He rose to fame in the immortal role of Legolas the Elf in Lord of the Rings. And there’s no stopping him: a pirate by Johnny Depp’s side in The Curse of the First Moon (POTC) and a mythological Paris in Troy, with Brad Pitt, where Ciak (that’s the name of the magazine) met him.

A matter of give and take. FOr the twentysix-year-old Orlando Bloom, this is the small secret to serenity.

“I’m still not used to success. All this attention can get stifling sometimes,” he confesses “but I’m living every actor’s dream: to work and be able to choose which movies to do. There’s got to be a counterpart, right? I try to return the fans’ enthusiasm, making an effort to answer some of the letters personally. But already the ones that actually reach me are entire bags full. It’s virtually mission impossible.”

Also because Orlando – he’s named after Virginia Woolf’s novel – has very little free time. After finishing off Gore Verbinski’s “The Curse of the First Moon” (POTC), curiously inspired by a Disneyland ride, he has filmed his first comedy, Alex De Rakoff’s “The Calcium Kid”, and has rapidly landed in Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy”, where he is Paris, the prince that for the love of Helen caused the destruction of Troy. Under his very eyes, Brad Pitt and Eric Bana will face each other as Achilles and Hector.

“I wasn’t very familiar with the story, but I bought “The Iliad” on Cd. It’s easier for me to concentrate when I listen. In “The Curse of the First Moon” I’m a locksmith who fights alongside Johnny Depp to save the woman he loves for an army of ‘undead’ pirates. In “The Calcium Kid” I’m a milkman who finds himself facing a boxing world champion. Paris’s complexity was a real change of course. He can be considered an antihero, selfish. The most difficult part was to find a way for the audience not to dislike him. After his city is in ruins, his brother Hector’s death, he’s forced to grow up and this is the part I was most interested in. But at the beginning he’s just a vain person dedicated only to love. While others fight, he seduces. A lover rather than a fighter.”

Do you feel you identify with him?

“No, I’d choose to fight.”

Do you consider yourself a lucky man?

"Workwise, definitely. Not necessarily in life. But I tried to help luck along. When I was 16 I moved from Canterbury to London to study acting and to be closer to the entertainment world. Ever since I was a child I’ve been accident-prone, and I broke many bones. But I’m lucky in that I’m still here. When I was 21 I fractured my back and was blocked a long time. Yet I was on my feet to train and face “Lord of the Rings”: Legolas is a physically demanding character, and for this type of movies you need a lot of energy. Even in “Troy”’s case I was lucky: I’d just finished a project and I met Petersen. I was in the right place at the right time.”.

You say money isn’t important to you…

“That’s not really true anymore. With success life becomes more expensive. All of a sudden you’re surrounded by people who help you with your work, who protect your privacy and you have to pay them. But I’m not motivated by money. I consider myself sort of a modern hippy: I’m not interested in ‘pop’. I don’t follow fashion, but I like nice clothes. I only flip through magazines in the plane. But I try to see every movie, even the ugly ones. For me every movie is a little miracle. I often watch old movies, as well. One of my favorites is “The Hustler” which let me discover Paul Newman. After that I saw all his movies. Those movies were based on the acting and on characters that heighten the actor’s ability. Today, more money is invested. Making a movie means putting into motion a slow and complicated machine. You lose part of the work’s ‘fluidity’. Doing ‘The Calcium Kid’ was gratifying because the budget was modest but there was enough room for creativity, and the going was quick.”.

Is there a link between talent and success?