Too Young And Too Busy

The first time we could see Elijah Wood was about seven years ago. He was eight years old and family Wood just moved to LA. After a couple of weeks Elijah got his first job. He showed up in Paula Abdul's video Forever Your Girl. But after that Elijah didn't sit still. Now you can see him in the movie Flipper. Elijah: 'In Flipper I play the role of Sandy Ricks. He's a city- kid and a bit of a problem child. Because he has trouble at home, he's going away to his uncle Porter (played by Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan). So Sandy's going to his uncle and finally meets Flipper. That's what makes him come out of his shell.' Do you look like Sandy? 'Oh no, absolutely not! That's why I didn't say yes to this role right away. I think that Sandy is a negative person. A real brat. But because he changes in the movie, I thought it would be a real challenge to play the role. His uncle and Flipper make him less selfish. But fortunately I don't look like him. He's the kind of guy that listens to grunge and hates the world. After filming Flipper Elijah was very enthusiastic about it: "It's the climax of my career", he says. "I love working with the dolphins. There were three of them, and I miss them very much. They really became friends of mine." Working with dolphins is quite a job. Elijah: "You have to let them trust you. I've fed them for a while, talked to them and finally I could swim with them. After a while I had their confidence. It's really amazing if you're that far, that they are happy when they recognize you. When I came into the water one dolphin raised his tail to show me he was happy. It's great if they love you.'

My mom's the culprit
Even if Elijah is only 15 years old, he already has many films on his name. He had a role in Internal Affairs, Back to the Future II, Avalon, Paradise, Radio Flyer , Forever Young, Adrventures of Huck Finn, The Good Son, North and The War. How did all this happen? Elijah: 'My mom is the culprit, haha. She was watching TV, saw some commercials and thought it would be something for me to make commercials. She started searching for modelling jobs for me. In the end we made a trip to LA, where I met my current manager. He asked me if I wanted to be an actor en I thought something like "yeah sure, why not?" So that's how it happened.' Since then Elijah has had many roles.

'Not everything at home is about my filming career, though. If I'm making a movie, it's not like we're only talking about that at home. My mom always says to me that if I want to stop with it, I can drop out anytime I want. But it doesn't bear thinking of that. I love acting. I'm glad I started acting at a young age and I hope I can do it for a long time.

Too young and too busy
Elijah says he likes almost everything about acting, except... kissing! Elijah: 'Horrible! In Flipper I like this girl, played by Jessica Wesson. There was a kissing scene in the movie, that didn't make it after all. I hated it. It really was embarrassing. I hope they don't have many scenes like that for me in reserve, because I'm much too shy for that.' In normal life, Elijah doesn't really care for a girlfriend yet. 'No, I don't have a girlfriend and I'm not looking for one. Let's say that I'm too young and too busy!'