Billy: I'm actually having a cold just now, I'm having some trouble speaking, so I've got some cough medicine [motions to his drink]. But ehm, yeah, thanks very much for coming along... I've been trying to come here for quite a while but it never worked out, there's not been enough time. I wanted to come for a couple of weeks, and see all the snow... I've never really managed to make it, you know... so yeah, have a chat with the students. It's a bit cold in this country! But yeah, thanks very much for coming along, and I think we're going to have a good time.
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CLIP 2
Brown: [How did two such boring, un-] funny guys, ever get such funny parts?
Billy: It's one of the either great pieces of luck or, you know, Pete Jackson's a genius, but, me and Dom got to meet each other, because of, I've never met anyone in my life I'm so attuned with. Especially when it comes to having a laugh and having a bit of comedy stuff going on. We can almost read each other's mind's, you know? And of course the person I was most worried about meeting, when we were going up to New Zealand was the guy that was playing Merry, because I knew I'd be spending so much time with him. And Dom was the last person to arrive. So I knew everyone and I was like, 'When is this Dom Monahan coming over?' He was doing a job in France, and just from the moment we met, we just started making every else's life unhappy. And Peter Jackson was very much, very open to us having our own ideas, you know he'd say 'look guys, you know, there's stuff there but if you guys have your own ideas, you know, go ahead, we can try it how you are' and we thought it'd be really funny if one of us got hit with an apple, you know? I mean, yeah, it was really painful by the end. I was like, you know, when it came to that close up, you know... (something about Viggo standing by his trailer throwing the apples)... And all of them hit [me] there and right on the nose. (Audience member asks how many time's he got hit) I don't know, I woke up the next day. That was a Tuesday, I woke up on Thursday. But that shot as well wasn't supposed to have snow in it. That was just, that happened that morning. We went out to do the scene, and it just, torrential snowed... I think we had just enough to put the scene together, when they said 'they're going to close the roads, we have to get everyone out.' And I was like, if We get stuck there, we were in the middle of nowhere, and we were staying in a tiny town, which was like an hour drive from there. So of course they were saying 'Get the actors out first, get the actors out first,' and it's just like, 'yeah they only want us out so they can film something else the next day.' So we all jumped in this van, got out on the road, but at the time it was just the four hobbits, so when we piled in, got in the van, and we're heading up this road, we couldn't get up the hill because it wasn't 4-wheel drive. So we all got out and pushed the van, and there's no traction on Hobbit feet... Elijah wasn't keeping up... by the time we got to the hotel, Viggo...
Brown: So is there going to be a super DVD with all this stuff on it too ?
Billy: I don't think so, I mean there's so much on the DVD now anyway but...
Brown: You said that the first scene was one take, the fireworks.
Billy: Yes, yes that's the fireworks part. Pete just said, we hadn't filmed the part yet where we see the fireworks. Of course we'd read the script so we knew what the story was, and he says 'So we're going to do the fireworks, you guys take it into a tent, and Pippin you light it, not realizing you're in a tent, you know?' ... and he said 'We're going to add the special effects in later, but we're going to put it on a string, so the takeoff will start, come to there, and we'll cut to the special effects shot.' ... So we start doing the scene. He doesn't tell me it's filled with explosives. So I though I'd watch it go up the string... but it was this huge explosion, so the reaction you see me do is completely for real. I mean, I fell through the back of the tent! Which Dom loved of course. Gave me hell about it for the next two weeks. ...(So Pete Jackson said) 'Well, we got that one!'
Brown: (something about being known for diversity, but best known for doing comedy, and is there a big difference between doing film comedy and stage comedy?)
Billy: Oh yeah definitely. There's definite reasons why it's different. One of the main things that everyone know, you know, comedy is all about (long pause) timing. You know, and sometimes it's not used in film. It's up to the editor. So when you do something, you kind of leave it up to them, and that's kind of scary after you've done something for a long time. These people come together and go, 'oh ... hold that shot, that's why it's funny.' But luckily Pete... Another thing is you keep re-inventing the gag that you want, so that, which is something I like doing for Pete Jackson, give him as many options as you can, so some of them might not be funny at all, but you just kind of trust Pete to say 'Well I'm not going to put that on.' But by having that trust sometimes you do something you wouldn't have done on stage... and they'll put it on and it's like, 'oh that is quite funny, it's not the one I though it was,' you know?
