| My Life As a Hobbit Date: December 2001 ~ Had you read Tolkien before this? I'd read The Hobbit. I'd owned Lord of the Rings for ages but i'd never actually gotten around to reading it ~ Shame on you! Most Tolkien fans can recite his works nearly word-by-word But I was a big fan of The Hobbit! So i was quite familiar with Tolkien's work in that way beforehand ~ Did you even learn Elvish, one of the languages spoken in the trilogy? A little bit, actually. We contacted an Elvish expert, and the film sent all the dialogue to him, and he translated it perfectly ~ Say something... Elen Sila Lumenn Omentielvo ~ Which means? A star shines on the hour of our meeting ~ What a great line! You invested a lot of your time in this role. How did it change you? Once you've got a starting-off point, the journey becomes a lot easier. I was 18 when i started. I lived on my own for the first time. There were a lot of first time experiences for me. ~ Do middle-earth's problems translate to our world today? it's still relevant because it's the battle of good vs. evil which i think will be very relevant forever. It's got classic themes of loyalty and friendship, of courage and honor and all of those fantastic human traits everyone can relate to ~ Are you going to appear on the fan circuit anywhere with those ears? Oh no. I definately won't dress as a hobbit for those conferences, but I'll definately show up. I appreciate the fans. It's exciting to be part of something that hhas such a massive fan base and people are so passionate about. Their anticipation for the films is exciting. Especially knowing what it is they're going to see. I'm as excited in some ways as they are. ~ So i guess the hairy feet are out, too. We had to get up at 5 in the morning normally to put the geet on because it took an hour and a half to apply! It became a burden over a perios of time, but the effect was pretty incredible. ~ What's the wildest thing you've heard of experienced with fans? There was a fan, a collector I guess, who offered (someone on the set) $50,000 for a pair of used hobbit feet. That's pretty wild. ~ Are you going to keep any momentos? Well i have the one ring. It's a pretty prized possession. |