TRIVIA BITS … LORD OF THE RINGS

TRIVIA BITS …

LORD OF THE RINGS

Elijah Wood:

Melissa Joan Hart wanted him to play the male lead in Drive Me Crazy (1999) because she thought it would take some of the pressure off her in her first leading role. However, she was told that he looked too young next to her, and the role went to Adrian Grenier.

He became a child model when his mother wanted him to burn off excessive energy.

Admits to owning thousands of CDs in many musical genres, because he loves music so much.

Two of his favorite books are "The Hobbit" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."
Wears clear contact lenses.

Considers Frodo Baggins to be his best role.

Is the first member of the official "Lord of the Rings" fanclub.

Studies singing professionally.

Smashing Pumpkins is his favorite band.

Owns one of two prop rings used in "Lord of the Rings." The other went to Andy Serkis, who played Gollum.

Plays piano.

Roger Ebert called him "The most talented actor in his age group in Hollywood history.".

Favorite food is fried artichoke hearts dipped in ranch dressing. During the filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), he found a small restaurant that served him artichokes at least three times a week.

Each of the nine Fellowship members got the same tattoo: the number nine written in Elvish. Elijah's is on his pelvic bone on the right side.

In the original book "The Lord of the Rings," Frodo is 50 years old when he leaves Bag End, which makes him the oldest of the four lead hobbits. Wood is actually the youngest of the four actors.

Sean Astin:

Left the room halfway during recording DVD commentary for The Goonies (1985) and never returned. The recording session started late, and Sean had an earlier commitment to introduce friend Joe Pantoliano who was M.C.'ing at a local theatre. Left the recording studio to change clothes, then returned to explain why he had to leave, give a "shout out to Joey Pants," and left an action figure of Sam Gamgee to take his place. However, the departure and explanation were edited out by the DVD producers.

His biological father is actually Michael Tell, whom Patty Duke was married to for less than a month in 1970. Sean was adopted at age 3 by John Astin, but considers both men to be his father.

Graduated from UCLA with honors & a B.A. in History & English.

Had to gain 35 to 40 pounds for his role of Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

While filming The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Astin (as Samwise Gamgee) ran into a lake to stop Frodo (Elijah Wood). When he did this, he stepped on a piece of glass and had to be rushed to the hospital. He received many stitches to repair the injury.

Attended Crossroads High School in Santa Monica, California, with actor/musician Jack Black. Was cast in a school play/film when Black backed out.

Calls four people "Dad": John Astin, Desi Arnaz Jr., Mike Tell and Mike Pearce (his step-father).

Is the second actor from a "Lord of the Rings" adaptation to have a relative in an Addams Family adaptation. His father, John Astin, played Gomez on "The Addams Family" (1964). John Huston, who voiced Gandalf in the animated version of The Return of the King (1980) (TV), is the father of Anjelica Huston, who played Morticia in the films.

He claimed he was allowed to keep the treasure map used in The Goonies (1985). However, the map was lost forever when his mother discovered it several years later, thought it was just a crinkled piece of paper, and threw it in the trash.

Because Sean's mother is bi-polar, Sean is very active in trying to educate and help the public with identifying and treating mental disorders.

Orlando Bloom:

During the filming for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), he fell off his horse and broke one of his ribs.

Originally auditioned to play the role of "Faramir" in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy but lost out on that role and was instead asked to play the role of Legolas.

Learned to surf during the filming of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in New Zealand.

October 2003 - voted to be on the top 10 list of worst autograph signers by "Autograph Collector" magazine.

He used to smoke, but quit in 2002, which started making him bite his nails instead.

Found his dog, Sidi, while filming Kingdom of Heaven (2005).

Wears a replica of the One Ring that says "To wherever it may lead." It was given to him by one of the makeup artists on LOTR.

Is "mildly dyslexic".

Has three A-Levels. One A in Art, one A in Photography and one C in Religious Studies.

Can speak French.

His first car was a dark green VW Golf that costed £160.

His first job was as a clay trapper at a pigeon shooting range when he was 13.

He has received an invitation to join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Stratford Upon Avon, which he plans to do in the near future when he has some time off from working on film. His goal is to perform Hamlet on the Swan stage (RSC main), one of Shakespeare's most challenging works.

He used to be a vegetarian, but he had to go back to eating meat when he was filming The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).

Underwent a great deal of training with knives, horseback riding, canoeing and archery before his role as Legolas.

