Orlando Bloom and Liv Tyler: Return of the ElvesCommentsBy Lynn Barker
By Lynn Barker on 2003年12月10日
Orlando Bloom and Liv Tyler look gorgeous together but they're not a couple. Just having seenThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, we had to readjust for Orlando's dark curly hair and leave that Legolas image behind when we interviewed the two in L.A. Dressed in jeans and t-shirt, Orlando was leaning in his chair against the wall in a dangerous balancing act. He wore blue "rags" rolled and tied as bracelets just like his "Pirates" co-star Johnny Depp and between questions, chomped on a wad of gum. Liv was simply breathtaking even in casual green blouse and black slacks. They spilled all the info about the gag reels played for each actor on his departure from the final "Rings" film, looking at "pink golf balls" which would later be monstrous CGI enemies, being heartthrobs and dealing with melting elf ears. Orlando talked a bit about "Pirates 2". Oh, and they sang too.

TeenHollywood: Orlando, there is an awesome scene in "King" where you climb up one of those huge elephant-like animals. How was that done?
Orlando: It was really a mound of sand bags that was shaped like the backend of that olephant, and they had the arrows in it. So I actually climbed up the arrows in that sequence and they had wires and ropes to swing along the side of it, and then I slashed the thing then there was a winch with a rope to pull me up, up and then I fall on top of the sand bags with all the guys. So they put in the elephant afterwards basically.

An Interview with Orlando Bloom and Liv Tyler
We talk to a couple of elves about Return of the King, laying the trilogy to rest and their next projects.
by Jeff OttoDECEMBER 17, 2003
Before being cast in The Lord of the Rings, Orlando Bloom was an unknown. With the success of these films and the surprising hit this past summer of Pirates of the Caribbean, Bloom's face has now been stapled over last year's Justin Timberlake poster on the walls of teen girls across America. And this time, unlike a few of the names that shall remain nameless, this teen idol actually has talent. He'll be in next year's hunk-studded (I'm talking to you, Brian Cox) Troy for director Wolfgang Peterson, he's co-producing the film Haven and he's about to begin production on Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Bloom should score his way to the top of most "It" lists by the end of this year.
Liv Tyler, on the other hand, was already known before Peter Jackson cast her in The Lord of the Rings. She had achieved a reputation as a hard-working actress who chose her roles carefully, working with directors as varied as Bernardo Bertolucci, James Mangold, Robert Altman and Michael Bay. Lord of the Rings has brought Liv Tyler's name into the forefront and given her a new following of crazed fans. Her next role will be in Kevin Smith's dramatic departure from the world of his own View Askew, Jersey Girl.

Q: Was there a concern after the shot, at least after the first one came out, that your scenes may not make it to the theatrical version, or was it just that you guys were like, 'Well eventually it will be on the DVD?'
TYLER: No... Last year for me I did the junket. ... I had gone down and shot like seven scenes and pick-ups and done all this stuff and the junket and I was like, 'Yeah, my part's bigger [this time].' And then Peter called me the day before I saw the movie and they'd cut half my part into [Return of the King]. 'Cause, he said that it worked better dramatically that I left and didn't come back in this. I was always supposed to already have come back in the second one, in the middle of the second one. So that was so traumatizing for me... [But], I love it no matter what. I'm gonna have no expectations.
Q: Does it matter if you are in the theatrical version or the DVD?
TYLER: I'm always so excited and surprised when I get to sit at home and watch the DVD... I think Peter prefers the, obviously the director's cut. We just couldn't. If he put that out in the theater, it would only get to show twice a day... So, it's actually a financial thing, I think. But it just gives you that little bit more information and understanding about the characters that I think is really great.

Q: So this film has actually marked you for life?
BLOOM: Yeah, I'm scarred for life, in the best possible way.
Q: Orlando, what's happening with Pirates of the Caribbean 2?
BLOOM: Yeah, yeah, I signed up to do part two, and yup, so I'll be doing that. Do I know anything about it, nothing at all, man. I know that Ted and Terry are writing it, the guys, the same guys who wrote the first one. And I know that Gore is going to direct it and I know that Johnny will do it, and Keira will do it, and I'll be doing it, and that's all I know.
Q: When does it start?
BLOOM: I think we're going to shoot January next year.
Q: You must have been obviously pleased with the absolute phenomenal success of Pirates this summer. The DVD came out yesterday. Do you have any thoughts on Pirates success?
BLOOM: Yeah, I think Johnny created this amazing character that just, like, blew everyone away, and Ted and Terry came up with this fantastic idea of pirates skeleton, that go skeletal through the moonlight... I think a blockbuster movie audience expects, like, more bang for their buck than just any other movie. So, with Pirates, like with Rings, you've got special effects, you've got visual effects, you've got great cast, great direction, attention to detail, good characters and well-rounded acts for each character. ... So, it's, it covers, it covers this sort of demographic.