Brown: ???
Billy: Yes, actually, the way that (something about the Council of Elrond, and him doing it one way, and Pete saying to do it another way) ...'mission. Quest. Thing.' And it's quite funny! So I thought that was better.. Yeah... And of course on stage, comedy is always better because people laugh and you hear the laugh. And it's great on film when you get people start trying not to laugh. It's great when you see out the corner of your eye the sound man kind of (imitates a man holding a boom mic and shaking) you know? Then you know you're doing something right. That's brilliant. But there's nothing better than being in a theatre with you know 800 people, you know, and you have to hold up the play for two minutes while they finish laughing. And that is the greatest feeling in the world.
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CLIP 3
Brown: (Something about the battle scene with the cave troll) ... So I guess I'm asking you to do things two things. The first part, to talk about how Peter Jackson directed this, you know, the closeups are remarkable... and then how the special effects happen and how they're actually shown. Talk a bit about the performance and direction of what was going on... What did you think when you saw the final copy?
Billy: I think that, before we started filming, we would just expect that it would take quite a long time. Pete knew that this was going to be a real special moment in the movie, you know, you get the main characters, you get to know what the story is about, and it all comes together to form the Fellowship. And there's the moment when you see the Fellowship walking as one. So when we came to film it, it was filmed in the studio in Wellington, and we all arrived on the first day of filming... So we all arrived, 8 in the morning or whatever, whatever state we were in, you know... We all arived, and Pete had set up a screen, so we could see a kind of, I don't know what you call it, but basically it had special effects of the cave troll, as close as it was going to be by then, and sort of see what Pete wanted to do. We all sat and watched it, and he was saying, you know, 'I would like Boromir to stab the troll at this point... and the hobbits could take Frodo,' or whatever, you know. And then we went away... and though about it, so that when we actually started filming it, we already had a good idea of what the sequence was going to be like. Like we knew the cave troll was going toto have [a club] and make a hole, and we knew Legolas was going to run up his chain, that kind of thing. So then it was up to us to get our characters, and what we thought was needed to see what their character was like, and those moments. And Pete is incredibly open for those kind of things, so when we filmed this, which I can't really remember how long it took but it was a good long time, we were always adding new things, you know, like right at this moment here we started throwing stones at the cave troll, because you know, hobbits throw stones, that's what they do... you know, it's things like that we were always happy doing. And then when we started filming it, once the cave troll.. of course, you know, the cave troll for us was either a tennis ball on a stick... or the guys from special effects made a cutout one from styrofoam, which was quite great, it had an angry face painted on, and they were walking around, you know. And he knew that for that type of effect, they could have that much that they could take out, but of course a lot of editing was only... map over, you know, so there's a lot of that... and the throwing stones thing that reminds me of a story. When we were doing the end... when Boromir's dying, and he's had some arrows... Merry and Pippin think again that [they're not going to make it] so they're throwing stones at the Orcs. And everyone who had, the stones were real stones, tiny stones like that, but covered in foam, so they were about that size, you know. But they had to have a stone in them for weight so they could fly. So all the cameramen, sound people, anyone who had to be around all had visors on for protection. But the cameraman had a visor that had an eye out of it so he that he could see the camera, but he found this really awkward, so he said 'I can't have this' and we said 'Well, wear a helmet.' And so he wore a helmet. So there's about that much of his face showing, but I still managed to get him right on the bridge of the nose. Busted his nose open. And he caught the thing, and I thought I'd hit the camera, because there was this sort of smashing noise, I thought I'd hit the camera. So I thought 'Oh this will be coming out of my wages.' And then 'Oh it's not a camera, it's just his nose.'
Brown: Those are two very Scottish thoughts.