Billy Boyd:

At the age of 12, Boyd and his sister were raised by their grandmother after the death of their parents.

Likes porridge for breakfast.

Wears a kilt on some formal occasions.

Won a role as an astronaut by doing the best impression of weightlessness while sitting in a chair.

Wrote and sang a song called 'The Steward of Gondor' in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He wanted it to sound Scottish, somber and very different than the kind of thing that Pippin and Merry were singing at Edoras earlier in the movie.

Is an avid surfer, and does so as often as possible.

He's a talented singer; a strong tenor / light baritone voice, F# to A above middle C over 2 octaves. He also plays the guitar, the bass, and the drums.

During college, he worked in a pizza hut, a bar and a comedy club to make ends meet.

When he was first cast in The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson asked him to tone down his Scottish accent, but found that the funny parts just weren't as funny without it, so Boyd was allowed to use his regular Scottish accent. Jackson and the writers then consulted The Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins's mother was a Took, and one of their ancestors had, according to the book, invented the game of golf. Since golf is of Scottish origin, they reasoned that Tolkien must have, therefore, intended for the Tooks to be Scottish.

Hates cinnamon

He and long time girlfriend Ali became parents on April 26th 2006. Their son's name is Jack William Boyd.

His favorite cartoon character is Daffy Duck

In The Lord of the Rings, according to the book, Pippin is 28 years old, which makes him the youngest of the four lead hobbits. However, Boyd is actually the oldest of the four hobbit actors.

Dominic Monaghan:

Kept a pair of the latex Hobbit feet used in LotR.

Monaghan's father gave him The Lord of the Rings book when Dominic was 15, telling him: 'I'll give you six months to read it' - Dominic only took two.

Bought a forest in India in early 2003, to help protect the environment.

Speaks fluent German.

Surfs.

Has a love for insects.

His mother, Maureen, is a nurse and his father, Austin, is a teacher. While in Germany Austin taught Science for the British armed forces.

Attended Aquinas College, a Catholic sixth form school in Stockport

Did karate as a child

Originally auditioned for the role of Frodo Baggins in the LOTR trilogy

In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), in the first scene with Gollum and Bilbo Baggins, Andy Serkis who plays Gollum wasn't on set for the shooting of that scene, so Dominic filled in for him. It was his only interaction on screen with Ian Holm (Bilbo).

Has a habit of writing on his hands, which he shares with Chris Martin of Coldplay, who happens to be one of his favorite bands.

Previous jobs before acting included sorting mail at a Post Office, working in British Home Stores and working as a saute chef at a place called Quincey's in Didsbury, Manchester.

Likes Radiohead, Coldplay, The Beatles and The Smiths.

While filming the Lord of the Rings-trilogy, he got rid of his fear of heights by joining Orlando Bloom when he went bungee jumping.

Owns a leaf-mantis named Gizmo, a Black Widow spider named Witchitar and an albino snake named Blink

Is marginally the tallest of the 4 principal actors to play a hobbit in "The Lord of the Rings" films.

Is a video game fanatic and often hosts gaming parties at his house

The producers of "Lost" were so impressed with Dom they rewrote the part of Charlie to be a 20-something guy (it was originally intended to be a middle aged rock star who had faded from glory).

Is a video game fanatic and often hosts gaming parties at his house

The producers of "Lost" were so impressed with Dom they rewrote the part of Charlie to be a 20-something guy (it was originally intended to be a middle aged rock star who had faded from glory).

Viggo Mortensen:

Had a book of poetry printed before he was known. The title: "Ten Last Night."

Speaks fluent English, Spanish, Danish, and French, but he also speaks Swedish and Norwegian reasonably well.

He actually painted the large murals in his artist's studio in the film A Perfect Murder (1998).

Lived in South America from age 2 to age 11.

Writes poetry in his spare time.

Is also a jazz musician - he has released three CDs so far.

Worked as a truck driver while living in Denmark

Broke a tooth while filming a fight sequence for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002); he asked the crew if they would glue it back on so he could finish the scene.

Replaced Stuart Townsend in the role of Aragorn/Strider in The Lord of the Rings, after filming began.

Got so into his character of Aragorn that director Peter Jackson once addressed him as Aragorn for over half an hour, and Mortensen didn't even realize it.

Admitted in an interview that when he first started out as an actor his agents encouraged him to change his name to "Vic Morten", obviously he refused.

After his parents divorced when he was eleven, he moved to new York with his mother and two younger brothers.

