Hollywood studio New Line Cinema has
staked its future, and the livelihoods of thousands of
staff on the box office clout of Tolkien's schoolboy
classic. In their favour, the public's appetite for
the film appears staggeringly high. When the first
trailer was released on the Internet on 7 April 2000,
a staggering 1.6 million dwarf and hobbit-obsessed
fans downloaded it. By July 350 million people had
accessed it.

It is ironic then that the hopes and fortunes of so
many people are riding on the public's acceptance in
the central role of ring-bearing hobbit Frodo Baggins,
on a slight, quietly spoken, relatively unknown
20-year-old actor, who, in his home country, is not
even old enough to legally buy himself a beer.

Make no mistake, The Lord of the Rings has to be a
monster hit for all of this to have been deemed
worthwhile. Yet, for a man with such an enormous
weight of expectation on his shoulders, Elijah Wood is
bearing up pretty well. He seems oblivious to the fact
that over the next three years he will be come as
synonymous with Christmas as eggnog and poorly-wrapped
socks from Grandma.

Thankfully Elijah is famous for being 'grounded' -
Californian for 'not an arsehole'. Standing in line
for his chai at a Santa Monica teahouse, he's so
likeable that woman are mentally warming themselves on
him. An hour of cross-questioning later, he's still
upbeat and guileless, which makes it even funnier when
he starts swearing like Arthur Scargill. But that's a
year spent with an English cast for you.

In North, Elijah held his own opposite Bruce Willis,
unfazed by Willis' baffling bunny suit. In The Ice
Storm, Elijah survived recieving the facts of life
from Sigourney Weaver. In The Faculty, he battled
teachers from outer space. But nothing could prepare
him for starring as Frodo Baggins the hobbit, who it's
safe to say has his work cut out saving the world
every Christmas from now until 2003 from the most
Satanic jewellry since Ratners went under.

For now, Elijah seems totally at ease for a rising
star sitting in the path of a publicity dragon. Only
his fingernails, bitten down to little nail chips,
give him away. In the meantime, if the odyssey of a
young man girding his skanky tunic to banish evil from
a strange universe sounds familiar, that's because
George Lucas credits The Lord of the Rings as an
inspiration for Star Wars. Meet Elijah Wood, this
generation's Luke Skywalker. With pointy ears.

 

Q: So, what's The Lord of the Rings like, then?

A: It's a BRILLIANT adventure movie. There are amazing
creatures like the Balrog - a giant fiery creature
about 13-feet tall with hoofed feet, horns and a
massive mouth - and it's just evil.

Q: You've had 15 months speaking in a strange dialect,
you're dressed as freakish creatures, you're wearing
pointy ears, and you're being digitally shrunk...

A: Did we ever forget about reality? Yes. We referred
to each other as hobbits even when we weren't on set.
The locations are so like the book, that it was like
living in a parallel universe. Coupled with the fact
that we were in New Zealand with not a lot of
communication with the outside world, I started to
lose my American accent. I've been back over a year
and people still ask where I'm from.

Q: You worked with a mostly English cast. Did you pick
up any English swear words?

A: I fell in love with the word 'cunt'. I used to hate
that word, it sounded so dirty, but it became almost a
silly British phrase that, when used correctly, is
BRILLIANT, especially with the accent.

Q: Any more?

A: Absolutely. Bollocks. Fuckin' 'ell. Fuckin' too
right. Top! Top one mate! "Bloody 'ell" I still say a
lot. Knackered. Minger. It mings. And if you're really
drunk, you're monged? Fuckin' monged. It sounds
exactly what it feels like.

Q: Didn't you make a video of yourself to get the part
of Frodo?

A: I got a book on hobbits to see what they looked
like visually and went to Western Costume in the
valley, got knee pants, suspenders, the flowing shirt,
the vest. I went up to the Hollywood Hills with two
friends and we shot various angles, the way you would
a movie, then that night went to the Miramax offices
to cut them together and gave it to the casting
director the next day.

Q: Director Peter Jackson says when he saw your video
that was it: no more casting.

A: He asked if I was prepared to give a year of my
life away to do The Lord of the Rings and I said,
'absolutely'. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Q: So one minute you're living in LA, then you're up
to your knees in mud...

A: It was extremes. Extreme heat, extreme cold, wind
and snow. We got flooded out of our location. We were
at the tops of mountains and I saw some of the most
beautiful landscapes I've ever seen.

Q: Is it true the movie was blessed by Maoris?

