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If it weren't for his politics...
...I'd probably be madly in love with Sean Astin. Energetic, responsible, kind, loving, industrious, and sexy. I'm actually thankful about the political thing - like I really need another beautiful young guy over whom I can pine in unrequited adoration. NOT. As it is, I think his wife is incredibly lucky, not to mention his daughter. Why can't I find a man like this? Sheesh.
Sean and Dom on ROTK
as reported on AICN
“The most sacred acting experience I’ve ever had was at the top of Mount Ruapehu with Elijah Woods in my arms,” says Sean Astin with the contented confidence of an actor who knows he nailed the moment. This enticing tidbit certainly lends credence to the Oscar buzz that’s been building up around his performance in RETURN OF THE KING ever since the first film hit theaters in 2001 (I know Moriarty in particular has been championing this notion for some time). But that’s hype best left stowed away until December. Right now, I’m seated at a roundtable with such web celebs as Garth Franklin and Smilin’ Jack Ruby (by the way, guys, the entourages are getting *way* out of control), trying to draw out of Astin and Dominic Monaghan some specifics about those month-long reshoots in New Zealand that just concluded a couple of weeks ago, and expecting little more than well-rehearsed vagaries. That said, these guys are, as ever, a joy to be around. They’re still very much in love with these movies, and grateful for the chance to be a part of them. At the very least, it’ll be a pleasant discussion.
But that’s not going to deter us from taking up the dental drill, and going to work on these bastards. What about those reshoots? According to Dominic, these were “less reshoots, and more like finessing things, like some scenes with Gandalf and Pippin where they head off to Minas Tirth. We kinda fleshed out those scenes a little. Merry on the battlefield… we kinda finessed a bit of that. Nothing too huge, just drawing out the scene a little bit.” Sean added, “We reshot a couple of things, and we did additional scenes… new scenes.”
With the idea of new scenes floated, we tried for specifics, only to be met with an exchange of furtive glances between the hobbits, who issued, through Sean, a polite no-comment. “I don’t know how to talk about it without ruining it,” allowed Sean, who stated further, “you know how the story ends, not how the movie ends. And these would be spoilers. I don’t know if I feel good about giving good spoilers. I want to answer your question, but I feel like I shouldn’t.”
This line of questioning did, however, lead to the inevitable discussion over how much this final film differs from the novel in terms of plot points. “I don’t think it differs too much from the book,” said Dominic. “It’s very sad, it’s very poignant; it’s the bringing together of all of our stories, and the eventual destiny of the ring is decided. So, it sticks kind of close to the book.” Sean’s take was a little more personal. “You know what I find? I’ve read the books three times, and I can’t remember the books. And I’ve worked on the films for several years now, and I can’t remember the movies.” Sean laughed, and continued, saying, “I’ve reached the point of critical mass. Maybe it’s a zen exercise; I’ve finally arrived at a place of real wisdom because I live in the moment. There’s just so much information, so, I think my experience is different than… a fan who had come to it like… they’d read the story when they were kids, and they remember certain things. And when they go see the movie they want to see *that* thing that they remember, but I bet, if they read it again, different things would emerge for them. Peter and Fran and Phillippa are really the best to talk about that. And also Mark Ordesky’s pretty sophisticated at talking about, storywise, why certain things were changed structurally, and what the difference in the film is narratively. I’m the wrong guy to ask about that.”
Sean is, however, the perfect guy to ask about his “sacred” moment at the top of Mount Ruapehu, which apparently required a marathon of takes until he arrived at the emotional truth of the scene. But repetition wasn’t the key so much as the script, for which Sean is full of praise. “There was something… about the poetry of the language that wasn’t in the script (originally). It was a last minute script addition, which was sort of characteristic of everything. There were scenes that we filmed a few weeks ago, and we got pages after we filmed them, so we had to go back and film them again. But there’s something about the quality of the language – the poetry of it – plus what (Sam) was saying, *plus* being on the volcano and, then, seeing Peter Jackson who was so stoic and played it close to the vest, seeing the fact that… it affected him so emotionally. Then, we kept doing more takes, and it was like… a pottery wheel. And we just kept shaping it and shaping it. My little brother’s an actor, too, and people asked him when we were on the train yesterday, ‘What do you do?’ And he said, ‘I’m an emotional engineer.’ So, I felt like I got my PhD as an emotional engineer on THE RETURN OF THE KING. Is that quotable?”
