Actor Elijah Wood is the rare example of a child actor who's made the transition into adulthood relatively unscathed by the ravages of Hollywood. After a part in Back to the Future Part II at the tender young age of eight, Wood went on to star in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy, forever becoming identified with Hobbits. Wood is still questioned about the role, even more so now that production on Guillermo del Toro's LOTR prequel, The Hobbit, is underway.
In a recent interview to promote his new movie, 9, Wood was asked who he thinks would make a great choice to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.
That's a tough one. I think Ian Holm really set a high bar for that performance. He really did an extraordinary job, and he really made it his own. There's a lot of quirkiness to that character. It's not the easiest character to play. One couldn't really do it straightforward — there's some odd quirks to him. So it'll be interesting to see who they get. Nobody really comes to mind. They've mentioned a few people so far. James McAvoy is great. I think he could be interesting.
Wood is no stranger to voice acting, having lent his pipes to Mumble in the smash animated feature Happy Feet, so he was right at home in the sound booth for 9, in which he plays the lead role of #9. Interestingly, there are superficial
similarities between 9 and The Lord of the Rings that have not escaped Wood's notice.
I just loved that world that [director Shane Acker] created, and I loved the idea of being a part of it and then ultimately the idea of being a part of something that would flesh that out. Taking into consideration the journey that they all took, certainly there were similarities [between 9 and LOTR], but I definitely liked the characters and I think the character of 9 was interesting. They've already established a community, and he comes in with all these questions about who they are and what they are and that we need to get to the bottom of what these machines are about and what does this talisman do. They've all stopped asking those questions. I really liked that about him — that he shakes them loose a little bit to get at who they are and get at solving the dangers that face them.
Of course, one would naturally assume that Wood's favorite role would be portraying the Hobbit that made him a mega-star, but Wood admits to favoring the dark character of Kevin from Frank Miller's Sin City.
Sin City was a pretty awesome role to play. Getting a chance to play a character like [Kevin], and also being a fan of the graphic novel, it was a real treat — not something that comes around often. So that's definitely one of my favorites.
9 also features the voice talents of Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, and Jennifer Connelly.