Frodo is the nephew of Bilbo Baggins, and Wood sees a similarity between those two characters: "Frodo is different; he is slightly set apart from the other hobbits. Like his uncle, he is very curious about the outside world. Frodo has read Bilbo's memoirs and heard the older hobbit telling stories of his adventures, and part of him likes the idea of having an adventure of his own."
When, however, that adventure comes to Frodo, it turns out to be a lot more dangerous than he, or his uncle, might have anticipated. His taks is to carry the One Ring to Mordor, avoiding the watchinful gaze of the Dark Lord, Sauron, and there cast the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom.
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy is the latest venture for an actor who has already achieved much in his tender years. Following early success as a child model, Wood moved with his family to Los Angeles. It was there that an agent saw him and asked if he would like to be an actor. "Why not?" answered Wood, and he was soon launched on his film career with minor roles in Back To The Future II, Internal Affairs and Avalon.
His first starring role, at the age of ten, was in Paradise, playing Willard, a young boy who reawakens the love between Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson as a couple whose lives have been devastated by a family tragedy. Later films include Forever Young, The Good Son, North, Flipper, The Ice Storm, Deep Impact, Chain Of Fools and The Faculty. In 1994, Wood was named Young Star of the Year by NATO/ShowEast following his performance in The War.
Wood has also portrayed two famous literary characters, one American and one English: starring in the title role of Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huck Finn and playing the Artful Dodger, opposite Richard Dreyfuss as Fagin, in a television version of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist.
In playing Frodo, Wood is cast alongside fellow American Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee. As Wood observes, the special bond that grows and develops between Frodo and Sam in the three volumes of the book is also at the heart of the film trilogy: "It's a deep relationship and difficult to describe. In one way it is a master/servant relationship, because Sam comes from a different class and wants to serve Frodo and be there for him because he's very, very loyal. But more than anything, they are best friends."
Despite all the efforts of wizards and warriors, it is this one friendship that eventually enables Frodo to carry out his quest. "Quite simply, it is love," says Elijah Wood. "It is that unconditional love that says, regardless of what you do or where you go, I will always be there for you."
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