|
 Not
only did the monumental film franchise The Lord of the Rings break
box office records and sweep the Academy Awards, the trilogy once considered
a “gamble” also quietly reinvigorated the career of former child
star, Elijah Wood. Don’t get us wrong, Wood was no Macaulay Culkin,
but we’re all familiar with how difficult the transition has been
for hordes of one-time stars-turned-tabloid staples and E! specials. 1-42
sat down with Wood to talk about his remarkable career, now, then and
into tomorrow.
1-42 :: How do you feel now that The Lord
of the Rings is over?
(Deep Breath) For me, I emotionally had my end in June when we finished
the last of the pickups. And it was then that I was able to try and reconcile
the fact that it’d come to an end, and say goodbye to New Zealand
and the crew and the cast in that context. It was the end of our experience
making these films, and that was very difficult, very emotional. For the
longest time it sort of seemed like it would never end, because we kept
going back to New Zealand. We were going to back every year and doing
pickups. So it kind of lolled us into this false sense of security that
we can just carry on working on the movies for the rest of our lives.
Now, there's a sort of sense of completion… and that's really good,
that's a good feeling.
And there's also a sense that the friendships made, which is the greatest
thing that I can take away from the experience, will carry on, even after
we don’t have anything to do on these movies again. We'll know each
other for the rest of our lives, and that’s something that I think
gives us a lot of hope. And we focus on that primarily as we sort of say
goodbye to the films.
1-42 :: In what way did it differ from the
other films you’ve worked on in terms of the bonds that were formed?
Oh my god. I never experienced this kind of closeness before, and I’ve
been lucky and fortunate to work on some films where I've had great relationships
with the people and it's felt like a family and times when you walk away
like 'Man that was so special.' The Faculty for me was a really
special experience and I was really close to everyone on that. But you
can’t compare any of those experiences to four years of knowing these
people but also being thrown together in a foreign country away from home
in a very intense situation with an intense schedule with so much love
and passion where we relied on each other and we became family, in the
truest sense of the word, more than I've ever felt in my life. It's pretty
special, it definitely is stronger and greater than any friendships I've
ever had, made on a film before.
1-42 :: Are you worried about your next project
not living up?
Not really. I think we all left this experience knowing that we would
never have anything like this again, which is not a bad thing, it’s
a good thing. We'll always have this. And it marks a very significant
place in our lives, and will always be close to our hearts. And I think
we're all quite interested to move on from it too, and to have new experiences,
and to grow in other ways. And I think that we will always be able to
look back and hold onto those memories and continue to learn from the
experiences we had on Lord of the Rings. But I don’t think
any of us are even interested in trying to top it. Not really.
1-42 :: What kind of scripts are getting
now? Lots of fantasies?
None, isn’t that surprising? I've gotten no fantasy scripts at all,
thank god. It’s all quite different. (Wood’s new film) Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (was) amazing. Such a great way to start
the year. I'm such a huge fan of Kaufman's work and he's one of the great
writers of our time in terms of creating stories that seem like they're
original ideas, they're unique and different. And to work with Michele
Gondry as well as a director was a dream come true. I've been a fan of
his for years. So it was just a blast, and a completely different experience.
And so creative in a very different way, a real exploration of new creativity
and film. It was always a bit of a journey everyday. So it was great to
actually have a new experience and for it to be so different and not at
all comparable, but equal in the sense that it was a brilliant learning
experience for me, a completely different avenue.
1-42 :: Are there any other literary roles
that you’d want to take in particular?
There were a few. There was this movie that I was going to do, based on
Thumbsucker, which is a really great book written a few years ago,
and Mike Mills wrote and directed the film and it took so long to get
financing that I was actually too old… for the first time in my fucking
life I was too old to play someone. I'm always too young, and now I'm
too old, I'm like ‘Fuck I'm on the other end of it now!’ So
it never worked out, unfortunately, but it was a book that I loved for
a while, and I'm sure that it will be a great film.
There are other books that I'd like to adapt, not necessarily characters
that I would like to play, but certainly books that I would like to get
made into films. There's a book called Girlfriend In a Coma that
Douglas Coupland wrote, I'm a big fan of. Its sort of an apocalyptic version
of It’s a Wonderful Life and it’s a really interesting
story that I would love to get made eventually. Though I did have a conversation
with Coupland and he wasn’t too interested in it. So I don’t
know, that remains to be seen.
1-42 :: Are you finally taking some time
off?
A bit. I don’t start filming another movie (The Yank) until April,
so there is some time off.
1-42 :: Good. You certainly deserve it.
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