AOL Live Chat with Elijah Wood - 2002

You were here almost a year ago today.

Elijah Wood: We did do this a year ago. Wasn't I talking about like you..guys were going to order pizza?

Host Jessica: we were going to watch a movie. Your memory is almost as good as mine.

Elijah Wood: How nice to speak with you again.

Host Jessica: Everyone is so excited you are spending the next 30 minutes with us. How are you doing?

Elijah Wood: I am in a car on the way to a hotel from the J.F.K. airport because I just got in from Paris.

Host Jessica: Let's catch up a bit. Do you still love your fellowship tattoo as much as you did last year?

Elijah Wood: I am not regretting it. In fact it's one of those things that I see every so often. I don't really pay much attention to it as much as I did when I got it. It's one of those things that will always be important to me. It will be profound regardless of what happens to those relationships because of the importance of the experience.

Host Jessica: here is one from Barbara from bra still. There are people from all over the world. Elijah, what was the most difficult thing for you to perform as a different character in the movie or was there trouble bigger than the behavior changes? Was it hard for you to adjust to the changes in Frodo?

Elijah Wood: Sure. It was.I think what made it a challenge particularly was the fact that we were shooting out of sequence. We would -- the schedule was changing so much as well, but we would shoot something from film three one day and film two the next day. So in terms of the evolution of that character, we were bouncing around quite a lot. That proved to be the most difficult aspect of actually, you know, changing the character over that period of time.

Host Jessica: all right. do you think your role is more boring in the second movie?

Elijah Wood: Do I think it's boring?

Host Jessica: more boring.

Elijah Wood: Well, considering that the first one was incredibly boring --

Host Jessica: I guess they're asking the way your role changed, if you thought it was more boring.

Elijah Wood: Well, I don't really think it's all that boring, but then again, you know, I am kind of interested in the psychological journey of the character. But if you are not, then it could very well be kind of a boring thing, and I can understand that.

Host Jessica: I seriously doubt it will be boring.

Elijah Wood: I could see how Viggo would be more interesting in terms of the battle.

Host Jessica: all right. Well, this one is from darkringrider, a big fan of the trilogy. You have many adoring fans. I am one of them. Your role as Frodo and many others have inspired me to become an actress. It is because of you that I am living my dream. How do you feel knowing that everywhere people admire you?

Elijah Wood: Wow.

Host Jessica: lots of love for you here tonight.

Elijah Wood: That's very sweet. When you put it that way, it's an incredible honor when people come up to you, particularly people that are interested in becoming actors or working in the industry. That kind of use you as an inspiration. I have gotten that every so often and it's always really sweet. It's also kind of an interesting feeling to get used to. It's not something that you do get used to, that you do have people out there that care that much about you because it's not something you think about on a regular basis. And it's only those kind of moments when people mention that or bring it to your attention that you actually do think about it. So it's sometimes quite a shock actually, to be honest.

Part two:

Host Jessica: you do have a ton of fans. There is a huge audience here tonight.

Elijah Wood: Wow.

Host Jessica: all excited to have you here. Speaking of your talented self, this one comes from gigi943242.

Elijah Wood: That's a lot of numbers.

Host Jessica: in the acting categories at the academy awards, I think that "Lord of the Rings" should have had more nominations. Do you think that this year will be different?

Elijah Wood: I don't know. I wouldn't even want to wager a guess. I think that the movie will be nominated again for technical achievements because it's kind of a shoo-in for those kind of awards because of the fact that it's so kind of epic in its scope. It succeeds in terms of its aim to be kind of technically brilliant. But in terms of the actors, I don't know. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't want to know.

Host Jessica: Thank you.

Host Jessica: speaking of awards shows, do you like attending awards shows? The carpet can be so maddening.

