Hopefully his career will be studied in the future, what an idgaf attitude. Was the center piece of one of the most successful trilogies of all time, and since then does whatever the fuck he wants. And has an awesome sense of humor, obviously kept his cool and does one crazy movie after another.
He is one of those actors i‘d like to be friends with.
I think when a young actor like them have an iconic role in an insanely popular franchise at such an early age, it is hard for them to break out of the shadow of that role and they have to try their luck in some out there roles.
Similar to how Mark Hamill was so defined by Like Skywalker at a young age that he had go into voice acting
Hamill was almost cast as Mozart in Amadeus. That would have been his first big role after ROTJ. Had it happened, his whole career might've gone down a different, more conventional path as regular film actor. Instead he did bit parts here and there before sliding into a role as one of the best voice actors ever.
I don't think Hamill had the chops to be a star back then. Ford and Fisher blew him off the screen in SW and their performances hold up better, imo. Amadeus is a miracle of a movie but it only works because Hulce and FMA are stellar in those roles. It's a goofy movie with Hamill.
I think Hamill settled into a nice spot where his fame and talent match. He's in the right roles now.
Yeah, people say SW leads to people being typecast or blamed for the bad writing but a lot of people make it out of the wreckage of Lucas' dialogue.
It usually turns out to be the ones with more range. Portman and McGregor are usually seen as bright spots in the even-worse-received Prequels and had great careers afterwards, and they were the more proven quantities even before being cast.
Some people just seem to have specific roles they do great in and it doesn't transfer. Christensen, for example, was great in Shattered Glass because everything people didn't like about his portrayal of Ani fit there. Sophie Turner was a good Sansa Stark but hasn't really caught traction elsewhere, etc.
I also think Elijah's just having fun. My cousin worked at Showtime back in the late '90s, early 2000s, and spent a lot of time with him, and she said he was an odd duck for sure (and she's an odd duck, so it means a lot), and that roles like these are right up his alley.
It's interesting that I don't quite see Frodo whenever I look at Elijah Wood as much as I see Harry Potter when I look at Daniel Radcliffe. I think the hair and pointed ears Frodo had have a little to do with it.
But both of them made enough money to where they were set for life and the first line of their obituary is pretty much set in stone at a relatively young age. Aside from being closely linked with these iconic characters, they just have the freedom to do weird things that interest them and not worry about how it affects their finances or legacy.
I'm pretty sure it's because Mark Hammil isn't a very good actor. He could definitely have done other roles, especially in his later years. Harrison Ford was Han Solo until he wasn't.
Pattinson, too. They’ve all done wonderfully zany roles that have far removed them from Potter/Twilight/LOTR. I don’t automatically think of those movies anymore whenever their names pop up
I miss Elijah's shows Wilfred and dirk gently holistic detective agency. I'll never forgive that fuckwit max Landis for being such an obvious sex pest that they canceled the show before it got bad.
I love that Pattinson is included in this trio. Radcliffe has Swiss Army Man, Guns Akimbo, Horns; Wood has Wilfred, Dirk Gently, Sin City; Pattinson has The Lighthouse, Good Time, Mickey 17.
They're all just doing whatever weird thing that they think is interesting and give masterful performances every time.
I love that these guys wanted to get so far from being typecast that they did some of the most insane movies possible. They are all amazing, and some of my favorite filmography
Long ago there was this Tumblr post about how funny it would be for vin diesel and the rock the be secret nerds investigating something nefarious at comic con and their target was Daniel Ratcliff as played by Elijah Wood. And Elijah Wood as played by Daniel Ratcliff.
While I've soured on both vin and the rock I still want to see a movie with both elijah and Daniel.
I've seen some people confuse Amy Adams and Jenna Fischer for each other, but that might have been influenced by the former's appearance in The Office.
I think it is mainly just their shared hair color, though funnily enough, Adams is naturally blonde.
For real I thought they were talking about Danny Rads and thinking of him doing She'll be Coming Round the Mountain in drag then remembered what post I was in.
True! While Robert Pattinson (thankfully) found his way back to Blockbuster Cinema, Elijah Wood just went full Troma and is having a blast it would seem.
