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THE HOBBIT NEWS

Evangeline Lilly Talks About Her 'Hobbit' Character & Speaks in Elvish!

by Alex Billington
October 3, 2011
Source: AccessHollywood

This is for all the Tolkien geeks out there! Actress Evangeline Lilly, who we know is playing a Woodland Elf named Tauriel in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, recently chatted with Access Hollywood at the red carpet premiere of Real Steel about the two films. She's already been in New Zealand training, which includes working with a "dialect coach, motion coach, language coach, stunt coach" in order to create her character. She's also learning Elvish, which she speaks a brief bit of in the footage they have, which should make all Hobbit geeks go crazy. You can watch the full video of their chat below, which includes some minor details.

Here's the embedded video interview with Evangeline Lilly, which you can watch on the AH site. Enjoy!

If you recall, Evangeline Lilly's character Tauriel is a complete creation of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens for these two feature films, and she confirms this, but assures us there isn't anything to be worried about. She starts by answering that fans will "either love her or absolutely despise and be bitter towards her... although I believe she is truly authentic, because Tolkien refers to the Woodland Elves, he just doesn't talk about who they are specifically. All those people... they know that world so well, that they're not going to create a character that isn't true to Tolkien's world." I hope so! It's great to hear her speak so enthusiastically about this, can't wait for the next video blog. Follow our updates on The Hobbit right here.

Filed under Hobbit, Hype, To Watch

From around the web:

Xerxexx

Hoooooot. Lilly is great and it will be great to see her in the hobbit. Are LOTR fans rabid?
Furious911

DO WANT!
Ron

We, the fans are not rabid!! Who do they think we are?? Twilight fans??! LOL!
Traveler

I love her. So glad she didn't quit acting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQoJo81lujk Crapola

never knew she was in the The Hobbit. Cool.
Anonymous

the books are great on their own - i'm really surprised PJ has taken it upon himself to add characters. and as far as EL - exactly what has she done to merit all of the positive response?......her acting in "lost" was so-so - certainly FAR from good.........and what movies have been electrified by her presence?....none that i can think of. i'm not trying to be negative - i just don't see why this is such exciting news.
- Xerxexx
  
  I can tell you why I'm excited, I liked her in Lost, but she wasn't that impressive, it was this video that made me really excited, she seems so excited.
  - Anonymous
    
    that's fine - i didn't like the character in lost (nor her acting). and really - wouldn't anyone be excited to get a part in a PJ movie about any of these wonderful series of books?
    - Xerxexx
      
      Lilly has range and I'm hoping she does well in Real Steel. Indeed they would be.
- http://twitter.com/QuanahTweets Quanah
  
  He added characters in LOTR as well. I'm sure it's part of his creative license to take into accounts for story arcs that can't be told without making The Hobbit into 6 films.
  - Anonymous
    
    well - it's possible.........but, they're making 2 films - not 6!
Jpeters1138

Anyone who is a fan of Jackson's LOTR Trilogy will readily accept the addition of Tauriel. Most the characters in the films were 90% expanded by Jackson and the writers. Gimli and Legolas for instance barely speak or play a part in the books at all. They are described and are along for the journey but don't add very much to the narrative. Its another example of things that needed to change in order for the Lord of the Rings to work as a MOVIE as you can't simply have 9 characters on screen for 10 hours and ONLY speak the lines written by Tolkien(it would verged on silent). It is important in a film to have a variety of strong characters we can relate to and are excited to follow. Peter also embellished and added fight scenes and dramatic character moments as well as expanding Arwen's role in the story to give a more meaningful romantic sub-plot to one of the main protagonists. She also gave us more insight into a mysterious race and became an embodied representation of the waning of the Elves. This is not a criticism of Tolkien's work, but an attempt to present it in the best way possible for a modern audience. In the Hobbit, we have Bilbo, Gandalf, and more than a dozen dwarfs. This would make for a serious sausage fest for a good 80% of the movie. The inclusion of a solid female character is understandable and I'm positive it will be used in a sensible way. Bottom line, if you can't understand the need for adjustment in a book to film adaptation, you aren't going to like any of them...because you are lame. As much as I may hope for a film as close to the original work as possible, I hope there are a few surprises Peter throws our way.
- Anonymous
  
  i agree with what you're saying - EXCEPT for one thing. legolas and gimli were actually in the books - tauriel is created out of thin air........now, this won't ruin the movie for me at all......but, as you said, with bilbo, gandalf and a dozen dwarves and other characters as well - i didn't really see the need to create characters that didn't exist in the book - there are plenty available already. and don't transpose this conversation to say that anyone who questions 1 movie automatically hates any adjustments to other adaptations.......that makes no sense at all.
Blue Silver

Beautiful woman and talent to boot! She'll do fine in that role!
James Griffin

After Lost began, I thought the gorgeous and talented Evangeline Lilly had a promising career ahead of her and would become a bigger star but she has done so little in the last seven years. I hope she’ll have a career renaissance with Real Steel and The Hobbit films and do more mainstream movies from now on. Good for her to keep landing such high profile roles. She deserves it. It’s an exceptional performance by her in Real Steel, just wonderful.
Dimitri German

Prediction: Tauriel is one of the elvish guards who watches over the dwarves while they're imprisoned in Mirkwood. She takes to the dwarves (perhaps 1 of them romantically) and then discovers that the dwarf she fell in love with dies in the Battle of 5 Armies. I'm almost definitely wrong, but she totally said something like "the cells are open" in Elvish. It'll be fun to see what she does.
Ryan

Cutest fucking elf ever!!!!!!! She is absolutely adorable
http://www.fuckoff.com Jimmy Love

Sounds good I'm pretty darn ready for these films, especially since the hobbit is a better book than lord of the rings.
Iyaman24

She is GORGEOUS.