Host Jessica: Yes, well, I don't really. That's a good question, and I will be completely honest. I am not a huge fan of awards shows. It's a little -- it can be a little overwhelming and it's not -- it was fun for "Lord of the Rings" and I enjoyed the process, the first couple of times for the first couple of award shows, but once you've been to five in a row, it's a lot of fanfare that gets kind of Aold, especially if you're not particularly interested in the awards. I don't find it to be all that important. I would rather be home watching those kind of things on television. To be honest.

Host Jessica: well, we all wish you best of luck.

Host Jessica: it probably seems a lot shorter from home.

Elijah Wood: My God, the Oscarswere -- I think itwas like five hours.

Host Jessica: they were really long.

Elijah Wood: I was nearly falling asleep on camera. It was funny.

Host Jessica: here is one from kuby27. Which talk show is your favorite to be a guest on and why?

Elijah Wood: That's a good question. Probably the Conan O'Brien show.

Host Jessica: isn't he great?

Elijah Wood: He is awesome. I love watching the show. It keeps getting better and better. He is a really sweet guy and very funny, too. It's also a little bit looser, that show in terms of what the actors or the guests have in terms of responsibility. It seems like the format is a lot looser and it doesn't feel so intense.

Host Jessica: it's on later at night.

Elijah Wood: Letterman can feel intense. As great as it is, there seems to be a lot of pressure on you as a guest.

Host Jessica: Here is one from dancegirl 0002. Which of the three series of "Lord of the Rings" is your favorite?

Elijah Wood: The third, "the retn of the king" will be the best. I mean it's my favorite part of the story, add I feel like -- and I feel like it will be the best film, mainly because it comes to an emotional peak. It's at its most intense, the characters reach their end, you know. It's the conclusion for everybody. But at the same time, it's just so unbelievably sad and emotional. I had such fun acting that particular part of it because for Frodo things get really, really dark. That was fun exploring that side of things.

Host Jessica: here is one from vegechica 86. She says I am Amanda. I heard you had to return to New Zealand to film more scenes for "Lord of the Rings." What was it like seeing everyone again, and Elijah, I think you Aare a very talented actor and very good-looking, too. Had to say it.

Elijah Wood: Thank you.

Host Jessica: so what was it like seeing everyone again? Was it a reunion?

Elijah Wood: It was awesome. It's always awesome going back. There is an intense feeling of going home because we have spent so much time there, going back to Wellington, it literally feels like going home. We catch up with so many people and have breakfast at our favorite breakfast spots. Those little things mean everything to us. t's also just great to see all the cast again and all the old friends on the crew. o it was wonderful. And we are going back next year which is going to be both great and kind of sad in the sense that it will be the last time that we actually are called on to film new material for "Lord of the Rings." It will be a bittersweetexperience.

Host Jessica: you still have a year, another year.

Elijah Wood: That's true

Host Jessica: enjoy it. Everyone wants to talk about the video game. This one comes from Georgie9, he says let's talk about the new video game. Is it weird that people everywhere will be controlling a video image of you that has your voice?

Elijah Wood: No, I think that's cool. It's fun. I love video games myself. So if I can actually be a part of it as a character, then you know, it's kind of a dream come true to a certain degree.

Host Jessica: when you play the "Lord of the Rings" game which character do you play?

Elijah Wood: I play the Aragorn character, but apparently in the next game, you will actually be able to play Frodo.

Host Jessica: you can play yourself. Here is one from rings9. We all ne that the ring has the power to make the wearer invisible. If you could be invisible, where would you go and what would you do?

Elijah Wood: If I could be invisible, where would I go and what would I do? You know, this sounds kind of interesting. Maybe -- because I've had this question before

Host Jessica: I asked you it last year and I wanted to see if your answer had changed.

Elijah Wood: And it's going to change. I've got a new idea. Put the ring on, completely disappear and just step into planes and take free flights around the world.

Host Jessica: yeah?

Elijah Wood: You see, so you don't have to pay for transit?

Host Jessica: you could travel everywhere. That's a very economical and adventurous answer. last year you said that you would go to Disneyland and hide when it closed.

