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Interview from craigparker.de, done at RingCon 2006
[For the interview this year, everyone who had a press pass and wanted an interview with Craig was put in a circle with him and got to ask one or two questions each. I pointed out which questions were by Claudia from www.craigparker.de.]
Claudia: As this interview is for a fansite, craigparker.de… I once asked you about an official site. You said you found yourself way too boring to have one. Did that change?
Craig: No, I think it's probably lazyness, really. I'm just too lazy to…it's like a child, you have to invest to keep it going. It's not something, at this point, I'm really interested in doing.
Claudia: It would be quite helpful, you know…
Craig: [laughs] But, see, I'm forgetful with things…it'd just be sitting there and rot.
Claudia: And just one more, since it's the same topic. You said you never visit any fansites…
Craig: No, not really. I've seen a couple but I…don't really have a desire to…[laughs] look at pictures of myself. I have no issue with it, no problem at all. There are some people, you go to their house and the walls are just full of photos of themselves. I don't…
Question: [Something about if he likes to dress up in costumes as well.]
Craig: It's kind of the job, really. I used to play Dungeons and Dragons when I was between 12 and 13, and I used to love that. Now, costume parties are not my idea of having a great time off, it comes with the job.
Question: This is the fifth RC for you, what was your best, and your worst, experience so far?
Craig: Last year, because I got here very late, that was the least fun I had. But that was just, it was sort of chaotic… it's five years later, and I'm still here today, so… RingCon is just great fun. They are really good family kind of events, it's a community thing, rather than just a big event. I just love them, and each year there's something spectacular and wonderful that sticks with me forever. Many things, actually, this year. I don't think I've had a bad time here… It's got a really good sense of madness, but also people having a good time.
Question: A question about The Hobbit. Do you know anything about the film?
Craig: Not at all. I know, like everyone, I think, that New Line may have bought the rights a while ago, or was negotiating for the rights. I think Peter and Fran have probably looked into it, considered it, but I don't know definite plans. I think Peter has other things that'll take up his time for a while. But I am sure someone is going to make it.
Question: Are you interested in it yourself?
Craig: I don't know, it depends…it also depends who is making it. Hopefully it'll be someone wonderful with a great vision. It's always the danger that they are not! [laughs] I, ah, haven't read The Hobbit, I don't actually know the story, it's shameful! But it's the easier book, isn't it? I'll read it, I'll read it one day…
[This is just cute: Craig looks at the next person in the circle, who is holding the camera, apparently waiting for the next question. She says, "Oh, I'm the photographer!" And he laughs and says, "That's an easy question". Then he moves on to the next person.]
Question: Even though your role was more of a supporting kind…
Craig: Tiny, really tiny role, you are allowed to say that!
Question: But you still have a big fanbase, your own websites and so on…would you have ever imagined that hype around you?
Craig: It has been very strange. Mark and I were talking about that last night. We both came to the first RingCon, and we were sitting on the plane going, "What are we doing, where are we going? We're not even in the thing!" And we got here, and we were terrified, thinking, you know, they were going to throw things and say, "Get off!" And then it was a fantastic weekend, really. It was all about playing and having a good time. And entertaining. That's what actors do really, we get paid to entertain. That's how we see it: Our job is to come along and be the after dinner show. It's been great fun, and we are having a great time… It's been strange, and unexpected.
[For a moment he is confused and doesn't know who's next. Then he turns around and sees there's another interviewer, sitting a bit behind him so he probably couldn't see her really well before.]
Craig: I'm sorry, none of my answers are making any sense…but they will, another cup of coffee and I'll be all right…
Question: I am writing for the local newspaper, and I was wondering… Did you have a chance to get out and see a bit of Fulda?
Craig: Yes, as a matter of fact, we had a lovely cup of coffee. We had a little walk around town, yesterday. And last year Lawrence Makoare, Mark and I went out for dinner, and then walked back through the old section, where the cathedral is and the big gardens, the Schlossgarten… It's just beautiful, a gorgeous city. I love it! And it's dead centre of Germany, isn't it? [affirmative from the interviewer] Yeah, when you walk through the railway station you get into this beautiful city… hopefully tonight we are going out again!
Claudia: You love to travel. Was there one most important thing you learned during travelling?
