Lotr Quotes

(after the last press junket for LOTR in New York:) "There`s a real sense of completion now, because we can look at the entirety of the trilogy and say we`ve done it, our work is finished. That`s a great feeling. And I think that, as it comes to a close, we look to the relationships forged in New Zealand and throughout the experience, and they will carry on. The fellowship will carry on. And that gives us great hope. Our lives will interweave forever." (December 18, 2003)

(on concluding filming of LOTR:) "Frodo will look more haggard, but not as bad as Gollum. There is a massive transformation, but the journey should have a physical effect on him, which makes sense as I look a lot older than when I started filming. I was 18 then, and it`s appropriate that he looks older, too. And if I`ve done my job right, then you should empathize with him. When it came to the end, I was very emotional. I was heaving, I couldn`t breathe, and the last bits of the movie really wrecked me. They gave each actor his own farewell, when we were back there earlier this year. You`d go on to a sound stage and Peter (director Peter Jackson) would make a speech about each actor and then bring in their sword and a clapperboard. It was completely overwhelming. When it came time for me to give a speech, I was so gone I just couldn`t do it. I now have the ears, the feet, the sword, the Ring, and one of the maps of Middle-Earth. The whole thing has had a massive impact on us. I think Bill (Billy Boyd) and Dom (Dominic Monaghan) and I are thinking about buying a house here (in New Zealand), because we don`t want to lose our connection with the country. It makes most sense to go in on a place because we could use it like a timeshare and then holiday at different times or together. But we`re so lazy and completely hopeless at doing things, so it remains to be seen if it`ll ever happen." (December 11, 2003)

There is no star in LOTR. The Fellowship is a union.

(after the last press junket for LOTR:) "I certainly grew up a lot on the movie. I arrived in New Zealand when I was 21 and now I`m 27. It`s a defining point in any young man`s life. I just did a massive overhaul of every facet of my personality and worked out who I was going to become." (December 18, 2003)

For Merry, losing Pippin is like losing his strength, the other side of his personality. - On Merry and Pippin`s strong friendship in LotR.

(12/5/03, on initially thinking it crazy to release the LOTR trilogy 12 months apart) I thought people wouldn`t remember what happened a year ago. But I hadn`t factored that they would be so successful at the box office, and that so many people would buy the DVD and videos in between the release of each film. I had thought the whole enterprise was doomed, because of the release pattern. I`m very happy to have been proved wrong.

(on filming LOTR:) "It was a tough shoot, you had to be there six days a week and it was absolutely exhausting. Peter Jackson has a really good bullshit monitor; if you`re just acting that you`re acting, he will know it, and he won`t allow it. But that`s great, because one of the main reasons that this film works is because, though it`s a fantasy movie, it`s so real. And although I`d do it all again tomorrow, by the end we were absolutely exhausted. I remember one time after doing a scene, an emotional scene, I was exhausted, having a headache and all, and coming in the next day, and Pete said, `Okay, get yourself back to where you were yesterday`, and I just thought that I could do anything but work myself up to that emotional peak again." (December 11, 2003)