Elijah Wood: That's right.

Host Jessica:which I thought was also fun. You have talked about bonding with the cast. Has there been a time recent when you thought to yourself wow, this is a perfect moment and that's from Jenny.

Elijah Wood:Yeah, I -- I don't think there is ever such thing as a perfect moment, but I think that there are incredible moments and I feel like I am all the time, be it moments that I have with my friends where I am going out, and, you know, I recognize how great my friends are and how close we are. In terms of the entirety of the moment of the -- that these "Lord of the Rings" movies are out and things are going so well, I can certainly recognize how fantastic that is, but I tend to appreciate all of the moments that make up the bigger picture. And I feel like I am constantly saying that. Which is pretty damn good.

Part three: Here is one from daystar. I heard New Zealand is beautiful. Is it really that amazing?

Elijah Wood: Yes, it is. It really is. We keep talking about how great it is. I hope we don't, you know, build up the image of New Zealand so much that people go out to New Zealand and it's not nearly as good as they expected it to be, but it's beautiful. I don't think you can overhype New Zealand. It's incredible. It's one of those places in the world that is largely unspoiled by the modern world in terms of population, buildings, things like that. It's nature is kind of wild and free, particularly in the South island. So it's one of those kind of magical places that feels like it's untouched by the rest of the world.

Host Jessica:That's exactly how it looks on film. Rare to find places that are not tainted anymore. This one is from sunshine7342 who submitted a load of questions, a big fan. : We all heard about how you like to surf but what about your other hobbies? P.S., if you say photography, you get extra points.

Elijah Wood: I get extra points then because photography is something I am interested in, but I don't pay nearly enough attention to it. I am still kind of working on that. The problem with me is I love so many different things and I get a little bit scattered, and I start to lose focus. And that makes me slightly lazy. But there's tons of things I am interested in. Video editing is another that I am now getting into. I really want to kind of work on that, for possibly taking that somewhere in the future in terms of making films. I am still a music nut, so I collect music constantly. I mean, I certainly consider that a hobby. Yeah, there are all sorts of things I am interested in.

Host Jessica: This one is from cc4, and she says, this Friday is Friday the 13th. Are you a superstitious person?

Elijah Wood: I am not a superstitious person, really. Although there are certain things that I won't do, like I won't walk underneath a ladder.

Host Jessica:Why tempt it?

Elijah Wood: Exactly. But I wouldn't necessarily consider myself superstitious to the point where I did walk under a ladder that I would be worrying about it.

Host Jessica:By the way, is it just me or have we had like five Friday the 13th this year.

Elijah Wood: Have we had one?

Host Jessica: I just feel like there is always one just coming up or just past.

Elijah Wood: I love the idea of Friday the 13th. I think it's great. Anything that is slightly shady and freaks people out. That's probably why I am into horror movies as much as I am. Did you see "The Ring"?

Elijah Wood: That made me smile. What a great movie.

Host Jessica: I hope the sequel is as good as the first. I hope they do the sequel. Have you seen the Japanese version? So there we have an Elijah Wood movie recommendation.

Elijah Wood: There you go

Host Jessica: Speaking of special days in the near future aren't we getting close to your birthday?

Elijah Wood: We are, January 28.

Host Jessica: Any big plans?

Elijah Wood: I do. I did a movie called "Try Seventeen" that comes out sometime next year. And there is a movie called "Thumbsucker" that I am probably going to start working on sometime in the new year. But other than that, there is nothing actually happening at the moment. I kind of took the summer off to just enjoy some free time with friends, which was kind of totally necessary, especially to lead up to this whole mayhem. But this has been fun, too. I feel like I have been working on this press junket for two years.

Host Jessica: Yeah, because you are all over the world, right?

Elijah Wood: Yeah. We started like early crush in November, the actual trip didn't start until the first week of December. But it still feels like it's being going on for a while. It's been fun, though.

Host Jessica: Yes, it was awesome.