Meanwhile, the boys have been busy sandwiching in other films while the finishing touches are put on LORD OF THE RINGS. For Dominic, it’s the disparate gangland duo of SPIVS and THE PURIFIERS, the latter of which he described as a hyper-violent British remake of THE WARRIORS. As Dominic put it, “Ten rival kung-fu gangs get together to try to control crime in one city. My gang, the Purifiers, don’t want to do it, so when they’re heading back to their own territories, the nine conglomerate gangs come together and try to kill them.” Dominic, describing vividly how the fight scenes were shot, really sold me on this one in particular. Having heard from Garth of a ratings squabble in the UK over the violence in the film, I’m more than ready to check it out.
Sean, on the other hand, went for a wallow in the Sandler sty on FIFTY FIRST KISSES, where he’ll be playing a freakishly tan gym rat with a severe lisp. It sounds like fun, and Sean certainly sounds pleased with it. “I think it’s a chance for people to see that I have a little bit of comic timing, and that I enjoy doing characters. We’ll see what happens. I trust (Sandler) and Peter Segal, who directed it. You know, I could look like a real… well, I’m sort of assured to look like an idiot in it, but, hey, I need a bit of a modesty check in a while.”
As for LORD OF THE RINGS, there are signs of weariness beginning to set in (mind you, this malaise is setting in four years *after* cameras first started rolling). “At moments, I am *so* sick of it,” Sean admitted. But, as he goes on to stress, “At moments. And, then, there are moments where I just love it, and don’t want to end. And I recognize that it’s going to be really sad. It’s a pretty complicated emotional reality to experience.”
Dominic struck the same gently melancholy tone, saying “They’re great projects. We all really loved being in it, but change is a good thing. Doing new things is always interesting. We’ll miss each other… but that’s part of life, isn’t it?”
---------------------------------------------------------
Oh, swoon. Gimme an actor who uses words like "sacred" when talking about his experiences. Especially in the context of LOTR. Yes! What he said! I love the way he encourages us to go back to the book, to look again and again. There's always something there we haven't seen before – that's one of the great beauties of LOTR for me, and he gets it.
One of the things I love the best about the LOTR films is the casting. How the hell PJ & Co. managed to find all these actors that do such beautiful work for them and are great to work with, I don't know. The casting people alone deserve Oscars, let alone the entire fucking production population of this movie.
When confirmation on the casting choices started appearing, my anticipation was ratcheted up the scale little by little to reach near ecstatic proportions. Every choice was a matter of either "They got who? Well, that's interesting!" or "They got who? All right!!"
Except for Sean A. The moment I first caught a glimpse of him in character, I was like a deer in headlights. He's the one casting choice that truly spooked me. And that's because after 25 years of loving this book (Frodo and Sam being always my favorites), I was looking at an actor in the role who was exactly as I've always pictured him.
I shit you not. The Sam in my head, who I met in 1977, is right there on the screen for me. His looks, his manner, his voice - everything. It was like seeing a fucking ghost. So perfect it scared me. *shiver*
Then of course, came the interviews and the DVDs with all the behind-the-scenes, and dang! Turned out he's one of them Ideal Guys, no less. Not necessarily the one you lust after like crazy, but the one who makes you fall on your knees and kiss the ground when you find him in your life. How did I manage to bag this one? you ask, with tears of gratitude and wonder. (Well, I'd ask that. Don't know about you.)
