SFX.co.uk
November 25, 2011

“It was like a family reunion,” he says

Elijah Wood felt that filming his cameo for The Hobbit was a like a family reunion, he told Bang Showbiz at the premiere for Happy Feet 2 in London.

The 30-year-old reprises his role of Frodo Baggins in the Lord Of The Rings and he found it “incredibly surreal” when he returned to New Zealand to record his scenes.

“Production on The Hobbit has been great, it was a treat to go back,” he says. “It was like a family reunion. The movie has largely the same crew who worked on Lord Of The Rings. Many of the same actors are reprising their roles, so it’s incredibly surreal; it’s like a step back in time.

“We were in Hobbiton three weeks ago. I turned 19 when I was in Hobbiton for the first time and I’m 30 now so it just shows you how much time has passed and I think the movies are going to be incredible.”

Of his cameo, he went on to explain, “Frodo is not alive during the time of The Hobbit so they’ve done a flash forward. I didn’t get chance to work with the dwarves – I was just hanging out with them. I got to do a little bit of work with Martin Freeman, who is awesome – I’m a really big fan. I think what he’s doing with Bilbo is great and everyone will love it.”

Meanwhile, Flight Of The Conchords’ Bret McKenzie, who plays Lindir the elf in The Hobbit, has been joking that he, Sir Ian and Hugo Weaving are plotting a radical, alternative telling of the JRR Tolkien story.

“One of the highlights for me was working with Gandalf and Elrond, Ian McKellan and Hugo Weaving,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “We had a bit of downtime on set, so we started workshopping The Hobbit: The Musical. We came up with some pretty good stuff.”