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When most people think of Elijah Wood, they almost immediately associate him with family-friendly roles, such as Frodo Baggins, the loyal and brave Hobbit who saves all of Middle-earth in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, or as the voice of Mumble in the Happy Feet movies. But, the fresh-faced thirty-one-year-old has also taken his turn acting in more adult fare, playing darker characters like the cannibal killer Kevin in Robert Rodriguez's Sin City with the same zeal he puts into his lighter work.
Wood will return to the Shire this December, once again portraying Frodo in Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and it's likely he will once again lend his voice to Mumble should a third Happy Feet go into production, but he has also returned to the dark side in his latest movie, portraying a crazed killer who scalps women to adorn his collection of mannequins in director Franck Khalfoun's (M.I.L.F.) Maniac. The first trailer for the movie has been released and it shows Wood at his psycho-best, but be warned: IT. IS. GRISLY. Watch at your own risk.
watch the blood-spattered trailer >> Posted 05.24.12 by BrentJS -
The upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, the two-part prequel to the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, will see the return of several characters — including Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Gollum (Andy Serkis in motion-capture) — all of which appeared in J.R.R. Tolkien's original novel. However, director and co-writer Peter Jackson has found a way to bring back several other characters from the Lord of the Rings movies, such as Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood). Frodo didn't exist yet in the timeline where The Hobbit takes place, but it is believed that he will appear in bookend fashion with the story of The Hobbit being told to him by an elder Biblo (Ian Holm) which seems basically confirmed in the first trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first part of the prequel (The Hobbit: There and Back Again will follow in 2013).
Wood recently spoke to Collider about his time on The Hobbit set. Wood has already called his return to New Zealand to shoot the movies "family reunion" and revealed that he only appears "very little" as Frodo in the movie, but Wood revealed to Collider that he was only "there [in New Zealand] a month" but had a lot of time to observe Jackson and how he shot the movie in 3-D. While 3-D was not an element of the Lord of the Rings production, Wood says there was still little difference in working on the two productions.
wood discusses the differences; serkis, the similarities >> Posted 01.24.12 by Ryan -
Following hot on the furry little heels of the release of the first poster and trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first chapter of the two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy — and just in time for the holidays — co-writer, producer and director Peter Jackson has delivered yet another "present" for the fans: a new video blog offering a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie.
The fifth such production video blog Jackson has released to date, the latest one focuses on "the logistics of location shooting." As boring as that may sound to some — and we do see a lot of loading and unloading of vehicles and equipment — the 12-minute video also contains beautiful shots of New Zealand and "Hobbiton" and tons of footage of cast members on the set in full costume, from original LOTR actors like Sir Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf and Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, to Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, the central character of The Hobbit, and several (if not all) of the actors who play the company of dwarves (creator J.R.R. Tolkien's spelling) who hire Bilbo to "burgle" for them from the mighty dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch).
watch the production video >> Posted 12.26.11 by BrentJS -
Co-writer and director Peter Jackson will be in New Zealand filming the two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy, The Hobbit, for quite some time, but Elijah Wood's time there is already at an end. The 30-year-old actor spent a month filming "a little cameo" in The Hobbit as Frodo Baggins, his character from LOTR, who is believed to appear in book-end scenes either reading the story of The Hobbit from the fictional "Red Book of Westmarch" or having it read to him. Now in the U.K. and stumping for his new movie, Happy Feet Two, Wood spoke candidly with DenOfGeek about what it was like to put on Frodo's furry feet once again and whether or not we might see LOTR on the big screen in eye-popping 3-D at some point.
what did wood say about The Hobbit and LOTR in 3-D? >> Posted 11.26.11 by BrentJS -
Fans of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy will get to see plenty of familiar faces when the two-part prequel of The Hobbit debuts with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in late 2012, followed by The Hobbit: There and Back Again in 2013. Besides the return of Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Andy Serkis as Gollum (motion-capture) and Hugo Weaving as Elrond, director and co-writer Peter Jackson has found a way to bring back Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Sir Christopher Lee as Saruman, and Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, even though the characters don't appear in J.R.R. Tolkien's original novel.
