About his tattoo: "It was designed by Alan Lee, who illustrated all of the Lord of the Rings books. It's in Elvish script, and it's the word for nine. We all chose to put them in different places. I got mine on my forearm, because I'm an archer." -OB

"It was quite amusing to see the cast on a night off in Wellington. The Hobbits would be picking their feet, and the Elves would be picking their ears." -OB

Will Lord of the Rings take on new relevance in light of the tragedy of September 11?
"What's beautiful about this story is it says the evil of the world is contained within one Ring. And the smallest of beings, the Hobbits, can come together with friends and a Fellowship and go off to destroy the Ring in the fires where it was made. So, it runs very parallel with what's happening today. I think it's a story of hope, because at the end, the evil is overcome." -OB

The effects may be state-of-the-art, but there was still plenty of old-fashioned swordfighting and horseback riding. Were you up to the challenge?
"I had to train pretty extensively to get fluidity and the kind of grace and ease of movement that distinguishes an Elf. Training with the bow and arrow was a great way to find my character. I got pretty good. At the end, my archery instructor would throw a paper plate into the air, and I could nail it with an arrow." -OB

You worked together for a year and half. How did you spend your downtime?
Elijah Wood: "... The Hobbits tended to spend their free time together, so the closest friends that I had on the movie were Billy and Dom and Sean. And Orlando the Elf, who happened to join us as well, much to our dismay. No, he's a good guy. The Hobbits went to Australia...we went to Sydney and checked out the Star Wars set. The Elf joined us. We went on surfing trips a lot. It was a close union of boys."

Elf prince Orlando Bloom (nicknamed Armani Elf by the wardrobe department) quietly ponders the beginning of the end. "The last few weeks have been so busy that I'm almost punch-drunk. It's so sad that we're finishing after so long together, but I know I'll carry my character and this experience wherever I go."

Liv Tyler: "I love them all, all my costars. We would hang out mostly in the hair-and-makeup trailer, and after work at dinner. We would eat all the time and drink wine and laugh. I was always like, 'Let's go get dinner!' We all lived in houses, some of us in apartments. Orlando and I lived right around the corner from where Peter lives on this beautiful bay, up on these cliffs, and we had just the sea in front of us. You wake up to rainbows and dolphins. So, we had each other and work and some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen.

"Orlando couldn't stop bungee jumping." Peter Jackson