Billy: Yeah, exactly... But sure enough, this other guy who worked in sound, it happened to be that he was on that night. So when we started throwing stones, he had to get out of the way. So he hides behind one of the walls. One of the stones that I threw, ricocheted off a wall, went into where he was hiding, and hit him - you know! ...That hurts more than the bridge of the nose! So throwing stones and me just doesn't go... BUt uhm, yeah, working with that sort of special effect, is always difficult. But as an actor, which I think some of you already do or want to do or whatever, it's part of your trade. You know what you're doing, there's a cherry orchard offstage, and you're standing on a stage and looking at the cherry orchard, you know, not looking at 800 people ahead. Some of them yawning, some of them asleep, and some of them eating crisps. But it's just part of the trade, you stand there and you see a cherry orchard. And when it came to looking at that cave troll, we imagined it. And we were looking at a potato. But Pete Jackson is great at making that as easy as possible, so he would show us what the cave troll would look like, something like that. Before we even started that, there was a test of the cave troll, some of them doing serious things, one where he's got a beach ball and he's bouncing the beach ball, and then he hits it hard and bursts the beach ball, and ends up stepping on it, stuff like that. But we knew how he was, how he acted, what his facial expressions we and stuff, which I wanted in the cave troll, you know. To have Frodo.. you know, he's watching Frodo's face when he's dying, you know, and he doesn't quite understand. With that size of body, the size of his brain is tiny, he'll just sort of do what the Orcs will tell him to do. I felt quite sorry for him. Aww.
Brown: .. I'll get Billy to introduce the next thing because none of you will have seen it, and it's the reason for his being here in Canada. So it's a piece called Sniper 450 [sic], and if you want to set it up. We'll show you about 10 minutes... and then that will give us a long to time to have you ask questions...
Billy: Yeah, I don't know what they'll show a clip of, because it was shot about 24 minutes long or something. And it's just exploring solititude, loneliness. And on top of that it's got kind of a military feel about it. So I got the director's point that what he wanted to do was to look at human military... Like I was watching this guy yesterday on tv, on the news, talking about the war and what's going to happen, and what would happen. Talking about how the allies would attack the south depending on what the Iraqi's do, and if they have a chemical attack here they'd either go around or they could get through it he said. And you know, they can go through it... But this guy, who was in the military, went totally through this war, said, 'Yeah we can go through it,' but he mentioned that, he said 'We were supposed to wear these chemical outfits all the time.' And after one day, none of the soldiers could wear them anymore, because they're so hot, you can't breathe. And it's kind of about that. It's about the military making things so that they work, but not thinking of the human that's going to be inside of it, that's going to be living the life that he's living. So this military man, this soldier, is in space for 11 months, with a gun right where he lives. So everywhere he goes - in bed, on the computer, on the toilet - there's a gun that's six inches from his head, you know? And we tried to, we wanted to look at, you know, that kind of military thing they're going through. And how a human being deals with solitude and loneliness, and not be affected by anything else. So this is what we've come up with.
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CLIP 4
Brown: (Something about working with Peter Jackson and Peter Weir, and Sniper 470 having a very small amount of lines, and what was the difference between doing full-length movies and the short)
Billy: The thing is I happened to be in Scotland, and I was looking at some scripts and this happened to be one of them. And I'd never read anything like it, it's just all about psychologically what the character was thinking, and not talking. And I thought if you're going to do it about solitude, that's the place to do it, in space you know? I just thought, it seems like an interesting thing, so I thought 'I'll go meet with the director.' And I met with the director Paul Holmes, who works a lot on tv and not so much on films, and he has so much energy... [he has this way of] getting you on board, you know? ... And he said that no science fiction had ever been filmed in Scotland, ever. And that sold me, you know? It was a real actor's job, you know, to not only show what this guy is thinking, even, and what's going through his head, without seeing what's there, which is a really easy... The only problem with that is he's in a weightless environment, and the budget we made it with was virtually nothing, so then how are they going to do the weightless thing? And the director wasn't that sure. So we made up a few things with the cameraman, and We tried out a few different things ... and what to do with your body to ensure that you've that that feeling with what's going on... So it just seemed like a great actor's job to do. So I did it. And it was a very close relationship with the director, and to the director of photography, the one with the camera, because you need to talk the three of you, you know, like 'Should I do this?' and it would be up to the cameraman to say, 'No it just looks like you're flailing your arms around.' And we'd be 'alright we'll try something else.' So we needed to help each other to show this idea that this man's in space, and he's been here in space for quite a long time. So yeah it was a really good working time as an actor, and by the end we filmed it in 6 days or 8 days or something. And when we finished I really felt like I'd done something, and I didn't have to see the movie, I didn't have to... I still felt like I'd done something that had meaning.