A: Yes! The elders sang and made a speech dressed in
traditional gear, not unlike Native Americans. At
times it didn't feel blessed - the flood, the snow...
Bits of film were stolen. And waiting for the weather
to clear up - once we worked seven days to shoot about
two or three minutes of film.

Q: How did your day start?

A: We'd get on set around 5.30am and they put our feet
on... they slip your feet into the prosthetic foot,
glue your goot in and paint around the edges. Then
they'd dirty them up, so they weren't pretty.

Q: Did you get athelete's foot?

A: No, surprisingly. My feet were very well taken care
of. I had a foot bath every day and we were massaged,
cleaned and powdered. But the feet took an hour and a
half to put on and by then I'd been standing up, for
an hour and a half.

Q: How did you kill the time?

A: I read American Psycho. And listened to Radiohead.
Kid A is genius.

Q: You collect Star Wars figures. What is your Lord of
the Rings figure like?

A: It looks like me! They scanned my face and it's
awesome. I've been collecting toys for a long time.

Q: Be careful. Most actors that get figures of
themselves end up losing them...

A: I know! Mark Hamill collected all his toys, then
his kids played with them and they got lost.

Q: There are some beautiful women in the film. Liv
Tyler on a horse with a sword, now that is good
news...

A: And Cate Blanchett! I'm absolutely in love with
that woman. Cate looks amazing in this white gown she
wears.

Q: A 'revealing' white gown, perhaps?

A: No! But it didn't matter, she's gorgeous. To be in
her presence not only as a guy who is absolutely
infatuated with her physical beauty, but her
brilliance as an actress, is just stunning... in one
scene she shows me what would happen if I don't take
the ring to Mordor and destroy... I look down into
this bowl of water and I see massive destruction and
my friends being killed. She also makes Frodo realise
he's alone, and only he can take the ring to Mordor.

Q: What's the wildest thing you've ever done?

A: Not so much wild, but spontaneous. In New Zealand
there was this really cool girl Madeleine Sammy - if
this ends up in the magazine I hope her name goes in
because I lost her phone number - we all went and saw
this play she was in and I thought she was really
attractive and lovely and a brilliant actress. I was
blown away. One Saturday I decided to drive for four
hours to spend some time with her. She was essentially
a stranger.

Q: Did you get it on?

A: I can't say!

Q: You did. Were you wearing your hobbit feet?

A: No! That's kinky! Cheeky!

Q: Have you ever mooned anybody?

A: No, but... We were out in Wellington, Liv, Orlando,
Dom and I, we couldn't get in this club - we were
underage - and Dom says: 'I've got to pee," and I had
to piss too. So we climbed this... I don't want to say
what it was as people from Wellington would know.

Q: You peed on a national monument?

A: Not a monument.

Q: A major urban landmark?

A: No. Maybe... Peter was very disappointed. He said
he grew up with that fountain. He was very upset.

Q: Is it true that old ladies from The Wellington
Knitting Club knitted the 900 chain mail suits?

A: No. That is a false rumor. It was one man. The
chain mail was made from pieces of plastic and he just
did this all day for hours.

Q: What was the strangest thing about readjusting to
normal life?

A: I'm still not adjusted. I didn't know what my own
life was anymore. It was the freedom of not being on a
schedule. I still go to bed at 2.30 every morning and
get up at noon, because fuck it, I can do what I want
now. I've been getting lots of sleep.

Q: How did you find the swordfighting?

A: It's great! I've taken up fencing now.

Q: How does your character change throughout the
trilogy?

A: Frodo starts out quite innocent, but becomes very
insular, absolutely obsessed with the ring. Much like
a heroin addict - that's the easiest way to describe
it. He's constantly worried someone's going to take it
from him. By the end of the films he's a shadow of his
former self. Ravaged. His whole heart and soul.

Q: Did they let you keep the ears?

A: I grabbed a pair for myself. And no, I don't get
tempted to wear them, but they're very comfortable.
But towards the end of the day your ears start to
sweat. Then you take them off and your ears are
soaking wet, which is kind of a weird sensation.

Q: Reknowned luvvy Ian McKellen plays Gandalf. Is he
very thespian? Because we've read his website and he
tends to slip into Olde English.

Q: He does - but he's very intelligent and very well
read and very eloquent and he always has beautiful
ways of saying things. I've seen interviews and he
forms these beautiful lyrical quotes about the
experience. You can have an absolutely normal
conversation with him but he's also really funny and
VERY flirtatious.

Q: So did he try it on with you?

A:Oh, he's flirtatious with everyone. It's wonderful.
It's very alive...