Craig: I love the surprises. Especially when you go to places where English just isn't spoken. I mean, here it's really good, people speak it and respond. But when you go someplace where it isn't, the lovely realization that actually people are very similar, that people everywhere are pretty much the same, they care about the same things, they laugh about the same things… That's the privilige of travelling. It always scares me when you meet people, and they have never left, they stay in their small town and never come out. Your views get very limited, and scary, I think.
Question: Is it strange for you when someone comes up to you in your [Haldir's] costume?
Craig: [laughs]: And they look better in it too! I love the costume thing here! A friend came to visit on the first [RingCon], I think. She's living in London, and I hadn't seen her for a couple of years. She and a friend thought they'd just come over and surprise me. And she says that, when they arrived…they had never been to anything like this before…they arrived in the car park – this was when this was still in Bonn – and they thought, "That'll be fun!" when they saw all these people. And they were standing in the car park, and a tree came walking by and hopped into a little camping van in the carpark and shut the door! And they were going, "That was a tree". "And just after that" (she's a very stupid girl), she said, "And a pixie came along as well!" (Someone dressed as an Elf, obviously!) And hopped into the van. So they spent the day here going, ooooh! But I think the costumes are fantastic. You look down into the hall, and it's just amazing work, and crazyness. People are looking fantastic. I still do like the trees the best.
Question: Could you tell us something about current projects you are working on?
Craig: At the moment I am going to go and have summer, which is a very important project, sitting in the sun and going to the beach. And then… I used to do a show called Shortland Street… [At that moment someone in the room drops a cup.] Uhh, that's gonna cost! So, this show, Shortland Street, I was on years ago is having its fifteenth birthday, so a few of the people of the original cast have been asked back. We'll be going for two months at the beginning of the year. So I'm gonna go back and steal my brother's girlfriend…wife…it's cruel! Last time, the character had a baby…well, he didn't have the baby, his girlfriend had the baby. And she was this tiny little baby when we left. And now, my character, Guy, comes back, with his sixteen-year-old daughter from New York…the maths is slightly wrong here [That's a bit confusing, he left the show in 1996, so the daughter should be around ten. I have no idea who got the maths wrong, him or the writers at SS…*g*]. So, it'll be just a silly bit of fun, playing with old friends. And then there's a play called The Pillowman, which is brilliant! Very dark, the play is about these fairytales you hear about. I start working on that right afterwards, and that'll go until probably August.
Question: That's in New Zealand?
Craig: That's all in New Zealand, yes, I'll be there almost a year, I think. I'll be back in London by the end of the year, but I'll have a bit of New Zealand time there for a while.
Question: Lovely weather…
Craig: Yes, lovely weather…the clocks have just gone back…do you have daylight saving? The other day I was in South Africa, and then a friend phoned and said the clocks have just gone back, and it was four in the afternoon and it was dark…
Question: Before you wanted to become an actor, did you have any other ideas?
Craig: An astronaut, yes, and James Bond. I wanted to be a rabbit for a long time, when I was about four… No, it's pretty much what I've wanted to since I was a teenager, really.
Question: Is this still what you want to do, or can you see yourself doing something else?
Craig: Not really… I've never really had any other career desire, actually. Directing is great, people always go, "Oh I want to direct". But this is hard work! You have to be there every day and get up early…being an actor is fantastic. I still find it challenging and exciting, you can do something that's silly, and then you do something next that's very difficult…it changes the way you think…and yeah, you can be an astronaut too!
Question: Before you got the role of Haldir, did you try for another role?
Craig: No, I read for that one. Which is strange, because it never happens that way… I can't really remember…it was a scene in the flet, I think, which never made it into the film. A friend of mine, Liz Mullane, was doing the casting, and she had spent the entire prepoduction going, "Right, I need to get a hundred people who are 7'6'' or 3'6''". On the wall of the casting office she had all these cut-outs, for Orcs, Men… and it was one of those really dumb moments where she said, "I'm really sorry, but I have to do this…", and every person who came into the office to read for something had to stand by this wall… "If you're this big you're gonna be a hobbit!" She was up and down a lot, she lives in Wellington but she came up a lot. When we went out for coffee we'd be sitting on the sidewalk and she'd go, "Oh, excuse me…", whenever someone really short, or really tall, or very big walks past. She spent three years of her life like that, grabbing people in the street. She did a fantastic job on it… I didn't answer your question at all, did I…
[And here the nice PR lady ended the interview. Craig said goodbye to everyone and went off to sign some things for charity.] | | |