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Click on any picture to see a larger version. Move mouse over picture for explanatory text. IMPORTANT NOTICE: All images on this site are Copyright Ian Smith and may not be reproduced or sold on Ebay, or copied outright to other fan sites without my express permission! Quotes are based on a mini-disc recording and may contain errors owing to high noise levels from convention attendees.

DISCLAIMER: The following sound bites were obtained in a relatively informal atmosphere, not structured or intended to be formal interviews. They are transcribed from original mini-disk recordings 'as is' and may contain transcription errors or not truly reflect an 'official' point of view on the part of the individuals quoted.
Getting access to the cast at this event could have proved problematic given that I had to come clean to the organisers that there was no guarantee that the Official Fan Club Magazine would print an article on this event, since we had agreed to review the situation AFTER the convention, not before it as we usually do. Without press accreditation access is pretty much a no-no so my thanks go to organiser Louise Henry for giving me the access required to get these 'sound bites'.
I personally feel that there are far too many obscure Scandinavian societies or "yahoo.com/~jennifer/SlashFiction/IloveFrodo.htm" -type web sites blagging themselves press passes to this sort of shindig ("I must haf half an hour interview with Karl Urban and all ze autografs free"!!!) without iansmith.co.uk adding to the list too, so I am grateful for her understanding! I know that all of the guests really had little-to-no slack in their schedule from morn until midnight (see upcoming main report for details) and any 'press' was going to be difficult if not impossible to co-ordinate as a result. The following transcripts are a result of my official 'press' request for 'A sentence or two sound bite', rather than any intended 'interview' and are presented here transcibed in full as originally recorded.
		Ian : First off, what have you got coming up in terms of events. Are you doing DragonCon next week? Craig Parker: Yes. This finishes on Tuesday. I go to Atlanta on Thursday. DragonCon's this weekend - the 3rd and 4th? Then to Paris on the weekend after and then I think the last couple are Ring*Con in Germany and then Master of the Rings here (the UK) and then I'll get a real job (laughs). Ian : You're doing Ring*Con for the third year running. I remember last year you said it was your favourite of all of the conventions. You've done quite a few since then. Is it still your favourite? Is there one that stands out? Craig: You're really not allowed to say, politically! But it was my first and you're always the fondest of your first. It is an amazing party and it does take me a week to recover afterwards. So, you must love your children all differently, but I love it [Ring*Con] quite strongly. Ian : Your comedy partner relationship with Mark.... Didn't it start on a New Zealand soap or something? Or was it just that you were actors who knew each other? Craig: Mark and I met before Shortland Street which... He came over to New Zealand to bring an improv-comedy technique called theatre sports. He ran some classes - I think I met him during that... when I was about 17 or 18. And then we worked together with improv over there but got to know each other over... actually a television series, Gloss, before Shortland Street. So we've known each other since the late 80's really. Far too long! Ian : So this comedy act that you've got which is sort of growing... you're now MCing this time as opposed to having an hour on stage... You're doing panels and writing plays... that all started before Ring*Con did it? Craig: He and I worked... we've done a lot of comedy together over the last 10 years. When Louise approached us about this one the idea of hosting it was more interesting, I think, to Mark and I. We've told the stories we have to tell already, and we're both a bit bored with ourselves, so being able to actually host something, do something more practical, is much more interesting for us. It just gives you something to do... keeps you off the streets! Ian : Anything else planned in the future? Movies? Theatre? Craig: Yes. I will have something in about a month and a half that starts up. But that's all in that special place that you're not allowed to talk about! But definitely I've had a fabulous last year at travelling around and being a bum. But my gap year needs to come to an end and I need to do something and start working again. Ian : Can you say what country that's likely to be in? Is it back in New Zealand? Craig: No. I'll be staying in London for a wee while. Around Europe and London. I just love it. New Zealand is the most wonderful place and I've been there a long time but the joy of being able to jump on a plane or a train and in an hour's time you're in a totally different country is magnificent so I'll stay here for a wee while. Over Winter! Woo hoo (laughs). Ian : Have you done anything since... Ring*Con two years ago I think it was I last saw you. Sarah McLeod: Two years ago, yeah! It's my first one back in Europe and then I did two "Best of Both Worlds" that are in Canberra. Ian : And are you enjoying it or is it... well as an outsider it looks like a lot of hard work. Is it, or are you able to have fun as well? FX: (At this point seat makes a noisy, farty sound) Sarah : (laughs) That was not me doing anything funny - it was just the chair moving! I'm actually having a really good time. I'm finding that the... with all the people, the questions aren't flowing as quickly as they have done at other times, but I think that's because now a lot of people have been to conventions so that now they've already had a lot of the questions answered. But I'm finding it's easier now to relax