i was picked up at 8:30 am to go to the studio. 1 hour in the gym then i went to see our dialect coaches. after lunch i had a costume session where people were turning up to pass judgement. as usual in these situations, i try to deflect tensions by doing little dances and monkey impressions. i thought my trousers and sleeves were too short but apart from that i like being the ''snappiest dresser'' of the hobbits
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just had a near-life experience on a DC-10. we tried to get to queenstown in a storm it was all wine and laughter until the plane started to jolt up and down. whole glasses of wine hit the ceiling and when i turned round to see that the air hostess had passed out i realised we were in deep s***. we landed, had to unload the plane ourselves, then drove to our hotel. i did yoga for an hour to stop my head from whirring like a food processor...
november 1999
queenstown's flooded which means the river scenes may never be shot. viggo rang this morning and asked if i wanted to go fishing i said ''why don't you just throw your rod out the window.'' the water is about 3 feet high outside the reception area..drove to arrowtown with orlando bloom and elijah wood and played cops and robbers in the forest. also billy boyd (who plays fellow hobbit pippin) and i went round to six vineyards in a day..not a good idea.
february 19, 2000
billy and i had a big day at the studio filming the fireworks scene. we were covered in soot and we hung out with ian mckellen (gandalf) which was great, he has fascinating stories. the lovely liv is here now, i'm convincing her to go out for a quick bite, i'm sure she can't resist.
may 2000
we tried to get in a helicopter to fly to the set but it was so windy that the pilot had to meet us at the bottom of the hill. got back, did block-through for a scene but the weather closed in and we wrapped for the day. went home and tried to bake a cake but the oven broke so i ate raw cake-mix. watched t.v, felt sick and went round to billy's. victoria sullivan from production came round.we drank wine and laughed at my cake making skills.
september 21th 2000
vanity fair came out today. mixed reviews at work. i felt a bit strange that they chose a shot of me for a full page. i didn't want to come across as bragging. yesterday billy and i got picked up at 5 am and were driven to mount cook for a scene where we get buried in snow. we rode down the slopes on shovels.
october 4th 2000
hungover....very funny: at lunch we were all wearing black and sunglasses!! rang mum and liv when i got in. viggo left a long message on my machine. he leaves these kind of stream-of-conciousness messages on your machine, like ''yeah this is viggo, i'm eating chicken, i'm wearing blue trousers, the sun is shining.....'' i always save the messages. went to the beach for the day and wrote as much as i could about this incredible experience and where my life seems to be taking me etc. i fell asleep and when i woke up the apaers were blowing down the beach and into the water. i sat up and watched until i couldn't see one piece of paper left. i drove home and fely happy.
