00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 - It is here, Galadriel.
00:04 The moment we feared.
00:05 (thunder rumbling)
00:08 (dramatic music)
00:11 - It was just announced that the first two episodes
00:21 are gonna be going to movie theaters.
00:23 I was curious what your reaction was when you heard.
00:25 Did you guys not know this?
00:27 - I don't know.
00:28 - So, I'm very cool.
00:29 - There's your reaction.
00:30 - Any thoughts you can tell us?
00:31 - They announced that the first two episodes
00:33 are gonna be played in movie theaters
00:35 as part of a special fan event.
00:37 - Oh, right. - Very cool.
00:38 - I heard about the fan event.
00:39 Okay, that's incredible and rightfully so.
00:42 I want people to have that experience like we did
00:45 of seeing it on a big screen.
00:48 It's very cinematic, so that's amazing.
00:51 - You're the first person I heard that from.
00:53 Great news.
00:53 (laughing)
00:54 Yeah, literally, that's the brand new news
00:56 right from you, right there.
00:57 You knew?
00:58 - I just heard that on Twitter, yeah.
00:59 - I don't know.
00:59 - You're on Instagram.
01:00 - No.
01:01 - Well, I am, but I don't look at it.
01:02 (laughing)
01:03 - Yeah, I found that out on Instagram.
01:05 - Bravo. - Same, same.
01:07 - That is very, very good news.
01:08 I know Corey Olsen, the talking professor,
01:10 was pushing for that, so obviously, someone did well.
01:13 - It's really cool.
01:14 I think the show is so cinematic
01:18 and the first two episodes,
01:20 J.A. Bayona, who directed it,
01:22 is such an amazing director
01:24 who works with the camera so beautifully,
01:25 so I think they'll really shine in cinemas.
01:30 - He is a film director, he's an auteur.
01:33 You know, there's very few, I feel like,
01:37 there's very few of those directors
01:39 still working at this scale.
01:42 There's a handful of those that believe in the process
01:45 from its inception, that get involved to,
01:48 you know, the end of it, like, see it through,
01:50 wanna run as long as the cameras need to roll
01:55 in order to find that nugget and that kernel, that essence.
02:00 And it was, that's what the process was like
02:03 for me to work with him,
02:04 and I had a particular closeness to him
02:06 as we both speak Spanish,
02:08 so I was able to meet that even more intimate J.A.,
02:13 and, 'cause I call him J.A. 'cause we're friends.
02:16 He did a thing that was very, that I found,
02:21 being more of a visual person
02:23 and the character being quite behavioral,
02:27 he would run takes without any dialogue sometimes,
02:30 and we would just run through the beats with looks,
02:34 he would play music to get you in that environment
02:37 of the character, so it just felt like working
02:39 with just a great film director.
02:42 - His imagination is just wild, and so is his ambition.
02:45 And yet also, he's very kind of silly
02:49 and lighthearted on set.
02:51 And that's a wonderful combination for an actor,
02:54 to be able to work with someone like that.
02:55 - Yeah.
02:56 - And I think also, this is a global cast,
03:00 which I think really suited the material
03:01 because Tolkien was obsessed with myth and legend,
03:04 and we had kind of all these different cultures
03:06 who kind of were bringing their particular imagination
03:10 from their particular place, and J.A.'s is just,
03:13 and also his links with horror.
03:15 I think that fantasy and horror
03:17 kind of go really well together.
03:19 - The beautiful thing about Tolkien
03:20 is that a new generation can continuously
03:21 find this material, and so I'm curious
03:23 how you would pitch this show to someone
03:25 who maybe saw the Peter Jackson movies once
03:29 and have never read the books.
03:30 - This is where you wanna start.
03:33 The films are Middle Earth in its adulthood,
03:35 and they stand on their own,
03:37 but this is the first chapter.
03:40 This is the first steps on these epic journeys
03:43 that you get to witness.
03:44 You don't need to know anything,
03:45 just turn on Amazon, you'll be happy.
