20 years of 'Lord of The Rings': Elijah Wood on being Frodo forever in our memories

Elijah Wood as Frodo. (Image: screen grab from 'The Hobbit')

In the film My Dinner with Herve, the film’s subject, a depressed actor with dwarfism named Herve Villechaize, is fed up of people constantly asking him to repeat a line from an old show.

Herve’s situation captures the angst actors feel over being typecast, or being largely known for just one role from their career.

Not long ago, Daniel Craig too spoke about feeling exhausted from playing James Bond. He was mainly tired of the logistical and physical demands of a Bond film. But there was also a sense of fatigue in his words about the role.

Elijah Wood, however, has no problem being still known for a three-part film he did two decades ago. To millions, Woods is and will remain Frodo from The Lord of the Rings - and The Hobbit.

“I accepted a long time ago that I would forever be linked to Frodo, so it doesn’t bother me,” Wood told The New York Times in an interview published on December 17.

It would bother him if the opposite was the case, he joked.

“Honestly, it would be such a sad burden if it did (laughs). I’m so used to people on the street calling me Frodo and not calling me by my name. It’s representative of one of the greatest experiences of my life, movies that I adore and memories that I’ll cherish forever,” Wood said. “At the end of my days, that is what I will be linked to probably more than anything else.”

Wood sees himself in the same boat as some members of the Star Wars cast.

“I can only equate it to similar scenarios like Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford. They are associated with their classic (Star Wars) characters more than others,” Wood said. “Now that we’re standing on the precipice of 20 years (of LOTR), which is so difficult to comprehend, my reflection is one of such gratitude and such love that I’ll never be upset at being associated with those films or for them being the largest in people’s memories of who I am.”

The trilogy was shot over 16 months in New Zealand. When shooting was complete, Wood felt a vacuum in his life. But he moved on by taking on work that was markedly different than LOTR.

“My experience of living was so defined by being in New Zealand with this group of people that the sudden shift of being home again felt very abrupt,” said Wood. “I just wanted to continue to work on things that were really small and very different from The Lord of the Rings. I felt quite sad to see it all come to an end, but also ready to move on with my life and have new experiences.”

Asked what his vivid memories from the filming were, Wood said he remembered the scale and magnificence of the set as well as some everyday but interesting incidents.

“Often what I think about is the in-between moments, not just the incredible set pieces with hundreds of extras in orc outfits, which is certainly an extraordinary thing, but the seemingly mundane moments, like getting our hobbit feet taken off because we had to vacate set as it started to snow,” Wood said.

“We’re sitting at the hotel on top of a washer and dryer, getting our feet taken off with a glass of whiskey. Or taking surf trips on weekends with the other hobbits and Orlando (Bloom, who played the elf Legolas) and the camaraderie and the daily life that we had.”

Wood summed it up by saying, “We all left the variety of places that we came from and made our lives in New Zealand with each other. Twenty years on we are still connected in that way, even if we haven’t seen each other in a long time.”