Q: Liv, I want to ask about Jersey Girl. Do you have some really good hooks for that? It doesn't seem it will be affected by the other Ben and Jen movie, which didn't do so well. Are you anxious to see how the movie is going to do?
TYLER: Kevin is extraordinary in the fact that he was pretty much done cutting the movie as we were filming. So we could go home and watch... He would stay up all night editing the movie. It was incredible. So we were sort of ready to go immediately, but contractually they had to wait for Gigli to come out. ... I'm anxious to see it and to have it come out, and I hope the movie will be able to speak for itself...
Q: I would love to know how you did the elephant bit, running up the leg. What were you actually on?
BLOOM: Yeah, it was really a bunch of sand bags. They built like... a mound of sand bags that was shaped like the back end of that elephant, and they had... the arrows in it. So I actually climbed up the arrows, did that sequence and then they had wires and ropes to swing along the side of it. And then, you know, I slashed the thing, so I did the slash, and then there was like... a winch with a rope to pull me up, up and then I fall on top of the sand bags with all the guys. So they put in the elephant afterwards basically.
TYLER: And then how did you slide down and do that?
BLOOM: ... They had some rigs on the ground too, so they brought the camera to me on a rig, so I was like, [makes sound like the camera is motorized], the camera was like that and then I was on this seesaw device and, I mean, [Jackson had] come up with all these ingenious things and then I also had a very serious conversation with my digital double. [Laughs] You know, there was absolutely no way I was going to let him go in there without being fully informed of what he had to do. You know, he had to know exactly what Legolas' motivation was at this point. [Laughs]
Q: What did you think when you saw it?
BLOOM: Listen, Pete Jackson just is the man for that. You know, all those [ideas], that's all Pete. You know, I'd love to say I came up with this great idea to kill [and] to take down an elephant, but I didn't. ... Pete had the idea of me to slide down the stairs, and he did the jumping up on the horse and you know, I mean, I had a few cool ideas for Legolas once. I was actually in the fighting, none of which made the cut, unfortunately. [Laughs]
Q: Are you as amazed as we are when these things actually work, when you sit in the theater?
TYLER: Like, for me in the first film, the whole thing when Arwen is on the horse, that was the first thing I ever shot in the movie with second unit, and it was the last thing I ever shot at the end of the movie. So it was over a year and a half, so you can imagine for me I had no idea what that was going to be like at all. ... They made us a gift when we left. They had a party for all of us and said goodbye, and [then] they projected these gag reels of all of us. And the first half is really serious and, like, beautiful characters with really funny music, and then, mine has "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and it's all Arwen going, 'Turn around' [Liv turns a serious face.] [Laughter] It's like I'm flirting with the boys.
BLOOM: Mine's got "Hungry Eyes." [Orlando belts out a few notes of the song] ... Aragorn pulls out his sword and Legolas is turning [Orlando strikes a sexy pose], and then he pulls out his sword and then I'm throwing the bow, [singing] 'Hungry Eyes.' [He Sings the song again]
Q: We want this on the next DVD.
TYLER: That's what I said to the producer. I was like, 'You have to put this out there for the public 'cause it's really interesting to see.' A lot of times when you go to the movies and you see someone you think, 'Oh, that's kind of like them.' And when you look at this reel you see the difference between...
BLOOM: [Chiming In] ... That we're total geeks.
TYLER: There's all these shots of me on blue screen going, like, [she rolls her eyes.] rolling my eyes...
BLOOM: You were really bored, that was brilliant.
TYLER: That was the hardest thing, just all those reaction shots of all of us. We're not looking at anything.
BLOOM: Nah. You're looking at a piece of tape.
TYLER: I was a bit nosh. That's what it was. 'Cause I had to do a lot of that on the back of... it was so, like what he's saying about the sand bags. A lot of this wasn't always all that high tech, and there [were] all these scenes where I was on the back of a barrel with one of the grips going like this[she pretends to kick something]... [Laughs] so I could get into the swing. And then there's like a golf cart or a truck just pulling me around.
BLOOM: He's brilliant.
TYLER: I was like acting with a pink golf ball all the time. And Pete would do this incredible... like, really big grand explanations of what was going on. He always wanted us out of breath. I was always doing laps around the studio.
Q: So did Pete physically act out something he wanted you to do?
TYLER: Always.
BLOOM: Yeah, he'd sort of pantomime something, you know what I mean?
TYLER: And his face... He knew exactly what he wanted, all these characters. ... That's a really interesting connection to have with the director. That's one of my favorite things about working with a director, that sort of unspoken communication that occurs, and it's different with everybody. But it's so great. You can just look at them and see the way they sort of tell you something, and you kind of know exactly what they want you to do. And then it's just, try and please them.
Q: Is it almost ridiculous how some of these things look to you and then you see the film?
TYLER: I mean, I thought for sure this is the end of my career. I'm going to be so silly when they see it, and I'm never going to work again. And then I saw it and I was [saying], 'YEAH!' [Laughs]
BLOOM: You had to completely put all your heart, trust and faith into Pete... and just know that he was going to pull it off. It was the same fighting the cave troll, doing the elephant. I was like, 'Pete, you just better make this a really gnarly beast. This better be one nasty bastard, otherwise I'm going to feel like a complete fool.' So, he always came through.

Orlando Bloom: "I hung out with Liv Tyler a lot. I didn't kiss her. But I was always lobbying for love scenes between Legolas and Arwen."
Orlando Bloom: "I was having my make-up done when she arrived and my hairline (was) raised to give me an elven featured face. She said, 'Why don't you shave it off at the sides ? You'd really look cute in a mohawk.' I had a mohawk for 18 months."
Orlando Bloom: "Liv's completely adorable. She was one of the few women on set, so everyone was telling her, 'You're not the only woman on set, but you're our princess.'
Orlando Bloom (Legolas): "Liv Tyler, who plays Elrond's daughter, Arwen Undómiel, became a very close friend of mine, but I was quite indimidated by her at first. Before filming had started, I was sitting in the hair and makeup trailer having my hairline raised for the wig. As it was being shaved back, Liv came and sat next to me for her wig fitting. We had met only once, the night before, and I was obviously a bit in awe of her.