One character that won't be returning is Aragorn, the character Viggo Mortensen played in the trilogy of movies. During an interview with Movies.com, Mortensen revealed that he wasn't against returning but was never asked.
why no aragorn? plus benedict cumberbatch talks about playing smaug >> Posted 11.24.11 by Ryan -
Fans hungry for updates on The Hobbit, the upcoming prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, director and co-writer Peter Jackson has been made the production process as transparent as possible, having released three production video blogs so far on his Facebook page.
The latest video focuses on the 3-D aspect of the prequel, which will arrive in two-parts — 2012's An Unexpected Journey and 2013's There and Back Again. While this is certainly the most technically-focused blog that Jackson has released so far, there's also footage of Martin Freeman (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Office) as Bilbo Baggins, the role he takes over from Ian Holm, and Elijah Wood viewing playback footage in 3-D while dressed as Frodo. There's also footage of Hugo Weaving as Elrond, as well as Ian McKellen dressed as Gandalf with the entire company of dwarves.
watch the video >> Posted 11.04.11 by Ryan -
Writer-director-producer Peter Jackson has brought plenty of cast members from his The Lord of the Rings trilogy back for his two-part prequel, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. Ian McKellen's return as Gandalf, along with Andy Serkis as Gollum and Hugo Weaving as Elrond, were expected due to the character's inclusion in J.R.R. Tolkien's original text, but Jackson has also found room for Elijah Wood to return as Frodo Baggins, as well as Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Ian Holm as an elder Bilbo, and Sir Christopher Lee as Saruman.
Not included in the prequel is Liv Tyler, who told PopEater that she's "definitely not" returning as the elf Arwen in The Hobbit.
I'm definitely not in The Hobbit and I actually don't know anything about it. I realized I need to call my friends in New Zealand to ask them what's going on so I have some facts when I get asked questions about it.
Wood looking forward to putting on the ears again >> Posted 06.27.11 by Ryan -
Peter Jackson's two-part adaptation of The Hobbit is reuniting the director with many of his Lord of the Rings cast members including Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Andy Serkis as Gollum, and possibly Orlando Bloom, who recently admitted that he was "given the script to look through" for a likely return as Legolas.
Also returning is Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins. While he admitted to ComingSoon that he had "not read" the script for The Hobbit yet, Wood said he was excited for the movie and that the experience will "feel very familiar, and different as well."
more from Wood and Jackson >> Posted 04.13.11 by Ryan -
The recent news that Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis would be reprising the roles of Gandalf and Smeagol/Gollum, respectively, in director Peter Jackson's two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy, The Hobbit, was certainly welcome news to LOTR fans, but it wasn't really a surprise. After all, before Jackson had to step in to direct The Hobbit, original director Guillermo del Toro had announced way back in June 2009 that the pair would reprise the roles, along with Hugo Weaving as Elrond. McKellen even had his personal website updated to include a return to Middle Earth on his list of projects in the "2010's" section of his filmography.
What was a big surprise was the return of Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, considering the character won't even have been born yet during the events that will be chronicled in the pair of movies and the fact that Frodo doesn't appear in The Hobbit book written by J.R.R. Tolkien. But, it's not just the fans who are surprised to see Frodo returning. In a recent interview with IGN, Wood revealed that he never thought he would play the character again.
what did Wood say about reprising the role of Frodo? >> Posted 01.13.11 by BrentJS -
In a recent article discussing how Warner Bros. will be picking up the tab for the cost of MGM's production of The Hobbit in exchange for worldwide theatrical distribution of the two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), Deadline speculated Elijah Wood could be returning as Frodo Baggins, the diminutive hobbit who risked everything to destroy the One Ring in Peter Jackson's epic trilogy. This seemed slightly implausible considering Frodo doesn't appear in The Hobbit book written by acclaimed author J.R.R. Tolkien on which the movies will be based, and the fact that the character wasn't even born yet during the events depicted in the book, but Deadline has now confirmed that Wood will be returning to Middle Earth in both parts of The Hobbit.
how could Wood/Frodo appear in The Hobbit? >> Posted 01.09.11 by BrentJS