them now and say "Come on. You must still have some questions." They're not always about the film. They're about ourselves, and acting and things as well, which is good. Leo: It's probably easier because you're on stage in a group with Cameron and Bruce. Sarah Yeah. It's fun because we get to play around and have fun and interact with one another as well. Ian: Have you brought your daughters over? At Ring*Con you had a baby as I remember? Sarah: At Ring*Con I had Lola, at ten weeks old and I had to bring her because I was breast feeding. But no, they are back in New Zealand. This trip is about me! Ian: Excellent! What are you doing at the moment, acting wise? Have you got anything coming up that you want people to be aware of? Sarah: I haven't got any films coming up that anyone's going to see. I've actually been doing a bit of producing now. I'm starting to spread my wings and do acting as well as producing. So I've just produced a play that Cameron Rhodes directed. I've just produced a music video for an Australian singer called Emmanuel Carella. Ian : What does a producer do? It's a question everyone always asks! Sarah: A producer works really long hours and tries not to spend all the money and tries to... makes sure you don't run out of money. Basically just organise. On the music video because it was not a huge budget, as the producer I had to do the casting, location scouting, managing the unit, organising the meals... it was everything! I'm looking forward to producing where there's more money and I don't have to do all departments (laughs). It's hard work, but I do enjoy it. And it's a nice balance with acting, because acting's all about being out of control whereas producing is about being really, really organised and I guess the thing that's in both of them is communication. So yeah, I enjoy it. It's a good balance. Ian : This is your first convention? Bernard Hill: It's the first one, yeah! Ian : What's it been like? Bernard : It's interesting. I didn't know quite what to expect at all, never having been anywhere near this kind of activity. But I spoke to a couple of the guys who'd done a few - Andy Serkis and Billy Boyd, even Elijah. I asked them what they thought about it and they said "Oh you've got to do one at least. You really should do one. There's a lot of people out there that would love to meet you", and all that kind of stuff. So I thought "I'll do one and see what happens". Ian : It hasn't been too scary for you? Bernard: No, no! I mean.. the kind of the fears I had...just kind of meeting loads of geeks kind of .. you know all dressed up in kind of strange costumes... I mean there are people out there in costume but they're all.. they're really quite tastefully done. It's a different reaction that I didn't anticipate really. It's quite good! It's very pleasant and everyone's really, really nice. It's well organised and it's going really well. It's extraordinary that you've got two great big rooms full of all kinds of different activities going on and it's all to do with just one set of films. Extraordinary! And these are going on almost continually! There's like one almost every couple of weeks, and it's been like that for two years at least. Extraordinary! Ian : Have you got any more pencilled in for fans who might say "Oh. I can't fly to England"? Bernard: I've been asked to do three more already! But I can't do them because I'm working! Ian : I was going to ask you about that, because you've been popping up in Hollywood movies all over the place... Bernard: Well I am now, yeah. Ian : ... 'Gothika', and 'Wimbledon' is about to come out. What's next in the pipeline? Bernard: Well these are all small roles. These are just kind of fill-in. You've got to keep going and keep your face out there really. I'm going to go off and do a film called Badenheim. We're going to shoot that in Austria in October, and then I hope to do another movie that's scheduled to go in November. It's called Once in a Very Blue Moon - it's a nice little script too. But they're all fairly low budget. The big blockbusters I haven't kind of plugged into at all very much really. Ian : Would you like to do more of that kind of work? Bernard: I suppose so, in a way, yeah! I rather like the smaller projects where there's more acting than action. But I... you know, the genre doesn't really matter very much as long as the role has some kind of sense to it, if it has a logical through-line. If that's the case then it doesn't really matter what goes on around the character. So yeah, I should be looking to do more of those kinds of things really. I'm also involved in a project called The Grid. It's a six part kind of project about terrorism, Al-Quaida and that kind of stuff! Ian : Is that documentary or fiction? Bernard: It's a six part television drama that comes out in England in September over three nights on BBC2. And we're going to do six more next year so it looks like I'm being kind of dragged back into television even though I didn't anticipate it. Ian : You say 'dragged back'. Do you prefer doing movies or theatre? Bernard: Well I did an awful lot of television at one time. A huge amount. I'm not sure whether it's.... I suppose American TV's different because it gets such a massive reputation... but I suppose things have changed now with all manner of different actors at different levels and different strengths of doing television. I'd just like to keep going in movies really. Thanks to Louise Henry of Access All Areas Events, Craig Parker, Sarah McLeod and Bernard Hill for generously giving time they really didn't have for these sound bites. Associated reports: Conversation with the Event Organiser First page of Fellowship Festival review Stay tuned!
Don't forget you can check out reports of lots of other Lord of the Rings -themed events in the Web Logs section

Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk