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Reel People: A hobbit’s tale

The Lord of the Rings’ Billy Boyd brings tales of Middle Earth to Fan Expo Vancouver
Billy Boyd as Pippin. Photo supplied
Lord of the Rings’ star Billy Boyd will be sharing his experiences at Fan Expo Vancouver this weekend, alongside other pop-culture icons, such as Evil Dead’s Bruce Campbell, Tom Felton of the Harry Potter film series, and Robert Englund (aka Freddy Krueger).

It might seem like a fantastical notion in hindsight, but there was a time when the blockbuster success of The Lord of the Rings movie franchise wasn’t a sure thing.

Back when director Peter Jackson and company began production on the trilogy in 1999, fantasy film and TV was generally looked down upon as niche entertainment. “This was before Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, and fantasy movies were never at the Academy Awards,” recalls Billy Boyd, who portrayed mischievous hobbit Peregrin “Pippin” Took in all three cinematic installments. “No one took them seriously. It could have gone straight to DVD.”

It wasn’t until halfway through filming, when Boyd joined a small group of cast and crew in Cannes to screen twenty minutes from The Fellowship of the Ring, that he realized the tide was turning. “The reaction was so huge there that we were like, ‘this could be a big film.’”

Boyd will reminisce about his adventures in Middle Earth, pose for photos and sign autographs at this weekend’s Fan Expo Vancouver, a three-day celebration of science fiction, fantasy, video games, anime, horror, comic books and geek culture.

Few venues on Earth contain as much positivity as fan conventions, according to Boyd. “They’re nice places to be,” he says.

Convention attendees usually want to hear about Boyd’s band, Beecake, and about Space Milkshake, the indie sci-fi comedy he filmed a couple of years ago in Saskatchewan with local favourites Amanda Tapping and Kristin Kreuk (“It was probably the most fun I had making a film, but it was to the point that we probably destroyed a lot of the movie because we were all laughing so much”).

But mostly, fans want Boyd to dish about his experiences as Pippin, and he’s more than happy to oblige. “There was never a filming experience like it,” he says. “No one ever shot three movies together.”

Pippin was one of Frodo’s (Elijah Woods) best mates from Hobbiton who accompanies him on his treacherous trek to Mordor.

Pippin’s transformation from rascal to warrior is one of the most compelling in the trilogy. No scene better demonstrates Pippin’s journey than the one in The Return of the King where a tearful Pippin sings to John Noble’s cruel Denethor (a Youtube clip of this scene has 2.5 million views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WskRAEggqkQ).

Pippin’s song wasn’t in the original script. Jackson asked Boyd to write it after Boyd rocked Tom Jones’ Delilah at a cast and crew karaoke night. “I wrote what I felt was a sort of Celtic lament to a piece of poetry that Tolkien had written, and that’s the song that’s in the film,” he says.

The lifelong Beatles fan eventually recorded his song in Abbey Road’s Studio One. “You’re just like, ‘wow, you can’t buy that sort of experience,’” he says. “All because of a night in a karaoke bar.”

Fan Expo Vancouver kicks off on Friday afternoon at the Vancouver Convention Centre and runs until April 20. Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Karl Urban (Star Trek), Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness), Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse), Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street), and Morena Baccarin (Firefly) are among the other genre stars scheduled to appear. FanExpoVancouver.com.

Follow @wevancouver for full Fan Expo Vancouver coverage, including exclusive interviews and the best of cosplay fashion.