| John Rhys Davis was greeted with standing ovations, and by the gods, he deserved it! Not even his "Now sit down and be quiet!" could really calm the audience. With a twinkle in his eyes, he first addressed the audience with the words: "Girls, I'm sorry, I do not have Orlando Bloom's phone number, but if I had, I would be malicious enough to give it to you." With this out of the way, more serious matters were discussed, for example the fact that all of the fellowship have an Elven "9" tattoo – with exception of John Rhys Davis. Asked for this, he rolls his eyes. "Oh, those stinking, drunken little Hobbits! They decide they want this tattoo, and then it's: You got to have this tattoo, come on! Come on! What is an actor to do when confronted with a drunken loon with a dirty needle? I sent a friend in my stead." Much to the audience's delight, Davies' repeated the "not very courteous" sentence that Gimli says to Haldir in Lothlórien. He also gives a very loose translation: "Why don't you put your unattractive face in a very dark place where undoubtedly your mother and father created you!" The fans love the banter between Legolas and Gimli, so the "box incident" in Helm's Deep was brought up – Davies comments that Elves have no sense of humour. And how about the "Don't tell the Elf" bit? Was this Peter Jackson's or John Rhys Davies' creation? "That was one of mine. All other credit goes to Peter Jackson who, at this time, is the greatest director in the world. He built a film industry in New Zealand in order to do this movie, an enormous organisation, enormous vision, technical demands. Huge man-management. Everybody in New Zealand with a driver's licence worked on Lord of the Rings, something unparalleled in my lifetime. The Academy must give him the Oscar this time – there can be better movies now because of Lord of the Rings, rather than a bland movie like Matrix, which basically ran out of ideas after the first part." How influenced was JRD by the set in Helm's Deep? "Great sets, great costumes help the actor, but if the actors are any good, they have every word, every movie in their head. The problem with Blue Screen is that it is very depressing. The more you worked with it, the more depressed you became at the end of the day - you need a certain amount of light and colour to live. If you only have one colour, in this case blue, you can't guess distances after a while. So we were impressed by Helm's Deep, but not scared." JRD was asked for the scene where Legolas and Gimli sit in the boat. A deep sigh could be heard. "Now I don't want to put the blame on anybody, but I would like to point out a certain pointy-eared person. When in training the boat collapses and Dwarf gets wet, Elf ungraciously blames Dwarf. The Dwarf with his natural nobility, maturity and understanding overlooks the insult discreetly. But when the boat next collapses and Elf gets wet, this time it was the bloody Dwarf's fault. Be very, very careful if you ever go sailing with an Elf." Any chance of seeing him in the sequel to the "Indiana Jones" movies? Any chances for a sequel at all? JRD explains that so far, nobody has asked him to be in it. And whether there will be another "Indiana Jones" movie depends all depends on Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. They want to make another wonderful chapter, it must be better than any before. Better than Indie 1, 2 and 3. His guess is that there will be another Indiana Jones movie eventually, but with another cast and a different director. "Don't hold your breath. There are talks about the movie being out in 2005, but then I didn't hear that said by anybody really committed. But if it comes, it's going to be a great picture." There must have been some incident once involving "the Hobbits" and John Rhys Davies in a restaurant – I freely admit that I have not the slightest clue what it was about. However, JRD was asked if he ever wished he'd left them there with the bill, and what happened with the left-overs. He answered that "you can't overfeed a hobbit. Or overdrink him, as for that." From Hobbits, the discussion moved to movie-critics, especially The Guardian, which didn't list Peter Jackson among the 40 greatest directors. "Who cares what he guardian says!" and JRD sums it up very eloquently: "If you are nobody, it is in their interest to push you up so they can say they made you. Once you have risen, they need you to knock you down." Talking about knocking down - Gimli and the ring: "After that first encounter with the ring, when he tries to resolve the problem by smashing the ring, he is never tempted by the ring but he is influenced, his behaviour worsens. When they are separated from Frodo, they warm up. Gimli recognizes the power, and fights it, but he is not tempted." Originally, JRD auditioned for Denethor. How did he 'end up' as Gimli? "Blame Peter Jackson! 30 years you work hard to get recognized, then you spend 3 years on a major film and your face is hidden behind prosthetics!" JRD suffered immensely under the make-up, as he developed an allergy early into the shootings. Painkillers, drugs and suffering accompanied him all through the years, and we can only guess how much strength of will this man has. His skin literally peeled off, his face was swollen – "if your girlfriend doesn't recognize you anymore, you know it really is bad." What was it like to be one of the tallest actors on the set and playing a Dwarf? "It was a lesson in humility. I spent a good time on my knees, and this was AFTER I got the job!" John Rhys Davies is Welsh, like Sir Anthony Hopkins and many other great actors. Does he think there is a specific reason for this concentration of talent? JRD explains that Welsh is an extraordinary language, that it has a sense of drama, like Italian. He remembers hearing "The Lord's Prayer" in Welsh – an incredibly powerful experience, very dramatic. He suspects that this aspect presses into a psyche early on. About his last day on the set: "There were people who met on the set, had babies. People you saw all day while you made this movie. There was a big knot in my throat. There will be an even bigger one after the final premiere – for we know that we are probably never all be together again. " John Rhys Davis is a philosopher. A personality. A gentleman in the true meaning of the words, and a wise man. Somebody you should listen to if you are lucky to be present when he speaks, for he has something to say. We made no notes on Sunday, for this is what we did: listen. Listen to his thoughts on quick stardom and how the movie machinery can push a young actor to the top just to drop him cruelly within the wink of a moment, in favour of another handsome young actor. There can be no doubt that John Rhys Davis cares deeply for Orlando Bloom, and he seems to fear that the Elf is running down the street too fast and possibly in the wrong direction. Not everybody liked to hear this, but what can I say? The man is right. We also listened to what he had to say about the political situation, and he managed to state his point without insulting anybody. A perfect diplomat. |
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| JOHN RHYS DAVIES Panel, RingCon 2003, Bonn/Germany |
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| Ferocious and noble |
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