Brown: We're going to have some questions from the audience...
Audience member: Hi, I just wanted to know, I know that you and Dominic Monahan were working on a movie about a scuba diving school.. yada yada
Billy: Yeah, that's the script that me and Dom are working on, and that's one of the reasons we were going to come here, is that I knew Stephen and that we could have somewhere we could be if we wanted-
Brown: I said we could hide him some place, and Dominic, so that they could have months so they could write. Now you've proven that wrong!
Billy: So we did want to do it, but because of schedules and timing we never had time to do it. But even without that we kind of knew 90%, certainly... And I was doing film in Mexico last year, and Dom came down, and we drove down from LA together... working in the car, doing scenes... (Something about a producer looking at it)... Yeah, and as Dom says, it's funnier than a penguin playing a banjo.
Audience Member (ME!): Since you sing and play guitar would you ever consider a musical career at all?
Billy: Well actually, my first love was a music career. I thought I would be a rock star. Or open up a record store. Yeah I played in a band from about when I was fourteen to twenty-five. We always came real near to getting a record deal, and it never happened. But I still, though I haven't... Just lately when I've been home, I went home to Scotland at the new year, and a couple of us [saw each other], for the first time in years. And it was a lot of guys I used to play music with, and we started playing together again. And I'm having a lot of fun with it but, you know, not thinking about any of that. It's a neat thing to do, but I'm just having fun with it... Although I'm no better from the time I was fourteen! You'd think I would have improved.
Audience Member: (Talking about his diversity of roles and how important is that to him or something.)
Billy: Yeah, later on in this movie there's a scene where I get knocked unconscious and we had cockroaches on my face, and it was pretty horrible. They had a wrangler! They had a wrangler for horses on Lord of the Rings, or wranglers for... But they actually had a wrangler for cockroaches! So I asked 'Can I catch anything?' And they said 'No, they're bred in captivity' and stuff... So yeah this scene where I'm unconscious... the director kept going 'We need more, it's not enough.' So I had about 5 takes. And one take, it was really loud, you know, cockraoches are loud angry... [and the wrangler said] 'Did you feel that crawl in your ear? I couldn't grab it because I thought it would rip in half.' ... So yeah that wasn't fun. But on the point I was trying to make, I think [a diversity of roles is] important for an actor. Otherwise you become scared, you become lazy... I think when you're walking on the edge of what is possible for you, I think that needs a bit of work...
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CLIP 5
Audience Member: (What was his favourite LOTR film to do)
Billy: We filmed it as one movie... Although of course we did know kind of where one stopped, but we didn't know exactly where, there wasn't a line... The scripts were always changing, it was done like that.
Audience Member: ???
Brown: Did you hear that question? (Resounding no) ... All three movies were filmed as one, and because it's out of sequence, you may be filming a Pippin from the third volume, right after one from the first. There's huge turns and developments, so how do you make that shift?
Billy: Well, I think one thing that really helped is we were in New Zealand for months before we started filming, and most of that time, part of every day, we spent... exercises, build the character, build the script, so that [we'd understand] what our character's job was in the story. So by the time we started filming, we all knew the characters very very well... And you look at moments that change their characters. Like when Pippin feels like he caused the death of Gandalf... All moments that we already knew were heavy moments, and it was almost as if you drew a graph of the character, and you just had, to Peter Jackson, say 'I'm going to play it like this' and once you played it, you had to fill in the graph from then on, you know? But Pete was very good that he started the movie from... and we filmed it basically in order, from... and Rivendell. So by the time you had any sort of jump, you'd already been working for months and you knew the characters... that character mature or change... You had to kind of make [a decision] and hope you made the right one.
