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July/August 2003
An Elf conquers the hearts of fans
Note: I only translated the article, I am not affiliated with SpaceView magazine
One of the most moving moments in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is the death of elven military leader Haldir, who casts a last look on his fallen people while life leaves him. Fear, horror, and sadness all reflect on his face – the immortal race of elves, slain. Haldir's death becomes a symbolic moment for director Peter Jackson.
"This definitely is the biggest movie I have ever worked on..."
...Craig recalls during the interview with SPACE VIEW. "I've been with the project since the early stages and even back then I was very excited by the concept and Peter's vision to realize this movie."
While the New Zealand actor Craig Parker tells about his experiences on the set of "The Lord of the Rings" his eyes start to glow and the man of 32 years is a little boy again.
Maybe it's exactly this charisma, or maybe his mischievous looks that got so many womens' hearts melting recently, because since his appearance in the fantasy-epic "The Lord of the Rings" the open-minded New Zealander is very popular with the fans.
"Peter Jackson's vision is simply incredible."
Craig Parker worked on this gigantic production since the beginning, and he felt the energy and dedication that went into the movies since the first hour. For the animated storyboards (a very early, raw version of the movie in comic-style) Craig gave his voice to Frodo, who, personally, is his favourite character of the story. But to be part of the movies, he says, he would have done anything, even make coffee on set.
But he did not need to do that – Craig was cast as the elven frontier-guard Haldir.
In the books Haldir intercepts the Fellowship at the borders of the elvish woods of Lothlorien and accompanies them, after some protests from Gimli, the dwarf, to see Galadriel, Lady of the Woods.
Technically, his part would be over here, but Peter Jackson had some very special plans for Haldir: From the simple frontier-guard he transformed into captain Haldir and, contrary to the books, in the second installment Haldir leads an elven army to the endangered keep Helms Deep, to fight against the Uruk-hai with the men of Rohan.
And even though the devotees of the tolkienesque epos are very critical with most of the story changes in the script, Haldir's passing at Helms Deep works very well. "The fans who love the books can find the basic intentions of the story in the movies," Craig explains. "Of course, some parts have been altered and some characters were omitted, but the fundamental aim has survived. And I belive that's the reason fans accept the movie. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh [screenplay] and Phillipa Boyens [screenplay] were aware that the basic idea had to be kept alive. They too love the story very much."
"A Aragorn in Dúnedain istannen le ammen"
For the role of the graceful Elf Craig not only had to learn a few sentences in the elvish language Sindarin, but also had sword training lessons and sat in the makeup chair for up to three hours every day, because not only the pointy ears but also the long blond hair was artificial.
Despite all the hardship he likes looking back on that time: "The shooting was a lot of fun, we had to fight a lot. One time we were shooting outside for a month, in the middle of winter, where we had to fight the Uruk-hai. That was really great: You go to work and fight against a man who is 6 feet 9. And you get to really kick his ass. That's really exciting, but also quite exhausting." It was particularly thanks to director Peter Jackson that everybody on set, despite all the hardship, was continuously dedicated and excited about the work. "All the time, Peter knew exactly what he wanted. He was always sitting in front of at least three monitors, where he was watching the footage shot in other locations, which was send to him via satellite. And he always knew precisely how he wanted a particular scene. And he always remained very calm. It was a lot of fun to work with him."
"The dwarf breathes so loud, we could have shot him in the dark."
As Haldir on screen Craig does not appear to be very likeable, but fascinating nonetheless. Haldir symbolizes the superiority of the elves which seems like arrogance to humans, hobbits and dwarves. The Fellowship, for example, is greeted with drawn weapons and only allowed to see Galadriel after a long discussion and much quarrelling. Haldir stays very standoffish and arrogant. "The elves remind me of the British colonial troops in India. Maybe it's not a bad thing they are leaving Middle Earth," Craig describes his role.
"Haldir for president"
In the past Craig has been popular mainly for his roles in New Zealand television series, for example the daily soap "Shortland Street" or the show "City Life". But fantasy fans already knew Craig from guest roles on "Xena" and "Young Hercules".
But his breakthrough came with "The Lord of the Rings". Since that time Craig receives fan mail from across the world, and he tries to answer as many letters as possible. At conventions he gets adored by fans who wear shirts that say "Haldir for President", and the name Craig Parker is much sought after on the world wide web. The numerous fan websites make Craig a bit nervous, though: "I try to avoid the sites about me, because as well as very nice things you can find really ugly things there. The best is not to know too much about what people do behind your back."
Craig finds the thought of seeing his face on collectable cards, or the fact that a Haldir figure exists for the tabletop strategy game, slightly bizarre. He prefers to remain modest and hopes not to be recognized too much in the streets. Despite that he is open towards his fans and says he finds them "wonderful".
Unfortunately, he won't appear in the third installment so fans are hoping that there will be more scenes with Haldir in the special extended DVD edition of the second movie (in stores November 2003), as there were in the first movie as well.
"Originally, the first movie was five or six hours long. And a lot of scenes were cut," Craig explains "and naturally a lot of crew members are disappointed when the scenes they worked on very hard get cut. But that’s the reason DVDs are so great!"
Currently Craig is working on the new season of "Mercy Peak", in which he plays the son of a doctor, Alistair Kingsley, and breaks many a woman’s heart again.
written by Stefan Servos, interview by Juliane Waltke | | |