ELIJAH the ringbearer ((EW and LOTR fansite))

Quotes about Elijah's Role as Frodo --

"It has been the experience of a lifetime," Wood says of LOTR. "I doubt I'll ever get another chance to realize a character this fully."

[About playing Frodo] "I think he has a sense of strength, that he's able to take on this quest and take it to the end, which is very interesting to me. And what happens to him on the way interests me as an actor--you know, the fact the Ring starts to take hold and he starts to go mad and loses himself. It's an incredible arc, to watch that happen over time."

[The dark side of Frodo] "It's quite a dark side...so dark it's not really Frodo anymore, y'know--it's kinda the Ring speaking. And the obsessive nature inspired by the Ring is so interesting. 'No one can have the Ring, it's mine, so stay away.' It's almost subconscious."

[What he admires about Frodo] "I admire the fact he's inquisitive and curious and wants to experience the outside world. He learns so much from Gandalf, he's learning Elvish, and he tries to be a worldly person. I also admire that by the time he makes the decision to take the Ring, it's selfless--it's for the better of Middle Earth and the Shire. And he wants to take this journey whether he may die or not. That's an incredibly courageous and honorable decision. He's just got a spirit, you know? That's what I love about him...he's very alive and very lively. You don't get to see a lot of that--only in the beginning of the first film--but his spirit, the light that's in him, is what holds him together.

[About the makeup] "Every morning, I start with about two and a half hours of makeup, which means some very early mornings. We're usually picked up around 5 a.m. I come to the set, and I get into my feet, which takes about an hour. They actually are very comfortable, thank God, but it does take a while to put them on. Initially, that was so exciting. Got the feet, got the wig and the ears. And then it was like, Ooooo-kay...I could do without this in the morning! Then I put on my wig--it's the first time I've worn a wig in a film, so that's exciting--and the [prosthetic] ears, which fit on very well, so it's cool. You feel like a hobbit. We really transform in the morning, which is neat."

"The sheer length of the project, the fact that I've got three films to develop a character, to hold that character and have him change and grow."

"Here, we've got three films, being filmed mostly in sequence, so I get to experience the character's changes and live with the character over a long period of time, which I really enjoy."

"I'd heard about Lord of the Rings about a year before I was approached to read for it, and the idea of putting Tolkien to screen was really interesting."

[Was he a Tolkien fan before?] "Yeah! Well, honestly, I actually had not read the book before I started. I'd read The Hobbit, and when I finished it, I bought LOTR right away. I just never got around to reading it. So, when I started this, I started reading it, just to get into it. And it's interesting, because I read the three scripts when I started, and then went back to the book."