Maybe our generation is more about sex, but it feels like romance is dying out.

Although it is a fantasy film, it's as real as it can be. You have to imagine that an audience will buy their ticket to a cinema and get on a first-class flight and journey to Middle Earth.

I cherished my time filming 'Lord of the Rings' in New Zealand - it's the most beautiful, magical place with great hospitality. I love places that are completely cut off from everything - where I can relax and enjoy the simplicity of nature.

A big part of what I wanted to do with this character was go from when I was a boy and try and develop into a man, really try and play him as a man who is on this search, on a journey of personal, spiritual, political, social discovery.

How can you be in hell while you are in my heart?

I need to keep reinventing myself.

The philosophy that I've embraced isn't about sitting under a tree and studying my navel.