“…
You’re
playing a character that’s not in the book, so I’m curious– If you could just
talk a bit about your perception of her and her character.
LILLY:
It would be my pleasure. Because of course, that is the greatest source of my
anxiety on this film, is that I’m going to be lynched. I was a die-hard fan of
these books before the films ever came out. And when I say die-hard, I wasn’t
the person who could speak Elvish, but I really loved them. And I wasn’t
actually going to see the original films, because I didn’t think it was
possible that a film could represent the books appropriately. So I was
protesting, and I wasn’t going to see them. And then my family all took a jaunt
together, the entire family, to see the movies, and were like, “What, you’re
just going to stay home?” So I saw the movies and was thoroughly impressed that
Peter Jackson managed to make my vision of the book come to life, as well as my
sister’s and my father’s, and my aunt’s and my uncle’s, everyone’s. It seemed
to somehow pan across everyone’s vision, even though we all knew we had to have
had different visions of the books.
So
when I got called and was told, “We’d like you to do The Hobbit”, which was my
favorite of all of them when I was a kid– “And we want you to play a character
that’s not in the books”, I gulped and hesitated, but then I went, “These guys
know this world, and they represent this world so well, that I actually think
they’ve earned the right to have a little play.” And I think that for this
character in particular, she becomes sort of the embodiment and representation
of the Wood Elves, which Tolkien talks about at length in all of his books. And
in this book in particular, he just doesn’t introduce you to any of them. Well,
you can’t have a movie with a group of people that are significant players in
the story, that push forward the plot, without introducing at least one or two
of them. You have to meet them. So I think that they just recognized that. And
they could have made it a male Elf, but we have Legolas, and nobody needs to
have to compete with that.
So I
think doing a female Elf in the Woodland realm was a bit safer, because we
haven’t met one of those yet. And also, I think this book is really, really
alpha, it’s very male-driven. It’s all male characters, and they ended up– In
the book, there’s not one female character. And if you watch a film from
beginning to end, with no women in it, it’s really difficult. I don’t know if
any of you feel this way, but it’s like eventually, you see a woman come on
screen and you go, “Oh, thank God!” You just sort of need a break from all this
testosterone, which happened, I think, in one of my films, The Hurt Locker. I was
in it for like five minutes, and people were like, “You were in that movie!”
And I was like, “Well, kind of.” And they were like, “No, you were!” ‘Cause
they needed a woman!
Is
your character much different from the other Elves in the story?
LILLY:
My character is different from all of the Elves you’ve met before, in that
she’s really young. And I keep telling journalists this because I’ve really
focused on that in my performance. I’m trying to distinguish her from all of
these incredibly sage and wise Elves that have lived for thousands of years.
She’s only six hundred years old, she’s just a baby. So she’s a bit more
impulsive, and she’s a bit more immature. I think she’s more easily
romanticized by a lot of things.
Can
you tell us a little bit about your character’s look, and sort of the costumes
and stuff?
LILLY:
Yeah, I love my character’s look. One of the great pleasures of working in
Middle Earth is you get to be another being. Most of us are not playing human
beings. So I have these– I got sat down when I first arrived, to try on my
ears, to decide what my years would be. And I was presented with three
beautiful sets of ears, and they said, “Well, we’ve got the small, the medium,
and the large. Which one would you like to wear?” And right away, they went,
“Probably not the large.” And they sort of shuffled them aside, and went, “But
we think the small and the medium would look great on you.” So we tried them
on, and I was like, “Yeah, they’re kind of okay. Can I just try the large?” So
we tried the large, and I was like, “That’s it!” I love them, they’re huge! I
have these huge, pointed ears. They’re like three times the size of Orlando
Bloom’s ears. And I think he has ear envy, I love my ears. And how I can get
away with that is I have this wig that’s down to my knees. It’s a massive head
of hair, and it’s almost shocking red. It’s sort of auburn red, but it’s a red
wig.
And
so, my hair is kind of big and it’s very noticeable. And I have what we joke
around with on set, we call it my ‘IHS’, which is my Iconic Hair Shape, and
it’s this big, beautiful, lustrous curl that runs down my back. So I could get
away with having really big ears, because there was nothing that was going to
distract you from the hair. And then otherwise, because I’m a warrior, because
I’m not a princess, as with most– Well, both of the female Elves we’ve met in
Middle Earth up to now, I don’t wear all of the glorious gowns that they wear.
I don’t have all the layers and the chiffon and the silks– I’m in very
practical, military clothing. I’m the head of the Elven Guard, so I spend most
of my time in the movie slaughtering Orcs and Goblins, which is great fun.
Although, hair down to your knees can get a bit troublesome when you’re flying
around killing Orcs and Goblins. So yeah, I wear the military garb of the
Woodland Elves.