And now these little trickles of info and comment on ROTK. The buzz about his performance. The terrible anticipation and nail-biting gut-eating exhilirating torture of waiting for this film. Man, I thought I was in a sweat about 2T - it's only July and I'm already bouncing. And Sean's causing a good 30% of that all by himself. (I know, that doesn't sound like much, but when you look at how much there is to anticipate, it works out to a goodly chunk.)
I've been so blown away by Sean. He's given Sam a depth and a rooted centeredness that's so in tune with the original character that it's hard for me not to see him as being born specifically to play this role. And despite how hair-perfect-close he is to my vision of Sam, he has one thing that Sam never had for me before, and which I'm stunned to see on the screen - he's SEXY.
It's hard for me to put across just what a shock that was the first time I saw FOTR. Never had I ever thought of Sam Gamgee in terms of attraction or desire. He's a dear, dear character, and his loyalty and steadfastness influenced my ideas of friendship and love from my adolescence on, but I never thought of him as a lover. Then Sean Astin came along and added this dimension, and suddenly BANG! - Sam popped into life whole and entire. He didn't just exist as words on a page, he lived. Right there in front of my eyes. My adoring, tear-streaming eyes.
The poetry of him. I once read a passage in a book where a telepath described the experience of discovering the soul of a farmer - a plain, hard-working, hatchet-faced man who said very little. Yet, when the telepath touched his mind, he found a man with incredibly deep spiritual richness to his soul, whose roots dived into the earth and in whom the earth sang with all its voices, a sage and king and visionary, whose realm was the patch of land he farmed.
Sam is like that for me. The gardener with the soul of a poet, whose hands write works in soil and leaf and blossom. I've written about him and his poetic soul, and I've come to the realization that he's the character I most connect with in LOTR, for all that he's far above me in his qualities - I could never hope to reach the level of his spirit. But I love to write about him, and read about him.
And now, sweet Goddess above, I get to watch him as well. To actually spend time in his presence. I don't think I could ever really express what he and Frodo mean to me (Elijah as Frodo is a whole other realm of squee, and I could go on at length about him too - another time), but seeing them both brought to life with such beauty and passion and extraordinary talent is a blessing I'd never looked for. One I'll never stop being grateful for.
*Sigh* Five more months. How will I survive? Oh well, at least I'll have the DVDs.
*sigh*...
Sean and Dom on ROTK
as reported on AICN
“The most sacred acting experience I’ve ever had was at the top of Mount Ruapehu with Elijah Woods in my arms,” says Sean Astin with the contented confidence of an actor who knows he nailed the moment. This enticing tidbit certainly lends credence to the Oscar buzz that’s been building up around his performance in RETURN OF THE KING ever since the first film hit theaters in 2001 (I know Moriarty in particular has been championing this notion for some time). But that’s hype best left stowed away until December. Right now, I’m seated at a roundtable with such web celebs as Garth Franklin and Smilin’ Jack Ruby (by the way, guys, the entourages are getting *way* out of control), trying to draw out of Astin and Dominic Monaghan some specifics about those month-long reshoots in New Zealand that just concluded a couple of weeks ago, and expecting little more than well-rehearsed vagaries. That said, these guys are, as ever, a joy to be around. They’re still very much in love with these movies, and grateful for the chance to be a part of them. At the very least, it’ll be a pleasant discussion.
But that’s not going to deter us from taking up the dental drill, and going to work on these bastards. What about those reshoots? According to Dominic, these were “less reshoots, and more like finessing things, like some scenes with Gandalf and Pippin where they head off to Minas Tirth. We kinda fleshed out those scenes a little. Merry on the battlefield… we kinda finessed a bit of that. Nothing too huge, just drawing out the scene a little bit.” Sean added, “We reshot a couple of things, and we did additional scenes… new scenes.”
With the idea of new scenes floated, we tried for specifics, only to be met with an exchange of furtive glances between the hobbits, who issued, through Sean, a polite no-comment. “I don’t know how to talk about it without ruining it,” allowed Sean, who stated further, “you know how the story ends, not how the movie ends. And these would be spoilers. I don’t know if I feel good about giving good spoilers. I want to answer your question, but I feel like I shouldn’t.”
