eternally bound by friendship and love

1. Premiere [Magazine]: Dom, weren't you telling me that there was a real boys club during the making of the movie?
2. Monaghan: Yeah, how there were no women there.
3. Wood: Well, Cate Blanchett came over.
4. Boyd: And Orlando, who's quite feminine, was there.
5. Wood: Yeah, he was kind of the girl of the group, wasn't he?
6. Boyd: He was a bit of the bitch.
7. Monaghan: He would tidy up for us.
8. Boyd: We had parties, and we'd dress him up in apron.
9. Monaghan: And he would have to clean up afterwards. Otherwise, he wouldn't be invited to the party.

MOVIES at IGN: An Interview with Elijah Wood (December 17, 2002)

1. http: //movies.ign.com/articles/380/380503p1.html
2. Q: Were you aware when you saw the movie of what you contributed towards that film, and how hard that's been, delivering the type of performance that you were required, as opposed to the first one?
3. WOOD: Well, we were skipping around quite a lot, but I certainly realized the weight of that journey, and what happens to Frodo, and how profound it is. And what was required of me as an actor, in terms of how to manifest that, how to show that. Not only show the negative side of what the Ring's doing to him, but also make it a progression. That was a real effort on my part, and Peter and Fran as well, we'd sort of sit down and talk about the moments, and really make sure that there was an obvious progression in what the ring was doing to him. But that was a lot of fun, you know, I loved working on that stuff. The third movie is actually my favorite film.
4. Q: You and Peter obviously share the same passion.
5. WOOD: Yeah, the third movie is my favorite – we bonded over that. He was like, "Man, I can't wait until the third." I was like, "Me, neither." I love it.
6. Q: Why?
7. WOOD: As opposed to this movie, the third movie is the most complete. This movie was complicated, very difficult to iron out. Not in a scary, it's-in-trouble way – it's just a complicated story. How do you make a movie with these three cut-up stories, and make them blend in such a way that it keeps the momentum and has a through line, and has a message, and at the same time it has emotion with all this darkness; so it was just difficult. The third movie is a conclusion. It's a very mapped-out, ironed-out thing. It was always very clear what the third movie was going to be about and how it was going to be filmed and how it was going to end up. And the third movie is the most emotional – it's the saddest, it's the darkest, everything is at stake, everyone loses a little bit. The great thing about Tolkien, is even when there's great triumph, there's also great loss. And everybody loses, to a certain degree, in this story. I think I love that, and I loved working on it – I loved taking my character to that extreme. I'm very excited for people to see that movie, because I think it's going to freak people out. It's scary, and sad, so sad, tragic – especially when you've been with these characters for so long. Three years down the line, you finally see what happens to these characters at the end of all things.
8. .......
9. Q: You have a lot of screen time in this one with Sam – can you talk about Sean?
10. WOOD: Good old Sean Astin. Yeah, we became like brothers in this movie. That relationship you see onscreen is very much the relationship that we had. He would help me, I would help him – I don't think I've ever become so close with someone and had to spend so much time with someone over such a long period of time. It was amazing. Literally half the movie experience was spent with Sean. The relationship you see and our performances are informed by that.
11. ........
12. Q: And what are you doing for the holidays, and next year?
13. WOOD: The holidays, going to be home for Christmas, and then I'll be up in England for the New Year, on a farm, which will be great.
14. Q: In England?
15. WOOD: Yeah, in the north of England.
16. Q: Why in the north?
17. WOOD: A friend of mine has a farm in the north of England, so a bunch of friends are gathering from around the world, and gathering up there.
18. Q: Any of the Lord of the Rings cast?
19. WOOD: Yeah, yes. Billy [Boyd] and Dom [Monaghan] will be there.
20. Q: You three obviously have a very close relationship.
21. WOOD: Oh, massively close, yeah ... I love those guys, they're wonderful. They make this whole thing a lot easier, too. Because this can be kind of exhausting, the whole press junket, but they make it great.
22. Q: They're very funny.
23. WOOD: Aren't they hilarious? They're so funny, man.
24. Q: Is it strange for you coming off the first film, where you guys were always together, doing this movie where you and Sean and Andy are kind of...
25. WOOD: What's really interesting about that – that's actually a good question, because everybody knows that the films were filmed at one time, and completely out of order. But there was a time in which we finished the first movie. Somewhere along the line, about halfway through, the first movie was essentially done, and that breakup did happen. Dom and Billy went off, and then Sean and I went off, and we didn't see them as much anymore. So, reality in terms of the Lord of the Rings world stepped into our world, and suddenly we were experiencing very much the same atmosphere that the characters in the book were. There were a lot of parallels – odd strange parallels. Just things that were meant to happen, a lot of weird things that were meant to happen. Like Viggo [Mortensen], how that worked out was unbelievable. He got a call, he got a flight two days later, came to New Zealand, suddenly he was working a week later as Aragorn – like, "What?" And it was perfect. It wasn't like it took him ages to prepare, he was there. There he was, he was Aragorn, just as everybody had ever imagined him to be.