Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, also known as Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin from the "Lord of the Rings" movies, were the stars of a wildly entertaining Friday afternoon panel at Phoenix Fan Fusion.
Here are a few of the highlights.
The unofficial Phoenix Fan Fusion Bard who entertained the crowd before the hobbits panel on Friday.
Benjamin Leatherman
A Middle-earth sing-along
A Fan Fusion staffer introduced a man in particolored purple garb as Noah, the "official unofficial" Fan Fusion bard. Noah first led a sing-along of “Misty Mountains Cold” with the scene and song from "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" projected on screens accompanied by lyrics. Audience participation seemed minimal on this first song, but it was much greater and spirited for Merry and Pippin’s drinking song at the Green Dragon from "The Fellowship of the Ring." Here also, audio and video from the film guided the audience in singing, with the aid of a bouncing ring to show the pacing of lyrics.A range of Hobbit moods
After a quarter-century of talking about hobbits and Middle-earth, and regular appearances at fan conventions, some Shire denizens are as enthusiastic as ever, while others seem to find their interest flagging. Wood in particular seemed as exuberant as if the movies had just come out. Astin and Boyd were amiable and delighted in reminiscing and interacting with the audience. Monaghan, while engaging and often funny in a slightly sardonic way, seemed perhaps a bit tired of rehashing the events of filming, sometimes fiddling with the microphone or ending a discussion definitively — and maybe a little facetiously — with a seemingly brusque “Thanks for your question.”One very nimble hobbit
Monaghan spent much of the panel crouching or squatting on his chair. Hobbit or not, that is some good hip and knee mobility.A heartwarming question from a young girl
A little girl of perhaps 4 or 5 years old asked, “How do the Hobbits get hope when they’re scared?” The audience, as one: “Awww.” Astin asked in a friendly but not parental tone, “What do you think they should do if they get scared?” The girl responded, “They should tell themselves to be brave, and then ... be brave.” Astin replied, “A bit of Longbottom Leaf could help.” Wood added, “Or take you into the realm of paranoia. You never know.”
‘Master and Commander’ became a running joke
An audience member asked which roles outside of Middle-earth were the actors’ favorites. “When you are working on something, that becomes your favorite role because it’s most in your mind,” Boyd began. “Doing Shakespeare is always great because the words are so wonderful, but then there’s being in 'Master and Commander' and sailing a ship.” Each Hobbit in turn then began his answer by jokingly citing 'Master and Commander.'Hobbit cannabis use discussed
An audience member asked, “One of my favorite parts of 'Lord of the Rings' is the extremely casual use of cannabis in the film. I’m just curious what role that may have played behind the scenes?”Wood described a drive from one part of New Zealand to another with Viggo Mortensen during which he smoked marijuana for the first time.
Monaghan talked about getting together recently with Boyd and Ian McKellen for “some wizard and hobbit smoke-a-lot kind of thing” and delighting in how, “25 years later, Merry and Gandalf are still sitting around sharing a little pipeweed.”
Questions and prizes for fans
The moderator turned the metaphorical tables on the audience by posing questions about the panelists’ other, non-"LOTR" projects. The panelists soon upped the ante by promising eight American dollars (three from Boyd and five from Astin) and an unopened hotel mouthwash bottle (courtesy of Monaghan) to anyone who could answer questions correctly. When a fan correctly answered a question about Billy Boyd's musical side project, all four actors leapt up to jump around the stage.Pranks recalled
Wood described an invented game called Tig that his fellow Hobbits were continually trying to get him to play, though he seemed never to learn the rules correctly. “They tortured me,” he joked. He eventually learned that no such game existed and that the others had merely been inventing reasons to make fun of him.“They tortured me by trying to make me believe they had some sort of extrasensory perception capabilities, and I’m not convinced they don’t,” Astin said.
Boyd recalled a time when he and Monaghan received rewrites for a scene to be shot that day. “They were going to shoot Treebeard with us falling and hitting all these branches on the way down so that it rips our clothes. We hit the ground naked, and I turn to Merry and say, ‘I’m cold, Merry.’ And Merry says, ‘Hold me.’” He and Monaghan drove to the shooting location in silence, wondering if this was for real. (Spoiler: It wasn't.)
A discussion of the ‘real world’
An audience member asked, “Which Hobbit would be able to best survive in the real world without things like second breakfast?”“Saying ‘the real world’ is interesting,” Astin mused. “Is it like the natural world with bugs and stuff you have to worry about or the world of politics? What is the real world?”
Astin then added, “If we had to navigate the rocky shoals of convention life, I think I would be your man.”
