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Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd - Merry and Pippin
Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd are as inseparable as their Lord of the Rings characters, Merry and Pippin. Having done press together for three years, after working together for 16 months in New Zealand, the hobbit actors appear as a pair at press functions.
Only the final film, The Return of the King, separates the two as Pippin goes off with Gandolf and Merry stays behind to fight with Theoden’s troops.
In real life, the two face confusion all the time. Monaghan recalled a recent story. “Someone came up to me yesterday and said, ‘I really, really enjoyed Master and Commander.’” Setting the tone for a humorous interview, the duo took turns fielding questions.
How do you feel about ending this four year journey?
Dominic Monaghan: Yeah, but next year you’re going to have The Return of the Return of the King. Then you’re going to have The Three Towers after that. It’s weird. I don't know if I’m really getting my head around the fact that it’s going to end. I keep saying to people that change is a really good thing. Whether you like it or not, your life is going to change because you’re not necessarily going to be doing this and hanging out with people through work, but we all hang out. Certainly Billy and I and Elijah and Viggo, we all hang out quite a lot anyway. Maybe that part of the job will never end.
How have the films changed your life?
Billy Boyd: Lots of ways. Personally, it’s changed me just being in New Zealand for a year and a half. I spent a lot more time enjoying nature a lot more. And a lot of that has to do with New Zealand and some of it has to do with Tolkien as well. So personally, it’s changed me. And I’ve got these new friends as well, which is a good thing.
Has your asking price gone up?
BB: Professionally? Yeah, and I get offered better scripts. And I get a chance to work with people I never thought I’d get a chance to work with.
DM: Dom Monaghan?
BB: Dom Monaghan being one. Peter Wier being another.
Do hobbits get all the girls?
BB: I have a girlfriend now, but before that, I had so many girls it wasn’t even funny. Now Dom gets a lot of girls.
DM: When I’m single, which I am at the moment. What’s really funny is there’s quite a few rumors on the net about myself and Elijah having a relationship. Weird. There’s photos of Orlando and Viggo doing stuff, superimposed photos I should add. It’s this weird kind of connotation that we’re all fooling around with each other, I think because we’re so close.
Where did you go that girls recognized you?
DM: Well, you know, we’re young guys and we go out to bars and cafes where the female of the species frequents.
BB: It’s kind of like going to the water hole if you’re a buffalo.
DM: Yeah, and having your snack and thinking, “Wow, I feel refreshed” and then turning around and thinking, “Well, who’s ready?” I think also what happened on the movie is it was amplified by the fact that there were hardly any women, certainly as actors, in the job. So all the boys’d be hanging out, doing a lot of boys-y stuff like watching sports and going out drinking. And then Liv would turn up or Cate would turn up and we’d all turn into these mushy kind of guys because we’d not seen women for a long time. But yes, we all love women.
Billy, how did you meet your girlfriend?
BB: She was working with a friend of mine.
In three years of doing press, are there any Lord of the Rings stories you haven’t told yet?
BB: No.
DM: No.
Was it different to be separated in the last film?
BB: Yeah, it definitely was. We were separated in real terms as well. Where did you film that stuff?
DM: Like Twizel, Southland.
BB: And I was near Wellington so I was staying in my house.
Did you lose a certain support system?
BB: Yeah, because Dom was off and I was left and he was off in Twizel. I think we were so used to going out for dinner or meeting up for a drink or something. That kind of reflected what was happening in the movie.
DM: It was quite good for the movie. We did miss each other and we did feel different and that translated into character. So I think ultimately it was quite beneficial. I think there’s a lot of specific things that Pete did along the way that we didn’t understand why it was happening that way, but it seemed to make sense. Like he brought all the hobbits together for the start of the movie and then brought in separate characters from there. So the four hobbits started for a week or so without anyone else, and then he brought Ian McKellen in and Viggo and Orlando. So he essentially surrounded the fellowship around the hobbits which is kind of how it happens in the book and the movie. So it all works and it makes your job a lot easier.
How badly callused did your feet get?
DM: They were kind of moisturized because you’re in a little bubble of latex. They’re soft. I had an ingrown toenail. Boy, that was sore. The doctor had to come and stab it and all this puss came out. I was flicking it at Elijah.
By Fred Topel | December 2003
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Billy & Dominic interview