Q: You look in good shape. Are you on some sort of
Hollywood diet?

A: Thank you. No, I'm not on a diet.

Q: Do you eat meat? Drink alcohol? Coffee?

A: None of it in excess, although I do drink a lot of
coffee. I don't wash my face a lot. I think it cleans
itself. It has its own oil.

Q: You don't strike us as very 'Hollywood'?

A: I didn't grow up in the Hollywood system, I grew up
on the fringe. I don't go to a lot of Hollywood
parties, my life is pretty simple... Music and going
to the movies really please me.

Q: So you're not going to end up in a crack house
downtown?

A: If you read about that I give you licence to
inflict some massive pain on me.

Q: You started making movies around the same time as
Macaulay Culkin. What do you think of him?

A: He was a very good actor. I worked with him on a
movie called The Good Son. We were about 12 years old.
His dad was scary. He kind of freaked me out.

Q: You grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It sounds like
the middle of nowhere. Did you spice up your days by
lobbing fireworks around like most teenagers?

A: It's funny you should say that. There were a lot of
firecracker incidents at school, people putting M80s
in teachers' mailboxes and shit... Then I moved to LA
to pursue acting. My first acting job was aged eight
in a Paula Abdul video. I later found out the director
was David Fincher, who did Seven and Fight Club. He
was very nice. I played a young executive in an
office. It was all kids in adult roles...

Q: Then you were in Back to the Future II...

A: I had a very small role in that. I was just
fascinated by the set and things, the futuristic cars.
Michael J Fox was really friendly, really cool. He had
a lot of energy, he was chain-smoking back then.

Q: Tell us about the Rob Reiner comedy you were in,
North...

A: It was brilliant fun. The good thing was that every
day I got to work with a new actor - I play this kid
who decides to choose his own parents, so he goes from
parent to parent, choosing. One day I'd be working
with Kathy Bates, another with Dan Ackroyd - Dan
Ackroyd's wicked. After he did Ghostbusters he got
really into the supernatural. For a while he had his
own supernatural programme on TV, and his brother had
a company that was going to houses, scanning for
ghosts and getting rid of them.

Q: And then you were in The Ice Storm...

With Kevin Kline and Joan Allen. I played Michael, a
kid massively spaced out in his head, fascinated with
the world around him, molecules. He doesn't really
exist on earth, his head is somewhere else... I just
remember one of  the craziest scenes for me was where
Christina Ricci and I are in a completely empty pool
and we're at the bottom and we basically stick our
tongues in each other's mouths. It's this beautiful
shot, but my Mom was there and it was weird - awkward.

Q: How did your mom take it?

A: Shocked. Absolutely shocked. There was another
scene where we were basically dry-humping.

Q: So you're going to be the Christmas actor for three
years in a row?

A: What's really strange is trying to reconcile that
I'm focusing on the first movie - there's this huge
hullabaloo about it, massive like a freight train of
power heading for this media uproar - and there's two
more!
 
Q: Which new actresses do you rate?

A: Zooey Deschanel, the girl who plays the sister in
Almost Famous, she gave one of the best performances.
Thora Birch, I loved her in Ghost World. And Scarlett
Johansson was great in that too. She's also great in
The Man Who Wasn't There. And Brittany Murphy. There's
a surge of really good people. Did you see Donnie
Darko? Jake Gyllenhaal is brilliant in that. There's a
surge of really talented actors at the moment so the
next couple of years should be great. Hollywood has to
try and make up for the last shitty year - there was
not one movie I wanted to see.

Q: Young girls want your pants. How does it feel?

A: I'm not really aware of it... But I was having a
conversation with someone about how I didn't like the
idea of becoming famous really quickly - I think I
referenced Leonardo DiCaprio...

Q: He became Frank Sinatra in about twenty minutes...

A: He did didn't he? But I never really liked the idea
of that. Then what happens: I'm walking along and I
catch eyes with this girl, she looks at me and I just
see this fire in her eyes, this fucking explosion, and
I know something serious is going to happen. And in
that instant she jumps on me and starts trying to kiss
me... spectators formed a circle round us. I'm like:
'No, this is weird, what are you doing?' She had no
control over herself. And it will never happen again.

Q: You've got about two minutes before it starts
happening again...

A: It won't. I've got a theory. Those people who try
to remain inconspicuous are the people who attract the
most attention... It's body language... If you're
hiding yourself people want to find out what you're
hiding. I feel like if you don't buy into it, it won't
ever be what you fear it's going to be. It's a theory
anyway. It could be way wrong, but that's what it
feels like