This line of questioning did, however, lead to the inevitable discussion over how much this final film differs from the novel in terms of plot points. “I don’t think it differs too much from the book,” said Dominic. “It’s very sad, it’s very poignant; it’s the bringing together of all of our stories, and the eventual destiny of the ring is decided. So, it sticks kind of close to the book.” Sean’s take was a little more personal. “You know what I find? I’ve read the books three times, and I can’t remember the books. And I’ve worked on the films for several years now, and I can’t remember the movies.” Sean laughed, and continued, saying, “I’ve reached the point of critical mass. Maybe it’s a zen exercise; I’ve finally arrived at a place of real wisdom because I live in the moment. There’s just so much information, so, I think my experience is different than… a fan who had come to it like… they’d read the story when they were kids, and they remember certain things. And when they go see the movie they want to see *that* thing that they remember, but I bet, if they read it again, different things would emerge for them. Peter and Fran and Phillippa are really the best to talk about that. And also Mark Ordesky’s pretty sophisticated at talking about, storywise, why certain things were changed structurally, and what the difference in the film is narratively. I’m the wrong guy to ask about that.”
Sean is, however, the perfect guy to ask about his “sacred” moment at the top of Mount Ruapehu, which apparently required a marathon of takes until he arrived at the emotional truth of the scene. But repetition wasn’t the key so much as the script, for which Sean is full of praise. “There was something… about the poetry of the language that wasn’t in the script (originally). It was a last minute script addition, which was sort of characteristic of everything. There were scenes that we filmed a few weeks ago, and we got pages after we filmed them, so we had to go back and film them again. But there’s something about the quality of the language – the poetry of it – plus what (Sam) was saying, *plus* being on the volcano and, then, seeing Peter Jackson who was so stoic and played it close to the vest, seeing the fact that… it affected him so emotionally. Then, we kept doing more takes, and it was like… a pottery wheel. And we just kept shaping it and shaping it. My little brother’s an actor, too, and people asked him when we were on the train yesterday, ‘What do you do?’ And he said, ‘I’m an emotional engineer.’ So, I felt like I got my PhD as an emotional engineer on THE RETURN OF THE KING. Is that quotable?”
Meanwhile, the boys have been busy sandwiching in other films while the finishing touches are put on LORD OF THE RINGS. For Dominic, it’s the disparate gangland duo of SPIVS and THE PURIFIERS, the latter of which he described as a hyper-violent British remake of THE WARRIORS. As Dominic put it, “Ten rival kung-fu gangs get together to try to control crime in one city. My gang, the Purifiers, don’t want to do it, so when they’re heading back to their own territories, the nine conglomerate gangs come together and try to kill them.” Dominic, describing vividly how the fight scenes were shot, really sold me on this one in particular. Having heard from Garth of a ratings squabble in the UK over the violence in the film, I’m more than ready to check it out.
Sean, on the other hand, went for a wallow in the Sandler sty on FIFTY FIRST KISSES, where he’ll be playing a freakishly tan gym rat with a severe lisp. It sounds like fun, and Sean certainly sounds pleased with it. “I think it’s a chance for people to see that I have a little bit of comic timing, and that I enjoy doing characters. We’ll see what happens. I trust (Sandler) and Peter Segal, who directed it. You know, I could look like a real… well, I’m sort of assured to look like an idiot in it, but, hey, I need a bit of a modesty check in a while.”
As for LORD OF THE RINGS, there are signs of weariness beginning to set in (mind you, this malaise is setting in four years *after* cameras first started rolling). “At moments, I am *so* sick of it,” Sean admitted. But, as he goes on to stress, “At moments. And, then, there are moments where I just love it, and don’t want to end. And I recognize that it’s going to be really sad. It’s a pretty complicated emotional reality to experience.”
Dominic struck the same gently melancholy tone, saying “They’re great projects. We all really loved being in it, but change is a good thing. Doing new things is always interesting. We’ll miss each other… but that’s part of life, isn’t it?”