Elijah Wood: Last time, I said I was going to Vegas. That never happened. This time I've got another harebrained idea that I am sure in keeping with the fact that I didn't do anything last year, I probably won't do this either. But the plan at the moment is to go to Hawaii for a week.

Host Jessica: You can go surfing. That would be so much fun

Elijah Wood: Wouldn't that be cool?

Host Jessica:: The waves are better in the winter.

Elijah Wood: I know, exactly.

Host Jessica: Here is a question from Toby1158. What other movies are you working on right now? You have upcoming projects, right?

Host Jessica: It can be stressful, though. I've been there.

Elijah Wood: I haven't slept at all. I got 2 1/2 hours of sleep the other night and I had to do a whole day of television, press interviews in Paris.

Host Jessica: We will hae to try to look at those cps.

Elijah Wood: Yeah, exactly. Look out for the European press and see how dog tired I look. I managed to pull it off ok though.

Host Jessica: Here is one from fonz 518. Hello, Elijah. You are my idol because all of the hard work and determination you have. What in your opinion was the biggest physical challenge in making "The Two Towers"?

Elijah Wood: The biggest physical challenge was getting through the challenge of the endurance of the schedule, the length of time that we were in New Zealand. The schedule was constantly changing and the hours that we were having to deal with and halfway through the movie, we were doing like six-day weeks. It was just -- there was an intensity to the process that after the first, like, three or four months, it starts to wear you down, and when there is no sign of it letting up, it literally takes quite a lot of strength to push yourself through and keep yourself motivated and passionate about the film.

Host Jessica: Well, I have to ask this question because it's the most-asked question tonight and the girls would kill me if I didn't. I think that nina42 put it best when she said is there a special girl in your life?

Elijah Wood: At the moment, there is not. That was probably the best way to ask.

Host Jessica:: I think you just made 10,000 people's days by that one sentence. So here is one from diva. Did you ever not want to be a hobbit and play a different role?

Elijah Wood: In the film, probably not, no. It's funny because it's only recently that people started asking me that question. I love Frodo. I wouldn't want to be any of the other characters. I love a lot of the other characters as well, but I wouldn't want that responsibility. I enjoyed the responsibility that I had. That kind of internal struggle and the fact that he is a hobbit. I love hobbits. I relate who hobbits quite well.

Host Jessica: We've got time for a couple more questions. This one comes from toro 5girl, speaking of upcoming projects, has it been difficult to move on to other projects after you completed "Lord of the Rings" given that it was such an unprecedented experience?

Elijah Wood: It hasn't been ease dwroy jump into other things -- easy to jump into other things particularly smaller movies. Right after I did "Lord of the Rings" I didn't want to work at all, but when I did want to work and projects started to become available, the idea of doing something smaller and completely different from "Lord of the Rings" was really exciting. Kind of a relief. It was nice to be on something that was a little bit more focused and not as massive in scale and just simply not as long, two months to do a film was kind of a relief. So in that sense, it was, you know, it was good to get back. But hard in the sense that I had been away from -- I had been in that comfort zone of "Lord of the Rings" for so long. It was difficult to imagine myself on another project. So from that perspective in a lot of ways, it was actually difficult to move on because it meant that I had to kind of break free of that zone and put myself in a different head space.

Host Jessica: Ok, well, here is a really fun question from what an angel 181 who was been following your career. Did you have fun spending time with the Osbournes? You were on an episode last season. That was fun.

Elijah Wood: It was cool. The Osbournes are great. I haven't seen them in quite some time. I saw jack recently at a party in Los Angeles. He organized some crazy party and it was very funny. He is a character. I haven't seen Kelly in ages. I actually saw Amy a while ago. But they're fantastic. I love the family. I think they're very sweet and incredibly -- it's odd for a television family that are seemingly so controversial. I feel like they represent the truth in what a family is all about more than most reality shows would or even fake television programs. That try and capture that essence of what it means to be a family. I think they capture it better than anything.