03:48 And what you'll see is such a rich, rich set
03:50 of worlds and realms, 'cause each realm
03:53 is at the peak of its power.
03:54 Numenor, Khazad-dûn, the Elven kingdoms.
03:57 It's a brilliant time to come to Middle Earth
04:00 and discover what happened before
04:03 all those major events that we know quite well.
04:06 - The beauty about Tolkien's work
04:08 is that there's so many themes which are timeless
04:12 and still modern.
04:15 Themes of friendship, of hope, of love and despair,
04:20 and I guess sticking together,
04:24 believing that something better is coming.
04:28 And I think that's the beauty of this world
04:31 because it's so vast and so fantastic,
04:35 yet within it, it has these stories
04:38 which hopefully audiences will really be able
04:40 to connect to.
04:41 I think it's a really good combination.
04:43 - I think it's interesting 'cause Tolkien
04:44 was not a big fan of allegory,
04:46 but I think one thing that appeals to me
04:49 about fantasy is that it cushions you
04:52 in a world where you can comfortably explore
04:54 our existential longing, what it is to be human.
04:58 And those themes of love, of loyalty,
05:02 all these things are timeless.
05:03 They belong to all of us, they're universal.
05:06 And that belongs to this moment
05:08 as much as it did 20 years ago.
05:10 - I would say that the themes are mythological.
05:13 They are, where he started it was local,
05:16 but it's translated to the universal.
05:18 So any of the themes that we feel as humans,
05:21 the battle between head and heart,
05:23 the relationship to power, what happens to ego,
05:26 I mean, specifically in terms of Numenor,
05:28 there's people who want to live forever.
05:30 And there's another side of the island,
05:32 which is more of the faithful,
05:34 who would like to continue on with the gift of Iluvatar
05:39 and die and be mortal.
05:40 So there are many a theme.
05:44 And I think because Tolkien was a genius
05:48 and that he condensed lots of different mythologies,
05:51 that this will be relatable as a story
05:53 throughout the centuries probably for him.
05:55 I'm sure it's gonna be ongoing.
05:57 - Going into this, we were told
05:58 that there's a five season commitment to this,
06:01 which is great.
06:02 It's job security for you guys
06:03 and you can sort of plan out what you're gonna be doing.
06:06 I'm curious how much you asked
06:08 about the future of the Ark or where the story is going.
06:12 Did you wanna know any of that
06:13 or you're just focused on the now?
06:15 - I mean, of course, I mean, everyone kind of wants to know
06:18 like what their security is like, I guess.
06:21 But I think right now,
06:23 I think the person that Theo is in the first season
06:26 would be very different to what Theo is
06:28 when he's mid twenties, you know?
06:31 He's also the hubris, how people are elves
06:33 and they get to live a lot longer.
06:34 So I honestly have no clue what's going on,
06:37 but right now I've been set a task to do
06:40 and I think I don't really wanna get ahead of myself
06:42 too much and just kind of focus on doing the job for now.
06:45 And if I live through Theo as he's living it,
06:50 then I think that's where the best of it will come out.
06:54 - You won't be in your mid twenties,
06:56 five seasons from now, you'll be 19.
06:58 - Oh yeah, probably.
06:59 (laughing)
07:00 - Well, I guess we know who we're playing
07:01 in terms of Elendil, Earian, Kemen,
07:05 but some of the characters are canon.
07:08 So we know where the trajectory is
07:10 and Tolkien's written kind of signposts,
07:13 moments that we know for these characters.
07:15 But at the minute we're focusing on season one
07:18 and exploring the characters in their early beginnings.
07:22 Isildur, for example, isn't a warrior yet.
07:24 He's a sailor on the cusp of adulthood
07:28 who's trying to find himself and his place in Numenor.
07:32 It's quite exciting to kind of not know everything.
07:36 And I think also kind of the showrunners have,
07:41 as they've got to know us all as well,
07:44 had that influence how they've written
07:48 particular characters and stuff.
07:49 So it's exciting.
