To what degree has playing these parts changed your lives?
Billy Boyd: Not wildly, actually. Life is pretty much same as it ever was. For me, I still live in Scotland, still see the same people, go to the same places. If anything, it means that my work is now seen on a more international stage, which is good. It means that you get the chance to work with people that you've dreamed of working with. So that's lovely.
But I guess you get recognized more often at the supermarket and so on.
Billy Boyd: Yeah, you get that, which is kind of weird. You forget sometimes that people have seen you, especially if you're abroad. I find it quite weird to be recognized, say, in Paris. You're used to it in your hometown or in Britain, even.
Dominic Monaghan: I was out walking last night and some kid, some French kid passed Elijah and me and went, "l'anglais!" And I was kind of, what? And he went up to Elijah and said, "l'anglais!" And Elijah was, Huh? And then he said, "l'anglais!" to me and hit me.
What to Watch Now
Let's say you've seen both LOTR movies now but you don't want to lose that tingly feeling. You want more swords, more sorcery, more pointy ears. Yulek's got a list for you, then: Goblins and Wizards and Elves, oh my.
Billy Boyd: Are you serious?
Dominic Monaghan: Yeah.
Billy Boyd: Honestly?
Dominic Monaghan: Yeah.
Billy Boyd: What does "l'anglais" mean?
Dominic Monaghan: English. It's that French-English thing. They hate us.
Billy Boyd: They like the Scots, though.
Dominic Monaghan: Yeah.
Billy Boyd: Battle of the Neville's Cross and all that.
Dominic Monaghan: He would have given you a cuddle.
Billy Boyd: Yeah.
Elijah has the ring kept in a box as a sort of souvenir. Did you keep anything from the shoot?
Dominic Monaghan: I have a few feet. I've got a ring as well. And some ears. A few things, the original script and a few books that have been signed by everyone.
Billy Boyd: I have nothing.
No?
Billy Boyd: No. I'm probably the laziest man in the world. So I wouldn't go around getting everyone's signature for the book. I lost the script. I'm just... I never think ahead with these things, you know? I end up back at home and I think, You know, I did that for a year and a half, what have I got? A tattoo.
Dominic Monaghan: Nothing!
Billy Boyd: A tattoo!
Dominic Monaghan: I signed his ass.
You could get Dom to give you some feet.
Billy Boyd: Yeah.
Dominic Monaghan: No, I'm not giving him anything.
Billy Boyd: Come on.
Dominic Monaghan: No.
Billy Boyd: Come on.
Dominic Monaghan: They wouldn't fit you anyway, they're my feet.
Billy Boyd: Well, steel my feet next time.
Dominic Monaghan: Ok.
Billy Boyd: Thanks.
Do you think that fantasy is replacing science fiction to any degree? We've got another Star Wars and another Star Trek coming up and they don't seem nearly as interesting as this whole fantasy world. Are you guys sci-fi fans anymore? Do you look forward to Star Trek, for example?
Billy Boyd: I do, actually. I love Star Trek.
Dominic Monaghan: Geek.
Billy Boyd: No, I love it.
Dominic Monaghan: There do seem to be little trends that take place in Hollywood. A whole load of war movies will get made about Vietnam or a whole load of, you know, snowboarding movies or surfing movies. It goes through trends. But I don't necessarily see that Lord of the Rings is a fantasy movie. It wasn't written that way. It seems to be a kind of historical movie. The way that Tolkien approached it and the way that Pete seems to approach it is that these are stories that happened before all these guys were around and it's about how our world was formed. So it seems to come more from a historical background than fantasy.
But you do wonder what science fiction could add to a fantasy as rich as this one.
Dominic Monaghan: Well, Soderbergh has just come out with Solaris, which I saw in LA and it's very good. A great, beautiful movie. But I don't know. It's trends. There'll be a backlash against all the fantasy movies at some point and people will ask where all the gritty, fly-on-the-wall, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh movies went. It comes and goes.
In another year, you'll be doing this again with, more or less, the same film. Do you get used to this and to the film or is it still fresh?
Billy Boyd: For me, it's great taking friends to the films. I have some friends who are huge fans of the books. To be in it is great, but then to be able to take your friends and family to the premiere and see them having a good time -- it's a real treat.
