As [John] Tolkien himself said, the story [Lord of the Ring ] is not allegorical. He said so when people tried to make analogies to World War II and the fight against Hitler and his fascist coalition.

People like to pigeonhole you. It's easier.

Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is. People lose their capacity to walk, run, travel, think, and experience life. I realise how important it is to use the time I have.

When we shot 'The Lord of the Rings,' we had special permission to film in wild areas of New Zealand that could be accessed only by helicopter. They would drop us off and we would work all day, and they'd pick us up and take us out again.

I prefer the smaller acting than big histrionics. It's about reacting and looks, which is often underestimated.

Any nominations a movie gets helps to raise the level of curiosity in the public, so in that sense awards and nominations are important.

Some people who like dogs don't like cats, but I'm not like that.