The Elijah Wood Admiration Society
I have been waiting for a week (even more, it seems!) to watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition DVD, which I'd bought from Amazon.com through my friend. (He insisted that I should've gotten the Blu-ray instead but I simply don't have a Blu-ray player and I'm not willing to wait until I do have on to watch the discs on that player.)
Due to the Singapore trip and also work, I've not been able to even open the case until yesterday, after which I immediately watched the Extended Special Features part (Appendix 7). I figured I'd watch the movie afterwards when I have more time - 3 hours precisely - to watch the entire movie without stopping.
Now I have actual comments on the Appendices, besides the actual Extended movie, but I'll save my review for later. What I want to write about now - because I simply can't hold it back any longer - is about FRODO BAGGINS. Or to be precise, Elijah Wood playing Frodo Baggins.
Because I simply bawled when I saw Elijah playing Frodo. There was no other way I could describe myself on the moment he first appeared on the Special Features. It was just the opening part and there he was and I just started crying and crying. (Heck, I'm crying now even as I write this entry.) It's true that I'm a crybaby and easily sentimental about anything Lord Of The Rings, but it felt surreal and delightful and highly nostalgic all at once to see Elijah doing behind-the-scenes interviews for The Hobbit special features. I reacted this emotionally when I first saw him appear in the movie as Frodo in AUJ in 2012, but seeing him in the BTS portion of the home video is also just as an emotional experience as it was the movie.
The problem is that PJ and everybody - including Martin Freeman - talked about Elijah's iconic role as Frodo and what the role meant for him. Not just that, they kept mentioning about how Elijah was having to return again now, over a decade later, to do this second trilogy as Frodo. All of this just drives home the point that Elijah is the actor of my generation and how proud I am to be able to follow his journey, both as Frodo and as Elijah, all these years.
In 1999, when he was first cast, he was still a young actor. In 1999, I'd just graduated high school. We were both on the brink of entering the big wide world out there. He might be an actor and working in New Zealand at that time, while I was a nobody about to go to uni in Australia, and it's ridiculous to compare myself to him, but for some reason that was how easily I felt connected to the LOTR movie: because the actor playing the main character in the movie is someone my age and he was doing something that inspired me to do something worthwhile in my life.
Fast forward to 2013 and you finally get to see him, back in 2011, donning his Frodo costume again and playing alongside Ian Holm. There he was reprising the role that made him a pop culture icon. As for myself, I was finally realizing a life-long dream of writing about movies, something which I had started to do thanks to Lord Of The Rings (that LOTR blog I used to have is still around; I haven't deleted it). This is not the perfect parallel, of course, but I still feel connected to Elijah Wood in a way I can never be with Martin Freeman (although he is, by far, one of my favorite actors in the world working today). For Elijah, returning to New Zealand and the Hobbiton set probably feels like coming home. For me, watching Elijah returning to New Zealand and the Hobbiton set and talking about it feels like coming home... to a place and time I am familiar with, something that existed in my past that never went away or disappeared like other things did.
So you see why I spent tears - and am now spending hundreds of characters on this blog entry - watching him there. I couldn't stop crying. The entire Special Features section held a lot of information and attraction - especially seeing the Dwarf actors sing and listening to Richard Armitage & Co. talk about the Dwarf boot camp - but none of them could hold a candle to seeing Elijah talk, however sparsely he was featured, in the behind-the-scenes interviews. And I really do love him. I love how easygoing he was this time around, not having the burden to carry the whole movie, and getting to meet with his old friends.
People say how Orlando Bloom still looks like Legolas after all these years... but the same is also true for Elijah and Frodo. Elijah is not a classically handsome man in real life but his Frodo is even more beautiful this time around. His Frodo has always been stunning (those big blue eyes - who could resist?!) but this time you see him smile more. And that makes him even more attractive now, even more so than 12 years ago when the whole LOTR thing was happening.
I don't think anyone can blame me if I'm currently indulging in The Hobbit post-BOFA fics where Bilbo and Frodo start living together in Bag End (or in Erebor, depending on whether the fic is a Fix-It or not). Ian Holm has always been a great Bilbo to Elijah's Frodo but then you see all these event and premiere pics where Martin and Elijah share the scene. Young Bilbo & Frodo seem to have photogenic chemistry, at least, even if they never shared a scene together in The Hobbit movies. (And don't get me started on those pictures where Richard Armitage joined the picture with these two Hobbit actors - *cough*Japanpremiere*cough* - because I really don't need to get even more ideas about Thorin, Bilbo and Frodo becoming a family. *laughs*) There have been more and more of those The Hobbit/LOTR fusion fics popping around in AO3 lately and I have been collecting them faster than I can type my articles. It's kind of worrisome, to be honest, because wasn't I supposed to be over this in 2004? Apparently not. And I don't think I'll ever get over it. EVER.
