Sean Astin is still in full Hobbit mode.
"These past few days, I think I've done every talk show and talked with every journalist in New York and now I'm starting on the rest of North America," says Astin, after a full day of phone interviews.
Astin plays Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
In The Return of the King, the trilogy's final chapter, Samwise literally carries his friend Frodo (Elija Wood) to the fiery summit of Mount Doom so Frodo can destroy the evil ring.
There's good reason Astin, 32, has become a media superstar.
The buzz is he will nab an Oscar nomination on Jan. 27 for best supporting actor.
"There are no words to describe what that honour would mean," says Astin, who is the son of actors Patty Duke and John Astin.
"Just the attention my performance has already received is unbelievably gratifying, but if I actually won the Oscar, I know what it would mean to my mother (who won in 1963 for her performance as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker) and it's for her I would want to win it. I have allowed myself to fantasize about getting an Oscar for directing, but never acting," says Astin, who received a joint Oscar nomination with his wife Christine Astin in 1995 for their short film Kangaroo Court.
Astin's journey through Middle Earth began six years ago: "Peter was directing my dad in The Frighteners when my film Rudy came out in 1993. Peter, my dad and Michael J. Fox all called to congratulate me on my performance, which was real flattering and Peter says, from that day, I was always on his radar.
"When my agent called I got the impression Samwise was my role to lose so I poured everything I had into that audition."
Astin shares most of his screen time with Wood and Andy Serkis, who plays Smeagol who becomes Gollum under the spell of the ring.
"Friends is not an adequate word to describe the bonding relationship Andy, Elijah and I developed making these films."
Both Serkis and Wood received specially minted versions of the ring as gifts from the Rings production company.
"I got Sam's backpack which began to feel like a second skin, albeit a very uncomfortable skin. I also got to keep Sam's sword as well as some hobbit feet and ears," says Astin.
He's not the only Astin to play a hobbit in The Return of the King. His daughter Alexandra Louise, 7, plays Sam's daughter.
"Alexandra was three when we filmed the scene. The pride and joy in my face when she runs to me is not acting."
LIFE AFTER LOTR
Sean Astin has not been idle in the two years since he completed principal filming on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
In 50 First Dates, which opens Feb. 13, he plays Drew Barrymore's flamboyant brother.
"I got to have a lisp and everything. It's really broad comedy which is something I had never done. I have a few scenes with Adam Sandler and that was really cool. He's a comic genius," says Astin.
He also filmed a time travel heist movie called Slipstream with Vinnie Jones for first-time director David van Eyssen.
"Slipstream is a great concept but I'm not sure it really worked. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a film no one gets to see."
The Kim Basinger romantic comedy Elvis Has Left the Building will get released, but Astin says he has "a small role. I spend most of my screen time talking on the phone."
Astin is attached to Mark Twain's Greatest Adventure: It's a Matter of Time and May Day, both of which are listed as in development.
More Artists
