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IN FULL BLOOM
Orlando Bloom will never forget picking up the phone to hear the good news. "When my agent told me I had the job, I was screaming down the phone! Oh my God - I was totally over-excited! It was too much," recalls the actor who plays elf warrior Legolas in The Lord of the Rings.
"Not only was it my first job, but it's the anticipated movie of the year! This whole job, can you believe it? I still can't believe that anyone is interested in what I have to say!"
The 25-yeard-old British-born actor had just finished a degree at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama when the producers of LOTR spied his audition tape.
"Suddenly I have my own toy," Bloom says, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's totally wicked."
As you can imagine, the inexperienced actor was overwhelmed to be acting alongside Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood, but he threw himself into the role, learning to horse-ride, do archery and master the language of Elvish. "The archery stuff was two months of training," he says. "My first line of dialogue in the movie is in Elvish, and, believe me, thats a hard thing to get your mouth around," he says.
The actor looks totally different these days, with his short, dark hair and dark eyes covered up in the film by blue contacts and a blonde wig, but he says it's great, because he's anonymous.
Bloom relished living in New Zealand for LOTR, throwing himself into surfing, snowboarding and bungee jumping with his fellow cast members throughout the 18-month shoot. "Bungee jumping was great, man," he enthuses. "I did, like, five in a row. I was like doing-doing!"
Now single, Bloom admits he did find it hard to be separated from his girlfriend at the time. "It's very difficult to keep a relationship going when you're not in the ame country. Right now, the only thing I'm in a big relationship with is my work."
Bloom, who is inundated with scripts, will next work appear in Black Hawk Down with Ewan McGregor and Eric Bana. "I play a ranger who's fresh off the boat, as it were. Like it is for me in real life."
ORLANDO BLOOM
NW MAGAZINE
Despite being catapulted to pin-up status thanks to his role as Legolas in The Fellowship of the Ring, Orlando Bloom says he's yet to be affected by his rise in popularity. The British hunk has been holidaying in Asia since the release of the blockbuster and says he has been shocked to witness the full scale of the hype upon his return. "My agent says she's been wading through bags of stuff in my absence," laughs Orlando. "The enormity of is only just hitting me, I've spent the last few weeks in India, so, to be honest, I'm only now realising the craziness. I went to get away for Christmas and the New Year. In fact, a couple of the Hobbits came with us, and we relaxed. We just had a laugh." And what about his new heart-throb crown? "I find it amazing that people get so excited," he says.
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