Sorry, non-fandom friends/life/adulthood, I am never going to stop fangirling these movies and Elijah Wood. Take it or leave it.
Due to the Singapore trip and also work, I've not been able to even open the case until yesterday, after which I immediately watched the Extended Special Features part (Appendix 7). I figured I'd watch the movie afterwards when I have more time - 3 hours precisely - to watch the entire movie without stopping.
Now I have actual comments on the Appendices, besides the actual Extended movie, but I'll save my review for later. What I want to write about now - because I simply can't hold it back any longer - is about FRODO BAGGINS. Or to be precise, Elijah Wood playing Frodo Baggins.
Because I simply bawled when I saw Elijah playing Frodo. There was no other way I could describe myself on the moment he first appeared on the Special Features. It was just the opening part and there he was and I just started crying and crying. (Heck, I'm crying now even as I write this entry.) It's true that I'm a crybaby and easily sentimental about anything Lord Of The Rings, but it felt surreal and delightful and highly nostalgic all at once to see Elijah doing behind-the-scenes interviews for The Hobbit special features. I reacted this emotionally when I first saw him appear in the movie as Frodo in AUJ in 2012, but seeing him in the BTS portion of the home video is also just as an emotional experience as it was the movie.
The problem is that PJ and everybody - including Martin Freeman - talked about Elijah's iconic role as Frodo and what the role meant for him. Not just that, they kept mentioning about how Elijah was having to return again now, over a decade later, to do this second trilogy as Frodo. All of this just drives home the point that Elijah is the actor of my generation and how proud I am to be able to follow his journey, both as Frodo and as Elijah, all these years.
In 1999, when he was first cast, he was still a young actor. In 1999, I'd just graduated high school. We were both on the brink of entering the big wide world out there. He might be an actor and working in New Zealand at that time, while I was a nobody about to go to uni in Australia, and it's ridiculous to compare myself to him, but for some reason that was how easily I felt connected to the LOTR movie: because the actor playing the main character in the movie is someone my age and he was doing something that inspired me to do something worthwhile in my life.
Fast forward to 2013 and you finally get to see him, back in 2011, donning his Frodo costume again and playing alongside Ian Holm. There he was reprising the role that made him a pop culture icon. As for myself, I was finally realizing a life-long dream of writing about movies, something which I had started to do thanks to Lord Of The Rings (that LOTR blog I used to have is still around; I haven't deleted it). This is not the perfect parallel, of course, but I still feel connected to Elijah Wood in a way I can never be with Martin Freeman (although he is, by far, one of my favorite actors in the world working today). For Elijah, returning to New Zealand and the Hobbiton set probably feels like coming home. For me, watching Elijah returning to New Zealand and the Hobbiton set and talking about it feels like coming home... to a place and time I am familiar with, something that existed in my past that never went away or disappeared like other things did.
So you see why I spent tears - and am now spending hundreds of characters on this blog entry - watching him there. I couldn't stop crying. The entire Special Features section held a lot of information and attraction - especially seeing the Dwarf actors sing and listening to Richard Armitage & Co. talk about the Dwarf boot camp - but none of them could hold a candle to seeing Elijah talk, however sparsely he was featured, in the behind-the-scenes interviews. And I really do love him. I love how easygoing he was this time around, not having the burden to carry the whole movie, and getting to meet with his old friends.
People say how Orlando Bloom still looks like Legolas after all these years... but the same is also true for Elijah and Frodo. Elijah is not a classically handsome man in real life but his Frodo is even more beautiful this time around. His Frodo has always been stunning (those big blue eyes - who could resist?!) but this time you see him smile more. And that makes him even more attractive now, even more so than 12 years ago when the whole LOTR thing was happening.
I don't think anyone can blame me if I'm currently indulging in The Hobbit post-BOFA fics where Bilbo and Frodo start living together in Bag End (or in Erebor, depending on whether the fic is a Fix-It or not). Ian Holm has always been a great Bilbo to Elijah's Frodo but then you see all these event and premiere pics where Martin and Elijah share the scene. Young Bilbo & Frodo seem to have photogenic chemistry, at least, even if they never shared a scene together in The Hobbit movies. (And don't get me started on those pictures where Richard Armitage joined the picture with these two Hobbit actors - *cough*Japanpremiere*cough* - because I really don't need to get even more ideas about Thorin, Bilbo and Frodo becoming a family. *laughs*) There have been more and more of those The Hobbit/LOTR fusion fics popping around in AO3 lately and I have been collecting them faster than I can type my articles. It's kind of worrisome, to be honest, because wasn't I supposed to be over this in 2004? Apparently not. And I don't think I'll ever get over it. EVER.
Sorry, non-fandom friends/life/adulthood, I am never going to stop fangirling these movies and Elijah Wood. Take it or leave it.