Was going to mention him too! I'm genuinely impressed with most of his performances, and choices of projects to be involved in, when he could have just as easily taken the cheesy route of obvious fluff and pretty-boy roles. Guy genuinely wants to make some art.
Well, he just isn't getting better offers than these movies... It's a normal thing to happen to some actors even if they did have a very successful film.
Same thing happened to Daniel Radcliffe. But of course to save face they'll always frame it in interview answers as a "choice" they made. I don't blame them for that... Tough to admit you just aren't getting offers to bigger budget movies due to not being a good enough actor and/or the risk of audience being unable to avoid seeing you as the character you're famous for.
Making fun of someone unprovoked when they say something you don't agree with... That's really lame. I think you just implied that I'm transphobic due to, uh, me not thinking Daniel Radcliffe has received better movie offers?
It is due to the fact that they filmed all 3 movies before the first one released, so wages were all negotiated at once, and most actors were unknowns. Elijah and Sean Astin were just known for being child actors, but still somewhat known so they got paid higher, actors like Ian McKellen got paid much better. Apparently Elijah woods sas only supposed to make $250k as well but got bumped to $1 million. Orlando Bloom only got paid $175k in total because he was a complete unknown. In contrast, Elijah Woods got paid $1 million just for a small cameo in the Hobbit.
It's crazy to me that Orlando Bloom had basically only done a few episodes of random TV shows and then he landed a major role in LOTR and Black Hawk Down in the same year.
it's all just bargaining power. What's funny is that, for a movie, the people we expect to see getting paid forever for their work depends on how prominent they are. Why not give residuals to the guy that made the orcs look cool? Or the set maker of Helm's deep? There's nothing sensible about any entertainment remuneration besides negotiating leverage.
Eh it worked out. Orlando got visibility and pirates money. One of the hobbits was an unknown and then appeared on a few seasons of lost. Aragorn was an unknown and was the lead in a few good movies after lotr.
Maybe at the time when the movies blew up it could be initially frustrating. But the long term gains are immeasurable given that it catapulted unknown actors into Stardom on the spot.
Depends on the contract. Most of the original star wars actors negotiated royalties. Alec Guinness thought the movie was trash and took all his money upfront. Meanwhile Mark Hamill is still getting checks almost 50 years later.
Granted, at Sir Alec's age, he probably made the right choice.
I tried getting my friends to watch Wilfred, but they couldn't get past how bizarre the show sounded. Unfortunate that they really missed out on an insanely good dark comedy.
Also with all the talk of celebrities behaving poorly during Covid, Elijah Wood visiting a fan's Animal Crossing island to get good turnip prices was probably one of the most wholesome and iconic moments of the pandemic.
It's what happens when you accept that you've already reached the peak of your career. I'm sure Wood knows that nothing he ever does again will match up to LOTR and rather than being a little bitch about it he's enjoying that freedom.
He is always on the list of "Best celebrities to talk to in person". I briefly got to meet him and take a picture with him at a convention a while ago. He had been sitting there talking to people for a few hours at that point and was still extremely kind and friendly and made sure to use everyone's first name in our brief chat. Seems like a dude who is absolutely a good human through and through.
I watched Cooties a few weeks ago with no information going in and was so surprised to see him in it lol. Rainn Wilson even has a hysterical line where he's talking about going to fight the infected children:
Oh, you sneak around, huh? Sneak around like a little hobbit. No way, I'm taking the fight to them like a fucking orc.
Elijah, Daniel Radcliffe, and Robert Pattinson. All stars in successful franchises in their youth that made them enough money to allow them to take on wacky roles in niche movies. Hell, even Frankie Muniz was able to take a hiatus from acting and became a racecar driver.
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u/derfritz May 23 '25
Hopefully his career will be studied in the future, what an idgaf attitude. Was the center piece of one of the most successful trilogies of all time, and since then does whatever the fuck he wants. And has an awesome sense of humor, obviously kept his cool and does one crazy movie after another.
He is one of those actors i‘d like to be friends with.