Behind Lord of the Rings

The Shire

“Vig used to call me 'Elf boy', and I'd call him 'filthy human'. As an Elf, I never got a scratch on me, never got dirty. And Vig would come out with blood and sweat all over him. And he'd say to me, 'Oh, go manicure your nails.'”

- Orlando on Viggo (from Arena Homme)

"Every day we get up, come into work, put our hobbit-feet on and off we go together, side by side, every step of the way."
- Elijah on himself and Sean A. (From the Official Movie Guide)

GOT A TISSUE?

“Well Sean has greater ability to put on a poker face than I, of course. Sometimes I felt that the situation was beating me, in truth I was a little amazed. But Sean or the Community as much as the rest of the filming crew were always there supporting me.”

-Viggo on Sean B. (from Spanish LOTR website)

“It was tough. You saw these kind of things among crew members. All of a sudden someone is in a corner crying and someone goes over, puts their arm around them and takes them for a walk. The interaction between the cast and crew was a complete team. It was in a sense a fellowship of thousands of people who traveled from place to place.”

-Viggo (from TORN)

-Sean B. (from Film Review issue #37)

“Viggo and I had stories that were parallel, so we spent a lot of time together, but it was also within the Fellowship there was a strong link between us all.”

-Sean B. (From Dreamwatch issue #88)

“We felt like a family, you know. I think partly being on an island in New Zealand and so far away from the rest of the world. We really felt like we made friends – it was a very special experience.”

-Orlando (from Film Review issue #37)

Levitating Gandalf

November 1999
“Queenstown's flooded, which means that the river scenes may never be shot. Viggo rang this morning and asked if I wanted to go fishing. I said, "Why don't you just throw your rod out the window?". The water is about three feet high outside the reception area. Drove to Arrowtown with Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood and played cops and robbers in the forest. Also, Billy Boyd and I went round to six vineyards in a day. Not a good idea. “
-Dom (from his diary, excerpt from Mademoiselle, Oct 2001)

October 4 2000
“Hungover...very funny: at lunch we were all wearing black and sunglasses. Rang Mum and Liv when I got in. Viggo left a long message on my machine. He leaves these kind of stream-of-consciousness messages on your machine like "Yeah, this is Viggo, I'm eating chicken, I'm wearing blue trousers, the sun is shining..." I always save the messages.“
-Dom (from his diary, excerpt from Mademoiselle, Oct 2001)

“We all went through this incredible experience together. I made some great friends - Billy Boyd, Ian McKellan and Orlando Bloom. I also became very good friends with Sean Bean - he's bonkers, you know!”

-Dom (From Teen magazine Jan. 2002)

Cannes

The Fellowship Premire in L.A.