Topher Grace Reveals He Recut The Hobbit Trilogy As One Two-Hour Movie

In an interview with Indiewire, Topher Grace revealed that he recut all three of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films into a single, two-hour movie as a hobby. He says he did so to recover from playing Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in Spike Lee’s upcoming film BlacKkKlansman. Here are highlights:

On how the role affected him: “I was so depressed. I was probably a terrible husband at the time. It was so disturbing to go home and turn on the news to see how his ideology was affecting us at the moment.”

On why he recut the films: “I think that maybe The Hobbit should’ve been one movie, and many people would agree. Money drives a lot of those franchises. It’s better when the art leads.”

On editing films as a hobby: “It’s not that I ever want to edit professionally. It’s like doing woodwork in my garage.”