Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin, 42, told Ahlan! it was “bittersweet” not to reprise his role of Samwise in new movie, The Hobbit.
Sean, who made The Goonies when he was 13, said: “I knew Samwise didn’t exist in the book and it would be pretty hard to shoehorn him into the film. They knew I would do it if they asked me to, even though it would be strange putting on that costume again after 12 years.”
Joe Maddalena: Sean Astin is a neighbor. He lives close by, and is a friend. We’re selling a large collection belonging to the Drier family, and in the collection is – was this amazing map of Middle Earth. And I thought Sean, knowing his interest obviously in that part of the world, would enjoy seeing the map. So it was actually Tolkein’s copy, so he came by and we kind of had a little period where we went through his, you know – he took us back down memory lane and we learned interesting things. He was basically, like – he went from the Shire to Mordor on what happened, and it was an interesting response, because he said well, we’re making this movie, Elijah and I figuring we’re going to have all this time together, a year and a half, and at the end we’re going to do this epic climax, throwing the ring in the mountain, and and by the time we get there, we’ll be ready. And what happened was we were filming and there was a giant flood, and the set got wiped away, and they came in and said well, we’re going to film the climax instead, and this is very early in the process, and Sean’s like, I – we can’t do that. We’re not ready. And they’re like, you’re ready. So – and they literally – it was just like amazing insight into his world, his character. It was – it’s fascinating to meet him and kind of learn about that world.
Astin has long collected mementos from his films—everything from the One-Eyed Willie treasure map from The Goonies to the backs of the director's chairs with his name on them. (His wife Christine keeps most of it "nicely tucked away" in a storage locker.) One of his favorite items, though, isn't technically from a movie: It's all the Lord of the Rings fan art sent to him over the years. "I have tons of poems and drawings and songs and DVDs, little dolls dressed up as Samwise," he says. "I feel like it’s wrong to throw that away."
Jason Swank and Jimmy "Mac" McInerney of ForceCast.net, a Star Wars focused podcast site, interviewed Sean at C2E2 two weeks ago. They talked in depth about the expected topics: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Rudy and Goonies, but some unexpected anecdotes and tidbits came out!
 |
| Fellowship of the Legos! |
 |
| Samwise the Brave! |
This dude can flat out run. I’m amazed at the speed that some actors, usually the shorter ones, can generate in their short strides. Astin sells himself as an action hero here, something that may have seemed ridiculous at the time (and may still to some). He’s got my vote, I wish we’d have gotten more action roles out of him.Here's the scene the blogger uses to prove his point:
