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Billy Boyd & Dominic Monaghan of "LOTR: The Return of the King"
You first saw them in the Shire two years ago. Now, Pippin and Merry complete their journey in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” During the first two films, the Hobbit friends have been side by side, but moviegoers will finally see how their stories divert as the two are separated for most of the movie in “The Return of the King.”
Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) were in New York City recently to give their thoughts about the ending of the trilogy.
UGO: Can you guys talk about the sentiments going through your head, now that the trilogy has come to an end?
BILLY: Mmm, yeah, it’s sad that we won’t be working on this. It was such a special thing. We’ve all become good friends. If Tokien had written 50 books, we could have just had a career doing this!
DOMINIC: That would’ve been great!
BILLY: Except in the fourth one, it says that the Hobbits’ feet got a lot smaller. (Laughs) It’s good that there were three books, and that there were three films, and that the story makes sense. In the future, people can watch it as one story. It’s not [like] we made one movie and it was a success, and we said, “Oh, let’s make another one.” It’s just one story.
Q: It seems as if you guys have become really good friends. Did you guys know each much before this?
DOMINIC: We didn’t know each other, in any aspect, before “Lord of the Rings.”
BILLY (to Dominic): But I knew you from your magical theme. I used to watch you on TV.
DOMINIC: From my exemplary TV series…
BILLY: Yes.
DOMINIC: No, we didn’t know each other. We just met in New Zealand. We spent everyday, including our days off, with each other all the time. You just get to know someone very close.
Q: Are you guys still hanging out?
BILLY: Yeah, we still hang out.
DOMINIC: We spent a lot of time together this year. We went down to see Orlando [Bloom] in Mexico. We write together and we’re trying to get theaters involved with plays we want to do together in London and possibly New York. I think are ideal ethic would be that we go off, for three or four years and we do our own thing, and then we come back here and do something together again.
BILLY: We can do “Grumpy Old Men” together!
UGO: Have you guys played the video games as your own characters?
BILLY: The new one does have us, but as secret characters, but you have to finish the game. But I’ve never finished the game in my life. But I actually met the people from EA who make the game and they gave me the cheat code that you just put in and then we just pop out. How great is that?
DOMINIC: Brilliant.
BILLY (to Dominic): I’m going to play you.
DOMINIC: As Merry and Pippin in the game, we’re quite sarcastic. So if you have Aragorn, he’s like, “C’mon keep fighting, stay alive!” Whereas Merry and Pippin are like, “Oh, you’re rubbish! What are you doing?”
Q: Is there going to be a lot more of you guys on the extended version of “The Return of the King”?
DOMINIC: I think so. I think there probably will be a lot more. We’re aware of the footage and performances that got cut. There were probably nine scenes of mine that got cut in this movie. Some of them will be in there. It’s the nature of the beast. Stuff gets left on the cutting room floor. It has to because it necessarily doesn’t follow the story. When you’re showing stuff in the movies, the difference between showing this movie twice in a day or three times in a day is the difference between number 1 at the box office and number 4.
Q: How do you feel about fans standing outside in the cold for Trilogy Tuesday today? Tickets have gone for as high as $1000 on eBay…
BILLY: It’s madness isn’t it? I bought one but I couldn’t go because I had to talk to you guys! (Laughs) That was a thousand bucks for nothing!
By Thomas Chau in New York City | December 2003
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Cinema Confidential interview