Elijah Wood Comments On His Hopes For Upcoming Lord Of The Rings Films

As previously reported, New Line Cinema & Warner Bros. have begun development in new films for the Lord of the Rings, and Elijah Wood recently spoke with GQ about his reaction to the idea. Wood said he was cautiously optimistic about the concept, citing the inevitabilty of this type of project. “I’m fascinated and I’m excited. I hope it’s good. I’m surprised—I don’t know why I’m surprised because, of course there would be more movies. Obviously at the core of that, is a desire to make a lot of money,” Wood stated. “It’s not that a bunch of executives are like, ‘Let’s make really awesome art,’ and, again, not begrudging anybody because, of course, it is commerce. But great art can come from commerce. So those two things are not mutually exclusive.”

Wood also explained the motive force behind his Lord of the Rings films and his hope that a similar impulse would be present for the new project. “But Lord of the Rings didn’t come out of that place. It came out of a passion for these books and wanting to see them realized,” he continued. “And I hope that that is ultimately what will drive everything forward with whatever these subsequent movies are. I just hope that it’s the same motivating factor at its core, whenever they hire a screenwriter and a filmmaker—that it is with reverence for Tolkien’s material and enthusiasm to explore it.”