SFX spoke to former “LOST” star Evangeline Lilly about starring in the upcoming Real Steel but also asked her about joining Peter Jackson’s two Hobbit films.
Asked how she was preparing for the role, Lilly said that “With every film, you have to educate yourself on the material and it’s often things you don’t know a lot about. Right now I’m studying Elvish and having conversations with people about learning how to be an archer, a swordsperson and how to fight like an elf instead of a gritty convict.” [Laughs]
The actress says she has been a fan of the books since she was 13 and that she also was worried about the addition of her character Tauriel to the story.
“I am very concerned to this day that people will watch the film and I’ll be the black mark on the film,” she said. “I know how adamant the purists are and I’m one of them! That said, upon reading ‘The Hobbit’ again, as an adult, I can see why additional characters were needed to round out the story as an adaptation especially female characters! ‘The Hobbit’ didn’t include female characters at all and was a very linear story, a book for children, really. What Peter, Fran (Walsh) and Philippa (Boyens) have done is all in perfect keeping with Tolkien’s world, while adding a third dimension to an otherwise very two-dimensional story.”
Lilly added that she will be in and out of New Zealand for the course of a year to film her role.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is scheduled for a December 14, 2012 release, to be followed by The Hobbit: There and Back Again on December 13, 2013.
(Photo Credit: Lia Toby/WENN.com)