Audience Member: (Asking what character he played in Trainspotting, what the difference is from the stage adaption and the movie adaption, and what other characters he would of liked to play)
Billy: ... Which was different from the film, and the film was different from the book, I don't know if anyone [here has read it or] whatever. But some times, they would have a character part in the book that didn't make the film. Like the day the guy shit the bed, basically. So on the stage I played Sickboy, and I played Tommy although there's no Spud in the play, so Tom is basically the Spud character except he dies in the end like Tom does... And what character would I like to play? I think Renton is probably the most interesting character... Oh what do I think about the play? I think the play is much better... as you go through the book, I think the play is much better. As a film I thought it was fantastic, it's just a great great film, but it's not as true adaptation to the book... When you watch it on stage, it's right there, it's a human being right there, who's telling you all about dying... You feel like you're hurting them, almost, by watching it and not doing something about it. You can touch them... And if it's really done it's job you'll feel like you have to change something, and that's really what it's about.
Audience Member: (Something about PJ)
Billy: Yeah, he just asked about what Peter Jackson might be like because if you look at his other work, he does shock horror films... and he's asking what he's like... the head of New Line Cinema... when they finished the first film, the Fellowship, he went to New Zealand to watch it, and Pete Jackson... [When the head of New Line Cinema saw Pete's other movies, he was worried, saying] ' What have I done? I've just given this man 300 million dollars!' So when it all worked out he said 'Thank God for that!' So the moments when, like in the Two Towers, when Merry and Pippin are tied up, and one of the orcs comes through and wants to eat them, and the Uruk-hai chops his head off... that happened that day... it wasn't in the script and Pete said 'It'd be great if he cut his head off.' All the special effects people started making it so the blood would come out. So that was a Pete Jackson film very much there.
Audience Member: (Something about when he knew that acting was what he wanted to do, and what advice he has for aspiring actors)
Billy: When I was in Primary school, which I think you call it here... We did Oliver and I played the Artful Dodger. And I thought, I really love it. I love the reactions, I love being someone else... and my teachers said to my parents, if I wanted to do it, I could do alright at it... But then what do you do? I would say make sure you really love it...
Audience Member: (Asks him to move in a better position so they can get a picture)
Billy: We should have switched some time! Sorry about that! (Makes a funny face for the camera)
Audience Member: (Asking about the tattoo)
Billy: ... No I can't show it.
Audience Member: Elijah did!
Billy: Elijah, sometimes he forgets... What happened was, at the end of filming, we, it was such an amazing experience. And I know people say that about films all the time, but it was absolutely incredible... We wanted something to remember it, and, the 9 people in the Fellowship decided to go and get tattoos, because, we were, yeah we were mad. We were in New Zealand which is the home of tattoos... And we met this great tattoo artist who is a legend over in New Zealand. And we just felt, we wanted something that we could remember... with our bodies... And we all got tattoos. And, not thinking straight, which is one of the reasons I got Pippin I think because I lose in my head, I got mine on my ankle, forgetting about two weeks of putting on Hobbit feet. It's quite painful... Yeah we all got tatoos. It's a number 9 for the 9 people in the fellowship, we got the number 9 in Elvish. Who's my favourite character? (Gives the girl a weird look) Pippin!
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CLIP 6
Audience Member: ???
Brown: Did you hear that? She's asking about future projects, referring to Master and Commander, a film Billy made in the summer with Peter Weir and Russell Crowe.
Billy: Again, the reason I picked another job, the one movie took 6 months to do, which is incredibly long for a movie. So after that finished, which is the one with Russell Crowe, I went straight onto doing promotional stuff for the Two Towers and things like that. So I didn't get home until Christmas Eve. And then my agent... she invited me to go to a farm for the New Year with Dom and Elijah Wood. So we all went for two weeks on a farm... And after that I said 'I'm going to take some time off at home,' because I hadn't been home in about four years. And I went home and I lived with my family... and I always thought about working again, in the last few weeks... started meeting people about projects. Up to now, nothing's solid. I'm thinking about doing a stage production in July. In Toronto of course. But yeah, I thought it would be kind of nice to go home...
Audience Member: I was wondering, with the huge success of Lord Of The Rings, how do you react to seeing people lining up to see the movies, learning Elvish? Like, I've seen crazy websites with girls that want to, like, marry you! (Psssh... SO?!)
Brown: And they're here in the Great Hall, ladies and gentlemen.
Audience Member: I was just wondering your reaction to that.
