John Rhys-Davies Speaks His Mind
'Rings' Fellowship's Second Journey Taking Separate Paths.
Post-trilogy careers vary from Sandler comedies to B-movie horror flicks.
As members of a close-knit fellowship venturing into unknown territory on a mission that could leave them wealthy and powerful - or just as easily destroy them - the stars of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy are seeing how life can imitate art.
In the two years since fans shed tears and said goodbye along with the "Rings" cast at the conclusion of "Return of the King," stars Orlando Bloom (Legolas), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Sean Astin (Sam), Elijah Wood (Frodo) and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) have seen their careers head off in decidedly different directions. While some projects have succeeded on various levels, others have fallen faster than the "one ring" into the fires of Mount Doom.
"He's hugely, badly managed," Rhys-Davies recently said of Bloom's post-"Rings" career choices. "I look at Orlando's career and say, 'Oh, God.' "
While the upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels will likely right the course of the English actor, his former co-star said films such as "Troy" and "Kingdom of Heaven" have put the onetime red-hot hunk's career on ice.
"What stroke of genius does it take to take young Orlando, who has a huge and powerful fanbase in the 8 to 18 female base worldwide ... and put him in a film that is R-rated, so that his fans can't get in to see it?" Rhys-Davies asked. "Obviously, his managers are making a bucket of money out of him, but they're not looking after him, and they're not looking after his long-term interests. And that annoys me intensely."
"There's a very small window of being that sexy young guy," Bloom said in defense of such roles while promoting "Heaven" earlier this year. "It won't be long before there'll be another sexy guy coming up behind the ranks."
Rhys-Davies himself, meanwhile, has already been reduced to near trivia-question levels after emerging as a fan favorite with his charismatic portrayal of an axe-wielding dwarf. In addition to a brief appearance in "The Princess Diaries 2," the actor has appeared in the blink-and-you-missed-it indie "The Game of Their Lives" and a slew of made-for-TV films and DVD releases.
"I had to take anything to just keep working," Rhys-Davies explained of projects like "Chupacabra: Dark Seas," while adding that a stunt wall fell on him during one such shoot, nearly ending his career.
"I had an injury, which sort of took me out of play for a while," the veteran Shakespearean actor, who recently finished filming Uwe Boll's upcoming "Dungeon Siege," lamented. "In Hollywood, if you get one part in 10 years that's worthwhile, you're lucky."
Which brings up the interesting case study of Elijah Wood, who has avoided both the leading-man approach of Bloom and the take-work-where-you-can ethic of Rhys-Davies. After a quirky, second-banana role in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," Wood appeared as a flesh-eating mute in "Sin City," then put his name above the title again for the recent "Green Street Hooligans" and "Everything Is Illuminated," both critically hailed, if unable to muster much cash-register noise.
His post-Frodo experience, Wood admitted, has been "all over the map. There's no plan. It's kind of difficult to be strategic, to have a plan, when you're at the mercy of whatever's available. It's a relatively organic process trying to choose these films: With 'Hooligans' I really loved the material and I got to be a part of it. The same with 'Illuminated,' I really loved the script."
"He's a different lad," Rhys-Davies said of Wood. "He's always going to be a rather quirky character actor with a golden soul."
While Wood and Bloom express a similar appreciation for the diehard "Rings" fans who continue to support them, it is the former who is less inclined to let them dictate his career. "There's something dangerous in overly considering your fans," he said. "Not to deny my fans, but I certainly do what I do for myself - and because I'm passionate about films and filmmaking and want to continue to challenge myself as an actor. ... I think if I were to overly consider the fanbase, it may be slightly stifling."
Somewhere between Bloom and Wood falls the career of Mortensen, blessed with the leading-man looks of the former and the transformative qualities of the latter. His horse-racing pet project "Hidalgo" attempted to turn him into the next Indiana Jones but instead attracted as many male viewers as the "Bridget Jones" movies. Currently, however, the Mortensen's dynamic turn in the critically acclaimed drama "A History of Violence" is generating Oscar buzz. It appears, once again, that the king has returned.
"I just don't want to be unemployed for too long," Sean Astin has said of his career; appropriately enough, he was joking. The former Hobbit's decisions have largely gravitated toward comedies like "50 First Dates," which he said at the time that he was doing "for two, well, four words: Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore."
"It's such a big canvas," Astin said of such humor, "and there's a chance to do a character that's completely different than Sam. Is he really going to make that big a fool out of himself? Really, really?"
At the end of the day, all five actors remain friends and remain sympathetic to the unfortunate typecasting each has suffered.
"It's not an unpleasant boat that he is sailing on," Rhys-Davies said of Orlando Bloom's career. "It's hugely successful, and hugely lucrative, and in some ways he is doing well. He is a very sexy, attractive young star and he's got a huge fanbase. Now the trick is to use that fanbase to be able to get the money and the parts that you want. Grow that fanbase from that fanbase. Don't imagine that just because you played the elf in 'Lord of the Rings' you can carry a film like 'Kingdom of Heaven.' "
After referring to "Heaven" as "not a good film; strangely cut, strangely structured, [with] no point or purpose to it," Rhys-Davies trudged back onto the set of "Dungeon Siege," holding his aching back beneath a layer of medieval armor. Elsewhere in the world, Bloom publicized his first true romantic comedy, "Elizabethtown," Wood continued the uphill battle of selling "Illuminated," Mortensen politely dodged awards-seasons questions, and Astin continued work on another Adam Sandler film.
One continued fellowship, five very different rings.
- Larry Carroll