Since hobbits routinely live for more than a century, 11 years is practically nothing, right? That’s how long it’s been since actors Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Elijah Wood flew out to New Zealand in August 1999 to start shooting The Lord of the Rings. Now here they are, in an L.A. studio on a hot May morning, posing for EW’s Reunions issue and catching up on lost time. Monaghan, sporting crutches after breaking his foot while surfing, proceeds to show off his new Kat Von D tattoo (It reads, “Luminous beings are we, not just crude matter,” as spoken by Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back), while Astin’s three adorable daughters sprint around the studio. It doesn’t take long before the trio’s conversations turn back toward those two years in New Zealand.
Even though the actors were working brutally long hours for six days per week, they had a lot of downtime to explore the island or simply let loose. “People would drink heavily on Saturday nights,” recalls Astin. “I have some pretty powerful memories of going out with everybody. It’s the same people you just spent 14 hours with and yet here you are, by choice, having your Guinness with them.” Adds Monaghan: “We were always together because we really had no one else. We didn’t know anyone in New Zealand. So Saturday morning came around, and we’d go for brunch and then just hang out all day, whether that was surfing or buying records or seeing some girls around Wellington.” Music and films became a vital connection for the actors during production. “There’s a whole section in my iTunes library that is there because of Elijah,” says Astin, while Wood recalls renting VHS movies from a local video store and then forgetting to ever return them. “We were always watching TV in our movie trailers,” says Wood. “So one day we took the TV outside, put it on a stand, grabbed a couch, and we all sat there and watched the documentary Crumb in our bare feet.”
Once you’ve gotten the image of hobbits watching an R-rated documentary out of your head, check out the exclusive EW.com video interview below, in which Astin, Monaghan, and Wood remember partying at a gay club with Sir Ian McKellen, and reveal the real reason why fellow hobbit actor Billy Boyd couldn’t make it to the L.A. photoshoot. And pick up EW’s Reunions issue (on newsstands now) to see the other LOTR shoots from London and Sydney, Australia, as well as interviews with the casts of Back to the Future, The West Wing, Alias, Will & Grace, Scream, Pretty in Pink, and many more.
Swoon! Just……….. swoon.
Well, Elijah has done Eternal Sunshine, Green Street Hooligans, Everything is Illuminated, and Happy Feet since LOTR. I don’t think he is hurting… artistically or monetarily. Also, he has Happy Feet 2 coming up.
I do love all three though. But a bit sad that Billy Boyd couldn’t make it ’cause he was always my favorite hobbit.
I know what you mean. He was hoot as Pippin Took! “What about second breakfast?” LOL
Pippin was also my favorite, by far. His delivery was priceless.
Elijah had a long career too before LOTR and has always worked. In addition to tia’s list, he also voiced the lead character in the animated flick 9 recently. And Everything is Illuminated is an underrated gem.
Don’t forget ‘Sin City’.
Ooh, bitter AND wrong, that’s a pair you can draw to! Failed acting career, perhaps? Looking forward to a reply from the womb-like comfort of Mom’s basement.
It’s kinda funny…I remember when I first started watching Lost, whenever I looked at Charlie (Monaghan) all I could think of was Merry. But now, watching Lord of the Rings again and seeing this I’m like, “He’s Charlie, from Lost! Not Merry!”
LOL Same here! it took me a good portion of the first Season of Lost to make the switch, but I’m with ya.
Me too! Whenever I rewatch LoTR films (which I do often, since TNT or TBS run them all the time) I always think of him as Charlie.
Funny thing about that – I too thought I was the only one who first saw Dominic Monaghan as Merry, and now think of him as Charlie Pace from Lost instead.
I typically see clean-shaven Dom as Merry, and bearded Dom as Charlie, just because of the difference in their appearance. Like, in that video, he was Charlie, not Merry.
Same here! I was just thinking that … he’ll always be Charlie to me now.
Ha ha!! That’s awesome! Especially because I just watched Fellowship of the Ring yesterday and today at work and I’m watching The Two Towers tomorrow!
Love LOTR – and the guys are looking great. I look forward to Elijah’s new series, and good to see the cast members!
Just because *you* don’t hear about it doesn’t mean they’re not working. Sean Astin’s imdb page is loaded. Also, he narrated this little thing called Meerkat Manor that was kind of a big deal in its day.
The point is that when an actor comes off such a huge trilogy of movies and only few rabid fans know about his work, that`s disappointment. Plus, if he was doing so well, why do conventions which happen to be his main source of income?
