Real Inspiration Behind The Lord of The Rings’ Elves Makes Orlando Bloom’s Iconic Performance Shine Even Brighter
- Orlando Bloom and Liv Tyler talk about being elves in The Lord of the Rings.
- Bloom was highly lauded for his work on the movie.
- Orlando Bloom would love to return to The Lord of the Rings.
Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film series, The Lord of the Rings, based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel of the same name, stars Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler, and more. The trilogy of epic fantasy adventure films is directed by Peter Jackson and follows the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he embarks on a quest to destroy the Dark Lord Sauron’s One Ring.
The trilogy has received widespread acclaim and is ranked among the greatest film trilogies ever made. The Lord of the Rings has been described as a film that is basically one of the most ambitious and successful dream projects of all time. Orlando Bloom, in an interview, talks about being a part of a successful franchise and how his character of Legolas was inspired by real life.
Orlando Bloom gets candid about playing Sindarin Elf in The Lord of the Rings
Actor Orlando Bloom played Legolas, a Sindarin Elf of the Woodland Realm, in The Lord of the Rings. Legolas is also the son of the King of the Woodland Realm of Northern Mirkwood, along with being one of the nine members of the Fellowship, who set out on a mission to destroy the One Ring.
The actor who depicted the character as an unstoppable fighter was highly praised for his work on-screen. In an interview with Seattle Pacific University, Bloom, along with Liv Tyler, who played Arwen, explained the inspiration of filmmaker Peter Jackson behind creating the Elves. Bloom shared at the time,
Peter Jackson didn’t know how to handle the elves. He certainly didn’t know about Arwen or what they were going to do with the character. As far as Legolas goes, I did all this work on the physicality. In the beginning, we did all of this movement training.
Tyler mentioned that it’s very hard to find the look for elves, and Bloom added that the author J. R. R. Tolkien had created the elves as ‘red-blooded’ fighting machines as well as angelic spirits. He explained further that they were godlike, androgynous, zen-like warriors, so he didn’t want Legolas to be like a fairy at the bottom of the garden.
The actors further shared that Jackson had later found something more realistic, and the elves were weird. They were fairy-ish, almost like aliens. During the conversation, Bloom & Tyler noted that at one time the team was trying to figure out the look, and they looked like ‘Spock’! They noted further that the elven extras in Rivendell were peppered all over the place, as it was the place of elves. Orlando Bloom added,
They’re sort of an unusual race. I remember having to go out and teach them how to walk. I’d be working on the movement, but I hadn’t even been filmed yet. I got a call from Pete, and he said, ‘Would I go down to the set and teach these guys how I was walking? Because they were all just prancing through the forest.
Bloom mentioned that they were trying to marvel at the walk like ballet dancers for elves. He said they have got composure like gymnasts and strength that comes from the core. The actor pretty much nailed the role of Legolas in The Lord of The Rings.
Because of his exceptional work, he reprised the character in 2013’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. It was later reported that Legolas’ role in The Hobbit movies was added as he did not appear in the novel.
Orlando Bloom would love to return to The Lord of the Rings franchise
Andy Serkis is going to reprise his role as Gollum/Sméagol in Lord of the Rings: The Hunt of Gollum, which is going to kick off in 2026. The excitement around the movie prompted Ian McKellen to express that he’d be interested in returning to The Lord Of The Rings as Gandalf.
Later when Orlando Bloom was asked if he’d like to return to the Tolkien franchise, he said (via Variety),
Oh man, those things are amazing. Yeah. I don’t know how they’d do it. I guess with AI you can do anything these days. But if Peter Jackson says jump, I say, ‘How high?’ I mean, he started my whole career.
Talking about the upcoming movie, Bloom shared that he does not know what makers have planned but added that he did speak to Serkis, who told him that they were thinking about how to do things. When Bloom asked Serkis about how that would even work, the actor replied that AI is the answer.
During an interview with The Independent, Bloom shared that initially, he auditioned for Faramir, but then he was called in to play Legolas. David Wenham played the character of Faramir.
The Lord of the Rings is available to stream on Max and Amazon Prime.
