Manchester’s Student Direct newspaper cops a rant from Dominic Monaghan who plays Merry in The Lord of the Rings, about the ending of The Return of the King having been changed to give his character less action. “It’s a shame – we were pretty cross about that,” he tells the paper.

“The ending shows that Merry and Pippin have changed quite a lot. I mean, they become warriors. Pippin is quite well versed on war, and Merry has actually been on the front line. I’m sure that there are cinematic reasons behind the change that make sense,” he sniffs.

Telegraph.co.uk

Question: Being together day and night for the past few years, have you become close friends or do you actually hate each other ?

Boyd: It’s kind of both really.

Monaghan: We hate how much we like each other. We’re good friends you know. It’s not too difficult to be friends with someone when you’re having such a great time. There’s kind of an unspoken thing that goes on between us now. We know what we’ve all been through to get to this point. It’s an incredibly strong link.
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How do you follow up one of the most successful films of all time? If you’re a hobbit, you might experiment with memory-erasing technology, take up martial arts, or head straight for the unemployment line.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” the top-grossing film released in 2003, heads into this month’s Academy Awards fresh from a Golden Globes sweep. But you can’t stay in the Shire forever. So while the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy has made its Halfling stars ? Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd ? household names, the actors are looking ahead to new projects. So what lies ahead for everyone’s favorite hobbits?
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Dominic Monaghan has been in England for a few days and he’s fighting a cold, which makes a change from fighting the monstrous orcs, ringwraiths, uruk-hai and other creatures that have been part of his life for three years.

Although Los Angeles is now home for the 27-year-old actor from Stockport, he’s back home to take a break from the whirlwind of premieres and promotional tours that come with the territory of being part of a film phenomenon.

Ever since he made his big-screen debut in 2001 as the hobbit, Merry Brandybuck, in the first film in the movie adaptations of JRR Tolkien’s novels, Monaghan’s face has been everywhere. So for someone who spent his teenage years going to local gigs, clubs and bars, the fame-fallout of his latest work comes as a bit of a shock.
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Question: If you could be another character in the film, which one would you like to be?

Dominic: Arwen! (Everybody laughs)

Elijah: He doesn’t appear much in this first movie, and he is tortured, bad things happen to him, but… Gollum! I’ve liked this character since I was a child.

Liv: Maybe the white horse I rode. Because it doesn’t suffer during the shooting, does it? (Laughs) We (actors) had a tough time. But, of course, it was a wonderful experience as well.
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