Rory Kinnear realises the pressure of playing Tom Bombadil

ODE

Newcomer to the franchise, Rory Kinnear has been cast as The Lord of the Rings' fan-favourite character Tom Bombadil for Season 2 of 'The Rings of Power'.    The cast and crew of ‘The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power’ were attending the Season 2 World Premiere at the BFI Southbank in London. The first three episodes of the new season launches on Prime Video on Friday August 29th, 2024.  Report by Burtonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

Transcript

00:00I've been waiting so long for you.

00:02Thank you for coming back, I appreciate it.

00:04You were clean shaven at the beginning weren't you?

00:06Thank you for your time and thank you for joining us

00:08Rings of Power because you're playing

00:10a character with quite a reputation.

00:12Were you aware

00:14of the weight of expectation

00:16on the shoulders before you joined

00:18and signed up as Tom?

00:20I knew almost nothing about it

00:22when I was offered the part and

00:24about three minutes later I was very very

00:26aware of how important it was because I went

00:28downstairs to my partner and I said

00:30who has read the books, I have not and I said

00:32I've been asked to play this part called Tom Bombadil

00:34and she almost dropped her plate and said that's my

00:36favourite part in the whole, in all of the books.

00:38So I realised then that it

00:40was a significant undertaking and that I better

00:42take it seriously. Obviously it was years ago

00:44that you signed up and you started production

00:46for season two. Have you had fans

00:48come up to you already and discuss

00:50the role that you're taking on?

00:52Well I guess it wasn't, I was revealed

00:54as being in it but I wasn't revealed as who I was being

00:56in it, only for about the last sort of

00:58month and a half, two months. So

01:00it's only sort of since then and

01:02obviously a lot of friends who know the books

01:04have been saying why didn't you tell me you

01:06were playing him?

01:08So that's been again fun and interesting to

01:10see the strength of people's feeling

01:12and yeah again

01:14a great privilege to be able to be the first person

01:16to bring him to life on screen.

01:18I know that a lot of season one took place

01:20filming in New Zealand, there were a bit

01:22a few other places in season two

01:24Can you tell me where were you shooting

01:26and how were your experiences of shooting that?

01:28So yeah, most of the interior of Tom's

01:30world was on

01:32studio in Bray

01:34but then outside was in Tenerife

01:36so we were there for about ten days

01:38last sort of Easter it was sometime

01:40and so yeah

01:42that was me and Daniel out in Tenerife

01:44wandering the sands.

01:46It is hard I know to talk about any of this

01:48without giving away too much because fans

01:50they want to know but they don't want to know at the same time

01:52so what can you tell us about your

01:54character this season which

01:56a scene, an episode, a moment

01:58which you are excited for them to see?

02:00Well I think that sort of the

02:02first meeting with the stranger

02:04nearly all of my stuff is with

02:06my storyline is with him

02:08and trying to

02:10bring him to a path of understanding and enlightenment

02:12but

02:14sort of the early domesticity of their

02:16scenes together are really fun.

02:18What did they tell you when you signed up in the OCU

02:20joining actors and cast members

02:22who were involved in season one, did they prepare

02:24you for the world which you were stepping into?

02:26What's the best piece of advice they gave you?

02:28Well JD and Patrick, the showrunners

02:30are very

02:32collaborative and encouraging and gentle

02:34guys so

02:36they were, it was a very

02:38sort of easy run in but obviously

02:40the first thing was getting the costume and the look

02:42right and

02:44obviously they cared deeply about that and

02:46there were a number of different blue cloaks

02:48and a number of different yellow boots

02:50and a number of different feathers in his hat

02:52so each one had to go through a process

02:54of refinement so you were aware

02:56that you were in the hands of people who really really cared.

02:58I'm going to shamelessly

03:00soak up to you here, I feel like you're a level

03:02of British actor who should have been

03:04in Lord of the Rings already. Is this a bit of a

03:06tick box for yourself, like alright Lord of the Rings, tick

03:08what can I, what franchise will I go to next?

03:10I'm not sure

03:12I did grow up thinking that

03:14that was a box that was going

03:16to be ticked only because

03:18I hadn't read them so

03:20I didn't really know much about the world so

03:22being able to sort of be, give it

03:24a chance to A, read them but also

03:26to understand a bit more about this world

03:28and about what its lure

03:30has been for so many generations

03:32has been really rewarding as well.

03:34Thank you so much for your time and enjoy tonight as well.

03:36I really appreciate your time, thanks so much.

Transcript

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