…
LILLY:
I do archery, but for the most part, I have two daggers, and I wield my
daggers, and they’re effective.
How
much training did you have to do for that?
LILLY:
I had to do quite a bit of training, and generally, I find stunts a lot of fun,
and I don’t struggle too much with them, ’cause I’m a really physical person.
But once you put an actual skill into it– Like now I have to be able to spin
knives and shit, while I’m in the middle of a fight, and I find that incredibly
difficult. Because it is not instinctive, and I always have just led by
instinct in anything physical, and sort of just got by on the skill. Like when
I was a soccer player, I was really gritty, and I could take girls twice my
size down, and that was great, but dribble the ball? Eh. So it’s a struggle
being an Elf who has really got all this flourish and is extremely elegant.
So
you had to learn Elvish for this role?
LILLY:
Yes.
So
is there an Elvish equivalent to, “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the
plains”?
LILLY:
No, there’s no– There is for me, because anything that I’ve said so far becomes
that for me. ‘Cause I’ve just memorized my lines. I haven’t sat down and
memorized the language of Elvish, and anyone who does that is crazy!
…
Do
you have any scenes with Hugo Weaving’s Elrond?
LILLY:
No, none actually. Nor do I have scenes with Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel. They
are in a completely different storyline than me. And you’ll find that a lot in
the film, as with Rings, there’s a lot of compartmentalization. Like I work
primarily with a group of four Dwarves and three humans. And for the most part–
I have never, and never will do a scene with Bilbo. I’ve not worked with Martin
Freeman. I’ve hung out with him, but I’ve not worked with him. And the movie is
about him.
…
So
no scenes with Gandalf at all?
LILLY:
None. Again, I’ve had him over for dinner, but I’ve never done a scene with
him!
…
There’s
a lot of singing in the book. Does that carry on to the movie, and do you get
to partake?
LILLY:
No, I don’t get to partake. (whispering) Thank God! (normal) You don’t want to
hear me sing. But I do know that the Dwarves have done some singing. And they
actually all did their own singing, and it’s amazing. So when you see– There’s
a scene in Bag End where the Dwarves sing this haunting song, it’s all the
actors. Nobody’s been dubbed over, and it’s beautiful. It gives you shivers.
So
many of these people worked with Peter, much of the crew and some of the
actors. Did it take you long to feel part of the family, being one of the new
cast members coming in?
LILLY:
No, definitely not. The Kiwi crew are really, really easy, and there’s just an
immediate rapport. As a Canadian, I felt like that was something that carried
over for me, and I thought was really nice. One of the things that I miss about
Canada is that even the strangers, you have an immediate rapport, there’s just
an understanding that we’re all good people, let’s be nice to each other. And
Kiwis have that. I find the Kiwis have that. And then Peter is so easy and
relaxed, and really funny. He’s surprisingly funny. He has a really good vibe
on set. There’s no sense at all, at least I don’t get the sense at all, that he
has an ego about what he’s doing, or an arrogance about that being his film
set. I think he gets really excited about the characters, and because he’s so
excited about the characters, it means he’s excited about you, which is a
really nice thing to walk into. And then I arrived a year after the dwarves had
been busy at work. And the Dwarves are all new to the set.
So I
think because they all came into the Rings world brand new there’s sort of like,
new kids stick together, new kids take care of each other. And I think they all
took me under their wing very easily and quickly, and I think they maybe know
what it feels like to be the new kid on the block. I actually have a really
strong rapport with most of the dwarves. We’re all really good friends, and I
think they were incredibly friendly and welcoming, and it was all very easy.
Even Orlando, he’s the veteran, and he’s this huge movie star who made his mark
in these movies, who people will remember forever from Lord of The Rings. You
never felt like he was like, “Well, you’re on my set. You’re in my world now.”
He’s really welcoming and sweet, and open and warm. In the most amazing role
reversal, he almost came in and you could tell that because he was coming into
this new group– He used to have his old group with Rings. Maybe he was a bit
nervous, like, “Is it going to work, and are we all going to be friends like we
had on Rings?” And you could see that he really wanted to connect to people.
Out of anybody, maybe you’d expect that he might have been a snob about it all,
and he’s the opposite. So it has just been great.
So
it’s [pronounced] “Smoog”?
LILLY:
So, in Elvish, you pronounce every letter. You never draw letters together, you
pronounce every letter. So if there was two ‘N’s, you would have to pronounce
both of the ‘N’s, even if they’re right together. So that’s why it’s not
‘Smaug’, because that would be English. It’s “Sma-oog”. All right, that’s my
Elvish lesson for the day, thank you! Thanks, guys.”
0 Comments:
Post a Comment