French magazine Popcorn (October/November 2013 issue) has a very interesting interview with Lee Pace, where he discusses the elf he portrays in The Hobbit trilogy movies, and comments on Peter Jackson’s and Tolkien’s work. Lee shares what Thranduil and him have in common, who drew him to the role and more. The original version can be read here, but for all those who do not understand French, we translated the interview to English.

Is it easy to play Orlando Bloom’s father?
I loved playing Thranduil, Legolas’ father. As you can imagine, these two have a complicated relationship. It is not too easy to describe it, because we’ve just finished shooting and it’s probably still too fresh in my head. What is certain is that they have a completely opposite view of the world. And I think that this film makes us understand why Legolas left his clan and joined brotherhood of Lord of the Rings.

Who drew you to this role and what do you have in common with the character you play?
What attracts me to the elves is that they are not people like you and me. They are beings close to nature, trees and animals. Just as if they were tigers. And my character is an old tree, half tiger half-tree. I would say even a lizard. The elves are being very down to Earth and are in constant touch with the natural elements. And I’m the king of this world. He [Thranduil] is an extremely powerful being. Peter and I have worked on my character for more than three years. What is also different with Thranduil, is that he is alone and haunted by this eternal life. But he has the power to change his destiny and others’.

How would you describe your role?
Let’s be clear: this is a character who is neither good nor bad. He is not a villain but it is true that in the first part [An Unexpected Journey], he refuses to help the dwarves . On the other hand, put yourself in his place: would you go to protect a race that is not yours and risk your life for an unfamiliar cause. He is a great warrior, he is immortal and he just seeks to protect his kingdom, Kingdom of The Elves. He fought in the past against the dragons and he knows how hard it is to kill them. So when the dwarves come to seek his help, he refuses to give them a helping hand …. with a sword (laughs)! What is also fascinating to me is how my character controls his strength and power. He never abuses his power and does not show it, although we are going to see in the third film that he knows how to fight and I had to face quite some scenes of action! I love how he has tries to keep calm and to control himself. It is interesting to see that if he wanted to, he could probably kill the dragon and grab the treasure of the dwarves in their fortress, but he chose not to do so. What he doesn’t see coming, on the other hand, is the ascent, the rise of evil that will take Middle Earth by surprise.

Have you been surprise that Peter Jackson chose you for this role based on your performance in The Fall?
Absolutely! He had seen The Fall and I know he was a fan and that’s what pushed him to invite me to join The Hobbit. He came to NY and we read a few scenes together and everything followed up very quickly. It was a strong event in my life, even more as I grew up reading Tolkien’s books that my father had given me. What’s funny is that everyone has a different view of the book which is totally different from the film.

What left the biggest mark on you when reading?
Especially the songs that are for me the heart of the book. Also, Tolkien’s love for the forest, the trees. He made an inventory of all the species. I think this is the greatest common trait between Tolkien and Peter Jackson: their love for the nature. You only have to see how Peter filmed New Zealand. It is simply beautiful and gorgeous. He has a sense of the theatrical, dramatic; nature plays character on its own in his film. What’s great is how he managed to bring to life the books of Tolkien.

Big thanks to Mariana for the scans and Danielle for helping me out with the translation.

Gallery Link:
Magazine Scans > Popcorn (Oct-Nov 2013)

Lee Pace is featured as Thranduil in a new batch of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug posters shared on facebook.

Badass! Don’t forget Lee’s in London today to promote the movie, and we’ll be able to watch the Q&A live at 2pm PT / 5pm ET.

In November 2013 issue of F*** magazine, there’s a new interview with Lee Pace and Richard Armitage (Thorin). Lee discusses the Elvenking’s personality, and tells us more about the filming process. He also mentions he’s seen Halt & Catch Fire pilot recently and “it’s really good”.

I retyped some questions for you. Full interview (I strongly recommend it) can be found in our gallery.

Tell us a little about the role that Thranduil and Mirkwood play in The Desolation Of Smaug.
Mirkwood used to be the Greenwood, but it’s a corrupted forest, it’s become a very dangerous, wild place, and it is also Thranduil’s realm. The forest is very much a reflection of its king, just as the king is a reflection of his land. Like the Fisher King [a sovereign in Arthurian legend whose lands waste away when he suffers physical injuries]. One of the symbols I was very interested in was the Fisher King – and the story of the Fisher King was that he was away in this paradise, this utopia that would vanish, and it’s surrounded by a wasteland. And that’s Thranduil – he’s wounded king in a paradise that’s surrounded by a wasteland. It’s a dangerous place; he’s dangerous, dangerous king.

It’s a very anticipated role, how’s the fan response been so far?
I guess I’ve gotten some nice fan letters about it. I hope people are excited about it, I’m certainly excited to play it. It makes me feel good that people are excited to see the character. I think we’ve solved a lot of the riddles in the book about the character. Do you know the cartoon? Remember the cartoon? You know how the Elf King was depicted in a really nasty way? This Elf King is different.

Did you get a chance to film on location in New Zealand?
They shot at a lot of places but I never went on location. Everything I shot was on the greenscreen. I did shoot up in the Ruins of Dale. But I didn’t get to go to the cool location stuff, I was bummed about that.

How was shooting on greenscreen? How does that affect the acting process?
Well, you have to imagine it. Because it never looks like that [he gestures to the poster of Bilbo in front of the Doors of Erebor] when you’re on set. You just get a little rock and some twigs and then Pete’s like – “Well, you know, it’s gonna be very big. It’s the elven king’s halls, you know, it goes on and on and on.” And I imagined yeah, it goes on and on and on. But then I watch what Pete does with it and it’s like on and on and on and on and on and on, because he just makes everything so big. He makes it all so kind of jaw-dropping.

So, greenscreen, I mean, I like it. No complaints about it. It’s easy to complain about it because it’s just, you know, a weird thing. The colour’s weird. Although one of my favorite places on set is the special effects table, because they’ve got like six screens up and they’re all working on different shots from the movies.One of them is animating a dragon, one of them is creating the way the coins fall. At this level, it’s awesome what they do, what they’re capable of doing.

You worked on Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls with Bryan Fuller, and there’s been talk about Bryan Fuller wanting to cast you in season two of Hannibal. Can you talk a little about that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve talked about it. He asked me to do something last year when I was doing a play here in New York City, so I didn’t end up doing it. I’ve worked with Bryan twice before, so I’d love to be a part of this show too. I mean, whenever the right time comes, it’ll be the right time to do it. I’m doing a show for AMC this year called Halt & Catch Fire. We shot the pilot already and it is – I saw it last week – it’s really good.

Gallery Link:
Magazine Scans > F*** Magazine (November 2013)

Just a little over a month left until Lee’s next movie comes out, and we have a new still from it. In the newest photo from The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug we can see Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel, and Lee Pace as Thranduil.

More movie stills and a full interview with Evangeline can be seen here.

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