Why hasn’t there been a buddy comedy with these guys yet? I always love seeing them together!
That is a fantastic idea!! Gotta have Billy Boyd in there, too.
Because it would bomb.
You are right. of course, Wood fans (not many of them out there but vocal enough so they give the false impression of large numbers) will swarm the thread to prove that his work of last several years (voicing cartoons) and that dog TV show he is attached to are the proof of amazing career boost that LOTR has given him. LOL.
I see nothing wrong in pointing out that LOTR didn`t give big career boost to any actor save Orlando Bloom who is finished as the leading boy now. Actors who were working steadily before LOTR – Blanchett, McKellen, Mortensen, Bean – are exactly where they were before LOTR. None of them became a major movie star (means boxoffice draw like Depp post-POTC) but their work gets acclaimed like before and they are in demand. Unlike Wood, Astin, Boyd, that awful shieking woman who played Karl Urban`s aunt on LOTR and who was lastly seen on an embarrassing SATC wannabe show Fashion Mafia or something, that guy who gave a terrible speech at the end of 300 have disappeared nd rightly so. I can see from this video why Monaghan has the most success of all 4 Hobbit actors – he has more personality. Wood and Astin are personality deficient. No offense but that`s true. Monaghan has something so he`ll stick around and Lost showed he had more talent than the other three.
Karl urban is emergin and thanks to Star Trek cause LOTR shortchanged him big time. He was barely in the movies but is the only Rohirrim actor that is getting work despite having next to zero screen time in TTT and ROTK.
So? It’s the same thing with Star Wars. The only person that franchise vaulted to superstar status was Harrison Ford. Does that make the movies less enjoyable? Does it make the actors’ performances in the movies worse because they didn’t “hit it big” afterward? The fact that they were in LOTR and it didn’t suck is enough of a testament to their acting abilities.
Yeah Astin and Wood don’t have a career outside of LOTR (rolls eyes). I’m not a Wood fanboy by any means, but it’s not like he hasn’t been acting since the movies were released. He wasn’t exactly Brad Pitt before the movies were released anyways, so what’s the big deal if he still makes relatively small movies that interest him?
@ tipsy: Have you spent time with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin? If not, how can you label them “personality deficient”? If you had read Sean Astin’s book about his experiences filming the movies, you’d see his personality shining through. Whenever I’ve seen either one of them give an interview, each one of them has been lively and funny.
Viggo was nominated for 2 Oscars, post LOTR
who is the “awful shrieking woman who played Karl Urban’s aunt”?
@ Deedee, Viggo was nominated for one Aoscar, not two. He wa snomionatyed for Eastern Promises.
@Kally, I don`t know her name. The ugly blonde one who wasn`t in FOTR.
I thought she was Urban`s aunt because of age difference. They played relatives.
@Gwen: I read Sean Astin’s book and agree with you. It was full of interesting stories about his life and his time on the LOTR set.
To think LotR didn’t give any of those actors a career boost is insane and borderline stupid. What they did WITH that boost is another story. No one walked out of that trilogy with a losing hand. The darling Miranda Otto (Karl Urban’s sister ‘Eowyn’ was tagged by Spielberg right after LotR. She’s happily recently motherfied and doing just fine. Actor’s are people, and they make choices about their careers. I doubt any of them are scrabbling on the outside and desperately peering in, as the OP suggests. Just ask John Noble.
Conspicuously missing from this “reunion” are Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom. And where, pray tell, was Liv Tyler?
Actually, they were all part of the reunion–just not the photoshoot.
“Chaaalie, whea’s moi baybee?!”
Maybe the dingo ate your baby!!!
Favorite trilogy of all time! Those guys were so much fun. I remember scanning the internet daily for bits of information about the filming. Ah, how I miss those days. Sure wish The Hobbit would get its act together so I can relive the good ‘ol days, again.
My Fav actors! Love them, so nice to see them all together again. Miss Rings very much, hope there is more soon with THE HOBBIT! Thanks EW!
um Hobbits don’t usually live for more than a century dude… Bilbo did because of the ring… it unnaturally prolonged his life. man do i sound like geek or what
naw that’s not so bad. it’s something that most LOTR fans would know.
elijah wood has been around FOREVER. i highly doubt he is hurting financially.
Well, I don’t know about forever…
Just most of his 29 years.
You’re right, though.
Dude always has a job.
He’s just the type to carve out little, less predictable niches for himself in the industry.
I don’t think he’s chasing down blockbusters. If anything, he’s runnning from them.