Host Jessica:That was a funny episode that you were on because you were cleaning --

Elijah Wood: Cleaning up urine.

Host Jessica: It's not a fun activity.

Elijah Wood: What you didn't say later on is that we made ramen and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Host Jessica:How could they leave that out?

Elijah Wood: It's not as rock'n' roll.

Host Jessica: Two more questions. This one from Phoebe. She asks, what is the most interesting celebrity gossip that you've seen in a magazine that's caught your eye lately? Do you think it's funny?

Elijah Wood: I don't know what's going -- I don't know what the new gossip is. I don't know. You know, I think the j-lo-Ben Affleck.

Host Jessica: it's all of that and Britt knee-Justin.

Part four:

Elijah Wood: I could honestly not give a -- some of it is interesting on a pulp level but I find it offensive that it reflects on us that we as a society are fascinated by other people's lives and need that kind of information and it's more sensitive when you are kind of in the middle of it and you recognize that that could kind of be you at some point or people could be that interested in your private life and it's a weird thing. It's bizarre. I still find it incredibly strange, the breakup of Brad and Gwyneth made the front page of newspapers. That's our focus? That's kind of sad.

Host Jessica: I can't decide which would be more frustrating, hearing a story about you that's not true or having the press find out something juicy that is true. I don't know which would drive me more crazy.

Elijah Wood: It actually drives you more crazy when they print something that's true. I find the stuff that's not true to be really funny and easy to -- because you are in a righteous position at that point because you know you had nothing to do with it or whatever it is they're printing is completely false. It puts you in a position of, you know, freedom. Even though you feel like if it's something really intense, you have that moment where you feel like you have to speak out against it. Most of the time, I don't even care. I think it can be really funny. Especially when they put you with, like, in terms of dating, they put you with people that you would never have dated. Why would they ever write that?

Host Jessica: They're like Elijah Wood and Christina Aguilera.

Elijah Wood: Some stuff is so good you don't want to contest it. You want to let people believe what they want to believe.

Host Jessica: The last question is from hemesyvenom.

Elijah Wood: What a story there. Like evil cognac.

Host Jessica: Reminds me of a snake or something.

Elijah Wood: That's strange.

Host Jessica: Do you think that "The Two Towers" will leave people wondering what is to come next?

Elijah Wood: Like the first movie, it does achieve that same kind of feeling of what is the last or what is the next chapter going to reveal? However, this film -- I feel "The Two Towers" actually leads into the third movie a lot more than the first into the second. It's much more of a cliffhanger ending. The scenes in this movie kind of -- it kind of -- it moves you forward and progresses you forward more into the third than the second because we are in the middle of the journey now whereas at the end of the first, they were about to embark on their journey. Whereas right now we are in the middle of one giant progressing story. So I feel like this movie actually leads into the third quite a lot more than the first one. Which is great, but also really frustrating for those that can't wait to see the next movie.

Host Jessica: I was just going to say if they're that frustrated they can read the book. So they have that option. Well, I am so sad because we are out of time. Elijah, I think you are my favorite AOL guest ever. I think the audience will agree with me. Thanks so much for chatting with you.

Elijah Wood:Thank you. Wait, you still have my e-mail address.

Host Jessica: I do.

Elijah Wood: You should e-mail me and don't pay attention to the fact that I don't reply because I am an idiot.

Host Jessica: Ok. Well, I can't wait to see the movie on December 18. That's like six days and six hours from now.

Elijah Wood:Wicked. It's very cool. I am sure you will love the film.

Host Jessica: Is there anything you want to say to your fans? I wish we could have gotten to more questions.

Elijah Wood: Thank you all for waiting in line. It's such a thankless thing when everybody gets in the chat room together and there is not any way for all the questions to be answered. So I appreciate everybody waiting around, even if they didn't get their questions answered. Thank you for your support and your love. And enjoy the next "Lord of the Rings."

End.