Elijah Wood: I only recently read 'Rings'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Elijah Wood says he didn't read J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" series until he arrived in New Zealand where the movies were shot.

Wood plays Frodo Baggins, the hobbit whose journey is at the heart of "The Lord of the Rings." The three-movie production took 16 months to film.

"I read 'The Hobbit' when I was young and I owned 'Lord of the Rings' for years without reading them. They sat on my shelf. I attribute that to laziness," he told reporters recently. "But I didn't actually pick them up until I got to New Zealand."

The first film in the series, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," opens in theaters Wednesday. It also stars Sean Astin, Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen.

Wood's previous films include "The Ice Storm" and "Deep Impact."