Lord Of The Rings Hobbits Reunite

It’s been a whole ten years since the first movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy graced our cinema screens and in a world exclusive photo shoot and interview for EMPIRE Magazine the four Hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd) reunite to reminisce about the films that changed their lives.

For the quartet of heroic hobbits, who became the most iconic characters in Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings, the film was not only a life-changing experience but the start of a beautiful friendship.

Elijah Wood (Frodo): “It’s 12 years ago in August that we all flew out there, so it feels crazy to conceive of that span of time, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like that much time has passed.”

Dominic Monaghan (Merry): “We fit into our dynamics easily enough, which makes you feel as if no time has passed. I’ll be in my office or something and I’ll go to a bookshelf and pull out something and there’ll be a picture of all of us. It’s interesting that we always talk about the intensity. But on a working day it would be 5.20 to 5.40am pick-up and we’d be done by maybe 7.30pm. It’s a long day and we all chose to hang out with each other afterwards. We sought each other out.”

Sean Astin (Sam): “Whenever you experience something that’s as intense and life-defining as we did together, it never goes away. You see it with people who were at war. Nobody has to say more than a syllable on the telephone and you know who it is. Just the tiniest sound of someone’s voice.”

Elijah: “Our rapport was kind of instant. I will say there’s something about the fact that we all knew it was unique, what we were about to start. We had left our lives and were going to be together for more than a year. I remember the first time I met Dom, I was getting a wardrobe fitting and he came in. I hugged him immediately. I’d never met him before! So that was kind of a linking force for all of us really quickly.”

“The making of those films is ingrained in our DNA now. I went back and did a little bit of work on The Hobbit and was around a number of the crew and people who I associated with Rings. I expected the feeling to be really surreal, to be back in wardrobe and make-up again, and it was. But it also felt normal, as if it’s built into my bone structure. It’s beyond the movies. Beyond what they became...”

Billy Boyd (Pippin): “I remember the last scene we did, and it was to be us in the bar. Pete asked us, ‘What do you guys think you should be doing?’ And we came up with tons of ideas, such as we should have an orc’s helmet and we’re trying to explain to the other hobbits what we’ve been through, all these different ideas. And when it boils down to it, it’s just four guys saying nothing with a drink each, who’ve shared in something that no-one else did. There’s that feeling in real life, too.”