Billy: It's kind of weird, you know, but it's really important that the feedback from the film is so good. That's great. It does sometimes feel a bit strange when you come up somewhere, and you think, 'No one will know you're here,' or whatever, and they do. I don't know, there's nothing wrong about that... I haven't had a hateful experience, no.
Audience Member: Me and my friends love you.
Billy: I love you and all your friends.
Audience Member: (Talking about the two personalities of Pippin, the serious and the not so serious, and which does he prefer.)
Billy: I don't think you can really divide them, you know? ... I like playing Pippin, the funny things in the movie... I can't divide them, I can't, you know, a person is a person, and it's only the circumstances and how you feel that make the movie... When it comes to do a comedy scene, I just thought, you know, Pippin's not thinking about what's happening here, so, you know, he just wants to eat something...
Audience Member: (Asking if he could have any role, what would he like to do?)
Billy: Yeah, I really want to play Hamlet at some point. I would hate to end my career without playing Hamlet, you know?... (A guy in the front stands up and looks like he's leaving) Wha- HEY!!
Audience Member: (Something about the other actors and reading the books)
Billy: I hadn't read them. Although I read it before I got the part. But they're such a part of society that I knew what they were, I'd read the Hobbit when I was younger, loved it, you know. But they're such a part of society that as soon as they said they were going to make them I thought... They were going to make three movies, which is the only way... but as I've seen the movies, I'm totally blown away... Like people who were married, like Sean Astin, while we were doing it, they moved the whole family up, because we were there for a year and a half, the kids went to school there. There's always a way to make it work...
Audience Member: Okay, I have a completely pointless question and a serious question.
Billy: Okay.
Audience Member: The first question is what's the weirdest question anyone's ever asked you, and I bet I can beat it... blah blah
Billy: There's a lot of good ones. Ehm, what's my favourite noise. Is Lord Of The Rings about wrestlers. Are you going to be Pippin in the third movie as well.
Audience Member: The pointless one is, would you marry a goldfish?
Billy: As long as it wore a false moustache.
Audience Member: (Something about what's the best thing about acting)
Billy: I would have to say two things.. Travel... getting to go to places you might not usually... Come to Canada... And learning about things, always learning... that I might never have studied, might never of learned about...
Brown: We'll take two more questions...
Audience Member: (Asking advice for people who want to get into theatre)
Billy: The best way to get into theatre when you have no experience, uhm, if you really want to do it... And yeah, getting into theatre, I would think, for me school was very helpful, because I didn't have a theatre background... I worked in a factory for 15 years before starting acting... go to the theatre... work backstage stage or do props for a play... and have fun. Which is amazing in show business, for the shows you do... any way you get involved in a play...
Audience Member: (Thanks him for coming, asks about the blocking)
Billy: For the few times we did it, like the pint scene, there were two bars, and all the actors were all at the regular sized bar, and all of the hobbits were at the huge sized bar... So the scene when the bar man- it's been so long since we've filmed these movies, I can't remember his name!... When he looked down, we weren't actually there... and we reacted, though he wasn't there at all... When Dom gets back up to our table and walks past a person, that was actually a little girl of a dancer, and they made her a man. So she's on stilts, and the arms that go past, that was a puppet they used, that we didn't use that much of, because a few months filming we found a guy that was 7 foot 7. So he played everything! And I'm standing next to Orlando, and it's a guy in a costume. He was Aragorn, Boromir - he was Arwen a few times!... The scene where me and Dom have the fireworks... And there's a thing in the film we used called force perspective, where, if the camera's here, and an actor's here, if another actor's there, he looks much taller because he's nearer to the camera which is two dimensions... So if he looks down, and he looks up, it looks like they're looking at each other, you know. But to the camera, you're right next to each other... So that's always been done on a perspective camera, but never on a moving camera. Because as soon as you start moving around, the perspective all goes off, because then you start to see that they're not looking at each other, you know, it just doesn't work. So Pete invented how to do it with a moving camera... that table we're at with the dishes and stuff on it, is all about 4 different levels, with like 4 different sizes of cups and saucers. And at a certain point you have to pick up one size of saucer, and when it comes around pick up the bigger size and put it down behind the part of the table that you then pick up a smaller one, so that-- I mean, it's so mind [blowing]. And so when the camera's movie, and you have different eye-lines at different times... It was incredible technology.
