From ‘Hobbit' to TV habit

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From ‘Hobbit' to TV habit
Monaghan finds new life on ‘Lost'
By Bruce R. Miller Journal staff writer

CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FOR "LOST"

LOS ANGELES -- Dominic Monaghan thinks it's a natural move -- follow the biggest film trilogy with one of the biggest television shows of the season.

"You're never going to have a more successful trilogy in your repertoire," he says of "The Lord of the Rings" films, "and that's fine with me. I'm all about the work. I don't need to have box office gold every single time. I just want to work on material I like."

Enter: "Lost," a new television drama from J.J. Abrams, the man behind "Alias." In the new series, which finds a plane load of disparate types struggling to survive on an island, Monaghan plays a rock musician with a nasty drug habit. He's forced to face his demons and determine out how he and the others can get back home safely.
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Because the show's cast is so large, Monaghan figures he'll be able to do the series and several movies a year -- a perfect combination. "Lord of the Rings," however, afforded little time off. It was shot for two years straight, then required nine-week reshoots during 2001, 2002 and 2003.

It was, Monaghan says, unlike anything he had done before. "The thing you take with you are the friendships -- the connections. We helicoptered to places no human had been before. We went through the trenches with (director) Pete (Jackson) and we enjoyed the whole Oscar thing. I can plot, very clearly, how my life changed based on that movie. It started with saying yes to Pete Jackson."

As one of the Hobbits, Monaghan got some of the more humorous moments in the film series. He also got a chance to discover New Zealand's flora and fauna -- a real perk considering he's an environmentalist who loves bugs and animals. "I have a spider...cockroaches, praying mantis and a snake," he says. "I do sound like a geek, don't I?"

Actually, Monaghan is the son of European hippies -- as he calls them -- who moved to a number of different places with the British armed forces. "They wanted to give us a different variation on life, so we moved to five different places in Germany as kids."

That itinerant lifestyle forced Monaghan to make friends quickly. "I had to have a kind of chameleon-like quality at school. I realized school was all about acceptance. To make myself get there as quickly as possible, I had to be good at speaking and manipulating certain situations. That allows you to live in your head for a while."

That also encouraged Monaghan, now 27, to try acting. "Every kid is into new voices you can do...impersonating teachers or being funny in skits from TV shows, so that's what I did."

That led to a British television series -- "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" -- that tested his abilities on a larger scale. "I was 18 and I was thrown into the fire," he says. "I thought you walked on a set, they said, 'Lights, camera, action' and you just kept walking through sets all day long."

Quickly, he learned the rigors of the business. Several other television shows followed, then "The Lord of the Rings" entered his life.

At one point, he says, "I shot 21 days straight and did a 19-hour day halfway through it. I remember coming home and tyring to call someone and forgetting how the phone worked. My brain was breaking down."

Monaghan, however, still had time to enjoy New Zealand and bond with his castmates. Today, he says, he's still in touch with many of them. "We're all really good friends. We're a family."

Following the "Rings" exercise, Monaghan says he got plenty of offers to play "the adorable best friend of the leading man" but knew he had to travel a different course if he wanted a lasting career. Already, he says, he and fellow Hobbit Billy Boyd have tossed around two story ideas that one of the "Rings" producers hopes to bring to the screen. "He liked the way we interacted," Monaghan says.

Meanwhile, "Lost" looms. Shot in Hawaii, the film will give Monaghan plenty of time to dabble in surfing, drink in the atmosphere and add to his bug collection.

Because the cast is so large, he figures the assignment will be less grueling than "Rings." "I don't think in terms of how long something's going to last," he explains. "If the material's good I just want to run with it."

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