07:51 - I'm curious if you guys were able to keep up
07:53 with some of the storylines that were happening
07:55 in other kingdoms and other realms,
07:57 or were you guys focused primarily on what you were doing?
07:59 - I think you've got to focus on the world that you're in.
08:03 I think, yeah, I guess that there's no need really
08:06 for a sense of the macro.
08:08 You can just keep it to your world.
08:10 And I think that benefits your character,
08:11 depending on your storyline, of course.
08:13 And with myself, I think it was all things Numenor.
08:16 - I mean, we were primarily focused within our worlds,
08:18 but we had the gift of going to other people's sets
08:22 and seeing their worlds.
08:23 And that was really special.
08:25 I once saw a dwarf, a Wynartha, eating sushi
08:29 at lunch, and that is a very bold thing to see.
08:34 He had to kind of like take his beard and like lift it up
08:37 and then just swallow some sushi.
08:38 But like, yeah, seeing all the worlds was very special,
08:41 but we only fully saw the finished product a few weeks ago.
08:44 And that was an emotional experience
08:48 because we've all been so engrossed in our own worlds
08:50 and then seeing everyone else bring their A game.
08:52 And yeah, that was-
08:54 - It was great. - It was great.
08:55 - Whose review of "Rings of Power" means the most to you?
08:59 - For better or worse, my mom.
09:00 My mom, she introduced me to the book.
09:03 She's been a huge Tolkien fan as long as I can remember.
09:06 And, you know, I grew up in Wellington,
09:07 so Tolkien has been inescapable my whole life.
09:10 When I was in primary school,
09:11 Peter Jackson was making his first trilogy.
09:13 When I was at drama school in Wellington,
09:14 he was making the "Hobbit" movies.
09:17 You know, Middle Earth has been in the air my whole life.
09:20 I never thought I'd be part of one of these stories,
09:22 but now that I am, the person who has the strongest opinion
09:25 is, in fact, my mother.
09:26 - My mom.
09:28 - That's also my answer.
09:30 Your mom. - My mom.
09:32 My mother is one of the least overtly excitable people
09:37 about my career.
09:38 Not in a bad way.
09:40 She's proud, but she, you know, I am her boy, you know?
09:45 So there is all this mirage of fame
09:50 or big posters, stuff like that.
09:52 That really doesn't do much for her.
09:55 So having, I want to bring essence to the character.
10:00 And if my mother sees that,
10:05 I know that then I did it right,
10:07 'cause she knows my essence.
10:09 So I'm very excited to hear what she has to say.
10:12 - I found that I was terrified
10:14 for the characters at every turn.
10:15 It felt like there was a threat around every corner.
10:18 I personally don't think I'd make it about five minutes
10:20 in the world of Middle Earth.
10:21 How long do you think you would survive?
10:23 - I can't see very well,
10:24 so I'm sure- (laughing)
10:27 - You could get some glasses, surely, Middle Earth.
10:31 - Does anyone have glasses?
10:32 - We don't need them in Numenor.
10:33 We've got perfect eyes right here.
10:34 - Yeah, if I lived on Numenor,
10:36 I could last a long time, I think,
10:38 if I was in Middle Earth.
10:39 - She's got a lot of smarts, though, this one.
10:42 So she's got her way around it.
10:43 - No, you could go to like a wizard
10:44 and like get some healing. - Get some eyes.
10:47 - Yeah, get some new eyes.
10:48 - Like, could Ema go to a wizard and get some new eyes?
10:51 - An actor in Middle Earth with all these orcs.
10:56 Do you think I could say a sonnet,
10:58 like they'd leave me alone or something?
11:00 I don't know.
11:01 I'd like to think maybe a couple of weeks.
11:05 You know, I enjoy fishing.
11:07 I can climb a tree, but probably not very long,
11:09 to be quite honest, with all these warriors and everything.
11:11 And, you know, I'm used to my comfortable life
11:15 in the 21st century, so.
11:17 (laughing)
11:19 (upbeat music)
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