lightning

I wasn’t very good at the canoes, really. I mean, I couldn’t ever sort of get the sense to put it over that way to do a left and all that lot, and I just kept getting lost and I had to be towed back in. And Orlando was quite good, he’d practiced a lot more than I had and was always so…(imitates paddling a boat, back straight, chin up, very aloof)…you know, very graceful. But so anytime I could give his boat, his canoe a little knock with my oar, I would, so he’d be sent ‘round the wrong way, and they’d say “Action” and he’d — “I can’t! It’s Bean, he’s put my boat in the wrong direction!
- Sean Bean

Dom: Orlando practiced for this sequence by climbing animals in his down time. We’d be off surfing. Orlando would climb ponies, horses, cows –
Billy: Yea.
Dom: – mules, donkeys.
Billy: But before he got to animals like that, he was on gerbils, hamsters, and, eh –
Dom: *laughs* Remember that time when the rat bit him?
Billy: Bit him right in his…
Dom: He couldn’t go out for days!

It is a long time (on the 16 months working in NZ),and the great thing is we actually became a family, and the fellowship that is represented in the film, became a real fellowship, I mean I’ve made some of my best friends of my life on this picture. I’m so blessed to be a part of this project.
- Elijah Wood

[The Lord of the Rings] reinforced my belief in the group ethic. The greatest reward for me [on this film] was getting to know these actors and going through this together—how we got through good times, and especially bad times, together as a group. In that sense I think that Peter cast the movie very well. He picked a group of people who worked well together and didn’t complain too much about the hardships, to the point where the last six months was [a schedule of] six days a week, 16 hours a day—just, ‘Go, go, go,’ no end in sight. And people really did pull together and work as a group. It’s the way that actors should always work, whether it’s in a play or in a movie, and I don’t see that often. That ideal was one that we adhered to. As a result of that effort, I have a group of friends that I’m as close to as anyone I know and who will always be my friends.
- Viggo Mortensen

Premiere: Dom, weren’t you telling me that there was a real ‘boys club’ during the filming of the movie?
Dom: Yeah, how there were no women there.
Elijah: Well, Cate Blanchett came over.
Billy: And Orlando, who’s quite feminine, was there.
Elijah: Yeah, he was kind of the girl of the group, wasn’t he?
Billy: He was a bit of the bitch.
Dom: He would tidy up for us.
Billy: We had parties, and we’d dress him up in a apron.
Dom: And he would have to clean up afterward. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be invited to the party.

Alan Lee is a gracious man who was always generous with his talent. He had created the drawing for the tattoo and, before we left, Elijah and I asked another favour from him. We wanted to present something to the crew„ so we asked Alan to sketch an image of Frodo and Sam turning and waving gooodbye. He kindly agreed, of course, and even added Gollum - peering out between our legs. We transferred the image to a card and made hundreds of copies that we signed and distributed as parting gifts.
- Sean Bean

We did try to go out and relieve tension, go to bars and that sort of thing. And crazy things would happen. We had a scale double, Kiran, and Viggo [Mortensen] would chase him down and attack him. And one night, when Sean Bean and Viggo were drinking, they decided to break into Orlando [Bloom]’s hotel room and kidnap him, dragging him screaming down the stairs. It was absolutely delightful.
- Elijah Wood

The Fellowship became a reality, We made some of the best friends of our lives. We went through ups and downs together as a single unit. I learned how to surf - we all learned how to surf. We took vacations together. It was so special and profound. This is not just a film, not for anyone involved. It was life for us.
- Elijah Wood

So me and Viggo get in behind the camera so that when they turn around and they’re looking, at least they’re looking at someone they know and they can kind of… you know, imagine they’re at a wedding. Their wedding. And their friends are there. And then, in one of the takes, they turn around and I’m like ‘Yay’… and Viggo GRABS me and kisses me hard on the mouth. I mean like I’ve never been kissed from man nor woman. And … by GOD. I saw stars. And I think I fell in love, for a split second, and then … I felt a bit sick.
- Billy Boyd

When we were first at sword-training we were like, ‘Oh ****… This is like old-school Hollywood.’ You hear about this when they’d take Kirk Douglas to practise speech and sword-training. To break the tension, Billy and I had a routine and we ended up kissing. Everyone loved it, so at the opening party, there was a stage set up and we were asked if we’d do our little routine and if there could be a little hobbit-on-hobbit kissing to set the mood.
- Sean Astin