---------------------------------------------------------
Oh, swoon. Gimme an actor who uses words like "sacred" when talking about his experiences. Especially in the context of LOTR. Yes! What he said! I love the way he encourages us to go back to the book, to look again and again. There's always something there we haven't seen before – that's one of the great beauties of LOTR for me, and he gets it.
One of the things I love the best about the LOTR films is the casting. How the hell PJ & Co. managed to find all these actors that do such beautiful work for them and are great to work with, I don't know. The casting people alone deserve Oscars, let alone the entire fucking production population of this movie.
When confirmation on the casting choices started appearing, my anticipation was ratcheted up the scale little by little to reach near ecstatic proportions. Every choice was a matter of either "They got who? Well, that's interesting!" or "They got who? All right!!"
Except for Sean A. The moment I first caught a glimpse of him in character, I was like a deer in headlights. He's the one casting choice that truly spooked me. And that's because after 25 years of loving this book (Frodo and Sam being always my favorites), I was looking at an actor in the role who was exactly as I've always pictured him.
I shit you not. The Sam in my head, who I met in 1977, is right there on the screen for me. His looks, his manner, his voice - everything. It was like seeing a fucking ghost. So perfect it scared me. *shiver*
Then of course, came the interviews and the DVDs with all the behind-the-scenes, and dang! Turned out he's one of them Ideal Guys, no less. Not necessarily the one you lust after like crazy, but the one who makes you fall on your knees and kiss the ground when you find him in your life. How did I manage to bag this one? you ask, with tears of gratitude and wonder. (Well, I'd ask that. Don't know about you.)
And now these little trickles of info and comment on ROTK. The buzz about his performance. The terrible anticipation and nail-biting gut-eating exhilirating torture of waiting for this film. Man, I thought I was in a sweat about 2T - it's only July and I'm already bouncing. And Sean's causing a good 30% of that all by himself. (I know, that doesn't sound like much, but when you look at how much there is to anticipate, it works out to a goodly chunk.)
I've been so blown away by Sean. He's given Sam a depth and a rooted centeredness that's so in tune with the original character that it's hard for me not to see him as being born specifically to play this role. And despite how hair-perfect-close he is to my vision of Sam, he has one thing that Sam never had for me before, and which I'm stunned to see on the screen - he's SEXY.
It's hard for me to put across just what a shock that was the first time I saw FOTR. Never had I ever thought of Sam Gamgee in terms of attraction or desire. He's a dear, dear character, and his loyalty and steadfastness influenced my ideas of friendship and love from my adolescence on, but I never thought of him as a lover. Then Sean Astin came along and added this dimension, and suddenly BANG! - Sam popped into life whole and entire. He didn't just exist as words on a page, he lived. Right there in front of my eyes. My adoring, tear-streaming eyes.
The poetry of him. I once read a passage in a book where a telepath described the experience of discovering the soul of a farmer - a plain, hard-working, hatchet-faced man who said very little. Yet, when the telepath touched his mind, he found a man with incredibly deep spiritual richness to his soul, whose roots dived into the earth and in whom the earth sang with all its voices, a sage and king and visionary, whose realm was the patch of land he farmed.
Sam is like that for me. The gardener with the soul of a poet, whose hands write works in soil and leaf and blossom. I've written about him and his poetic soul, and I've come to the realization that he's the character I most connect with in LOTR, for all that he's far above me in his qualities - I could never hope to reach the level of his spirit. But I love to write about him, and read about him.
And now, sweet Goddess above, I get to watch him as well. To actually spend time in his presence. I don't think I could ever really express what he and Frodo mean to me (Elijah as Frodo is a whole other realm of squee, and I could go on at length about him too - another time), but seeing them both brought to life with such beauty and passion and extraordinary talent is a blessing I'd never looked for. One I'll never stop being grateful for.
*Sigh* Five more months. How will I survive? Oh well, at least I'll have the DVDs.
*sigh*...