He received the scar on his upper lip after scratching his face on a barbed wire fence at a Halloween party.

Although their divorce only became final in 1998, he and his former wife, Exene Cervenka, separated in late 1990/early 1991 after less than 3 years of marriage but remain close friends often working together and co-parenting their son.

At first, turned down the part of Aragorn of Lord of the Rings. His son convinced him to do the part.

While filming "The Lord of The Rings" trilogy in New Zealand, he would go surfing with the other actors in their spare time. One day he suffered an accident which left a bruise on the right side of his face. As a result, director Peter Jackson had to shoot only the left side of his face in the entire Moria sequence.

Has dual citizenship, American and Danish, as his father is a Danish citizen and his mother American.

Broke two toes during the filming of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), in the scene where he kicks an Orc helmet.

Cate Blanchett:

When she was 18, Cate was on vacation in Egypt. A fellow guest at a cheap hotel in Cairo asked if she wanted to be an extra in a movie, and the next day she found herself in a crowd scene, cheering for an American boxer who was losing to an Egyptian. She dreaded the experience and walked off from the movie.

Her father, (Robert Blanchett) a Texan ad executive, died of a heart attack when she was ten years old.

After completing work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the role of Galadriel, she kept and bronzed her elf ear prosthetics.
Is of French descent.

Was unknowingly pregnant while portraying the pregnant journalist in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).

Four of her five Oscar nominations are for playing real people (Queen Elizabeth I, Katharine Hepburn and Bob Dylan).

By winning the Oscar for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn, she became the first person to give an Oscar-winning portrayal of a previous Oscar winner.

In an interview she gave to Fox Television Network, she admitted blushingly that she had accepted the role of Galadriel, the Elf Queen, in The Lord of the Rings trilogy because she always wanted to appear in a movie wearing pointed ears.

Was the original 'Tim-Tam' girl in the series of commercials promoting the product.

She participated in 7 films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, four of them in a row: Elizabeth (1998), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Aviator (2004), Babel (2006), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).
She is one of five actors (and the only female actor) to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same role in two separate films.

She, Linda Hunt and Felicity Huffman are the only performers to be nominated for an Oscar for playing a member of the opposite sex.

Got the role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) after Rachel Weisz backed out, because of scheduling problems.

Miranda Otto:

Was pregnant with daughter Darcey while filming War of the Worlds.

Miranda is a graduate of the prestigious Australian theatrical school NIDA, (the same facility which boasts such luimnaries as Cate Blanchett, Mel Gibson and Judy Davis)

Daughter of prolific Australian actor Barry Otto

Gave up studying a medical career to pursue acting.

Spent six months shooting her role as Eowyn for the Lord of the Rings and was required to learn sword fighting and horseback riding.

Took ballet lessons.

Was named after the character Miranda in William Shakespeare's "The Tempest".

Won the role of Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and its follow-up The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) after Alison Doody refused the role so she could have a baby. Uma Thurman and Kate Winslet were then in competition for the part.

In the fight scenes from the "Lord of the Rings" movies, her costume (armor) was very heavy, weighing 8 to 10 kilos (22 lbs.).

Gave birth to her first child, a girl, named Darcey in Australia. Her husband, who was unable to attend the birth, watched via web cam from America.

Liv Tyler:

Liv's mother named her after Liv Ullmann because she was on the cover of TV Guide the week Liv was born.
Recorded a song for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), but because Peter Jackson didn't feel the song was right for the intended scene, he put it into the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Is only eight years younger than Cate Blanchett, but plays her granddaughter in The Lord of the Rings.

Her father is of Cherokee Indian, Russian and Italian descent, and her mother is of French descent.

Used to be a vegetarian.

She has never taken acting lessons.

Didn't meet her father until 1988.

Her name Liv means 'life' in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish.

Learned swordfighting for her role as Arwen in the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). But the script was changed and she never got to use her skills.

Was nicknamed Liv Taylor by film critics and the media when she first began acting because her dark hair and striking blue eyes reminded them of Elizabeth Taylor.

The decision to cast her in the video for "Crazy" was based on seeing her Pantene commercial, with absolutely no knowledge her father was in the band.

During filming for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), she left her pair of prosthetic ears on the dashboard of her car. When she returned, they had melted.

Wears a size 10 shoe.

Quit smoking after starting at age 14.

Armageddon (1998/I) opened on her 21st birthday.

Is dyslexic.