Elijah Wood: The Hobbit Who's About To Become A Hollywood Habit.(Brief Article)(Interview) Author/s: Steve Zahn Issue: Dec, 2001

ELIJAH WOOD: Steve! What's up?

STEVE ZAHN: What's up, man?

EW: It's been way too long. When was the last time I talked to you? It's been over a year.

SZ: How long were you overseas in New Zealand shooting your new movie, The Lord of the Rings [: The Fellowship of the Ring)? Are you still an American?

EW: [laughs] I was over there for a year-and-a-half. I left in the summer of '99 and I got back in December of 2000.

SZ: Damn. Your voice has dropped two octaves. Are you like 6'S" now?

EW: [laughs] No, I wish. I only grew an inch. And you've got a kid now! How old is your son?

SZ: He's 18 months. He's awesome. So where are you right now?

EW: I'm at home in California. Actually, I just left New York yesterday. I was there for four days.

SZ: Did you go downtown and have a look at Ground Zero?

EW: I did. It definitely puts things into perspective. The mood in New York is incredible--the unity of the people, it's astounding.

SZ: It's so true.

EW: I think it's the most important thing to come out of what's happened. You know, it's crazy: I actually flew out of New York that same Tuesday morning. My plane took off at about 8:45, which was pretty much the time everything happened. Someone on board said they actually saw smoke coming out of one of the buildings.

SZ: Oh, my God. Well, it's good you're home safe and all that. So, have you been chilling out or have you been working since you wrapped Lord of the Rings?

EW: Chilling out, mostly. Though I went to New York for about two weeks in the springtime to do an Ed Burns movie called Ash Wednesday.

SZ: He's a pretty cool guy, isn't he?

EW: He's great. And I've got a lot of respect for his method of filmmaking. It's all about no frills and a little crew getting together and working at a fast pace. It's fantastic.

SZ: That's the way. I love that. Was it shot in 35 [mm] or on digital video?

EW: It was 35.

SZ: I did one of those digital things with Ethan Hawke directing. It's called Chelsea Walls, and it comes out this spring. We did a 15-day shoot. It was unreal.

EW: I bet. It's all about acting and the simplicity of the film and yet, within that process, nothing is compromised. It shows you can make a great movie for little to no money.

SZ: Which must have been weird for you coming from playing the lead in Lord of the Rings. You look at big, high-tech movies and, for the most part, they lose the human quality. The characters aren't developed. Obviously there are plenty of independent movies with characters that suck, too, but that's beside the point. So tell me: What's the story with Lord of the Rings?

EW: It's been built up as something of a blockbuster, but it's a human story more than it is a special effects movie. It's steeped in literature and Tolkien's books have been around for almost 50 years. There are characters, like mine, Frodo, whose struggles are told throughout the story. So if it can be a compelling, character-driven story, and entertaining on a visual level, then I think it'll be great.

SZ: The cool thing about Lord of the Rings is that it's this classic story. I mean, who didn't read those books? Everybody had a vision of those characters, and their incredible, fanciful land. But that must have made doing the movie hard, too.

EW: Yeah, that made it a real challenge. I think one of my initial fears was trying to live up to people's interpretation of my character. Every time you read a book it's your own journey, and millions of people have read these books, so I had that pressure on me. "Is my Frodo going to live up to people's expectations?"

SZ: I can't think of anybody more perfect to play him, though.

EW: Oh, thanks.

SZ: You must've gotten tight with so many people over there in New Zealand.

EW: That was one of the by-products of the experience. I made some of the best friends of my life. Think of it this way--you and me, our experience together on Chain of Fools, working on that for three months, we became incredible friends. Compare that with a year and a half on Lord of the Rings; I mean, the bonding was incredible.

SZ: I bet. And you had a really good bunch of people on that set.

EW: Oh, my God. Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Christopher Lee...It was a dream come true.

SZ: But tell me, you had some freak-outs putting on the makeup, didn't you? [Wood laughs) How long were you in the chair?

EW: I had prosthetic feet, and to get those on took about an hour-and-a-half. And then to put the wig and the ears on, it was about an hour. So all in all, the makeup took two, two-and-a-half hours.

SZ: And what were your call times?

EW: On average, about five in the morning.

SZ: Wow. You know how guitar players are so cautious with their guitars, and treat them like a part of their body?

EW: Yeah.

SZ: Were you like that with your feet? EW: [laughs] No way. I so badly wanted to get out of wearing the feet, because it would mean an extra hour of sleep. I would always go up to the first assistant director and say, "Are you sure you're going to need me in the feet tomorrow?" And he'd say, "Well, Pete [Jackson, the film's director] doesn't know, but I think so." And I'm like, You're not going to see them [in the shot]." And, of course, I'd be right.

SZ: [laughs] Tell me a little bit about Peter Jackson--is he a cool director?

EW: He's incredible. He's done some really cool films like Heavenly Creatures [1994] and The Frighteners [1996]. Have you seen any of his work?

SZ: I don't get out. I live on a farm. I watch Elmo with my kid.

EW: I've got to come up to the farm one of these days. You know, Steve, it's so good to talk to you. I can't tell you how much I've missed you. And I feel really bad for not getting back in contact. I'm terrible with that.

SZ: Don't. That's the great thing about our business: The relationships you build, they're always there. If you don't call someone for six months it's still cool, you just pick up where you left off. That kind of gypsy life is awesome.

EW: It's one of the most incredible things about doing what we do. I'm glad that we could do this. And I'm glad everything's going well with you.

SZ: Yeah, likewise.

EW: All right. You take care.