Dominic Monaghan's curious Q&A. I like curiosity. AMA.

Do you remember my dad Paul? You and him used to be mates and you met on Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. I've got a Pic of you and him on set.

http://i.imgur.com/FiFYFFK.jpg

Paul was the clapper loader on Hetty Wainthropp, and one of the first real friends I made in the industry. He was a lovely guy and I was a young kid, who didn't know anything about the business, and he took me under his wing. Please tell him I said hey!

Nothing to ask, but I absolutely adore your friendship with Elijah Wood. The interview prank gets me every time.

Nice! That was one of my favorite moments doing press for LOTR and certainly it was one of Peter Jackson's favorite moments, he watched it over and over again and asked if it was ok to put on the DVD. I was super honored by that, I was just trying to make Elijah smile and laugh.

Do you keep in touch with the other Hobbits?

Yes of course! Billy comes and stays at my house whenever he's in LA. I see Elijah whenever our paths cross with each other. And same with Sean Astin. We're all busy and working but when we're in the same city we tend to find each other.

Is there going to be a Driveshaft reunion tour?

There wasn't even a Driveshaft tour in the first place, so I doubt a reunion is on the books! I would like to do it though, I had a great time with Neil Hopkins who played my brother. We were trying to do an homage to the Mancunian band Oasis.

What did you have for second breakfast today?

I haven't eaten today.

Just wanted to say, you were by far the best thing about Wolverine: Origins.

That's very sweet to say. I'm sure Hugh would feel slightly different about that. But I had a lot of fun with that and it was a fantastic experience to be around such a huge star who had such a beautiful way about him.

So I had a dream 2 nights ago where I met you on the street and told you that the "Not Penny's Boat" scene made me cry and you didn't even acknowledge me. Let's get the record straight, how would you really react in real life?

I always react in the same way, which is "Oh, thank you so much. I'm so glad it worked. We all attempted to move the audience in that scene, and I think we did a pretty good job."

Hi Dominic, Did you really choose Luke as your Confirmation name after Luke Skywalker?

greetings from Croatia!

Yes, and I wanted Han, but my mom and dad wouldn't let me have Han. They said it has to be a name in the bible, so I went away and said "Chewie" and then they said "no, Chewie's not in the Bible." Chewie SHOULD be in the Bible, he has that biblical beard. But we went with Luke.

What's the absolute worst experience (anything from a single day to an entire project) you've ever had filming, and what happened that made it so terrible?

I did a film in the Ukraine called Soldiers of Fortune with Christian Slater and Ving Rhames and Jamie Cromwell and Sean Bean, and it was just kind of miserable. The director didn't really know what he was doing, the film wasn't great, the hotel was rubbish, room service closed at 5 and we wouldn't get back to the hotel until 7 or 8, I had a broken foot at the time. So that was pretty poor.

Who was your favorite actor/actress to work with and why?

Probably Viggo? or Ian McKellen? They're both real professionals, they both bring their A-game to every scene they do and they are both incredibly unpredictable, so you never know what is going to happen next. And he is willing to do anything to make his character more authentic. He would you know, sleep in the forest for LOTR trying to be as Aragorn-y as possible.

Hey Dom! How was the experience of returning to Hobbiton with your friend Billy Boyd? How long has it been, reliving the location where it all began?

It's been at least 10 years, maybe 11 or 12 years, since Billy and I were both back in New Zealand together? We've been there individually but not at the same time.

It was great, because we were able to go to Mata Mata, where the Shire is, so Bag End, the Prancing Pony where the hobbits drink, so what we were able to do was sneak into the Prancing Pony and not tell the tourists we were there, and then we opened the Prancing Pony to the tourists. And then when they went inside, we opened the pub up and they asked "What are you doing here?" and Billy replied back "we stay here when we're not working! We've rooms above the pub." And I mean, there were a few people who were quite emotional about it, it was great, we served them all ginger beer and served the adults ale.

Hello Dominic! How did you find the Hobbit movies?

Just walk to my local cinema, and they're on!

If you could be on any television show (besides the ones you have worked on), what would it be?

Game of Thrones.

i want this to happen, i can imagine him playing a youngish lord of a smallish town

Okay! Make it so.

Hey Dom, of all the character you have played, who can you relate to the most?

I don't know, maybe Charlie from LOST. He was a real guy, he had similarities in his personality that I have. He has some demons, which he deals with incorrectly at times, and he has a good heart, wants to do the right thing, makes mistakes, is quite human.

Thank you for doing this AMA.

Was it your idea to make Charlie wear band-aids on his fingers? What did they represent?

They wanted me to have some sort of minor injury after the crash. They didn't want me to look like I'd survived the crash unscathed. So we put bandages on my fingers, and then JJ and Damon came up with the idea of I write a four letter word on my hand every so often. It was going to change over the course of the show, so I think I started out writing LATE and then eventually he was going to get hungry and I was going to write PATE. And then I think I ended up writing FATE and we would all try to work out how many words we could get out of that, and then we dropped the idea.

Throughout your career you’ve filmed in some crazy places. What was your favourite location?

Also, I just want to say that you’re awesome and I’ve had a massive crush on you since I started watching Lost in high school. I cried like a little bitch when Charlie bit the dust.

Sorry for your loss. And all-time favorite location is New Zealand, just because of the experience, the memories. I'll probably live there eventually, if I ever have children.

How do you like your steak cooked?

Medium rare.

Slightly on the bloody side.

Did Steve Irwin influence you/your show in any way?

Of course. The death of Steve was the impetus for me to turn my idea for a show into something real. I was pretty devastated by his death, and I remember thinking "If I don't use this as an opportunity to turn this into the show that i have always talked about, then what does that say about how I felt when he died?"

Hello,how was your day? Have you kept in contact with anyone else from lost, specifically Claire? And how did you feel about Flashforwards cancelation?

It was fantastic. Hanging out with my BBC America friends on the east coast, but unfortunately I am slightly hungover.

Yes, I'm still friends with Emily. We go out to dinner every so often, and there are pictures of us tweeting at each other. People want us to fall in love and go off into the sunset, but she's married. You know, I'm still friend with Harold and see him and his wife quite a bit, as well as Ian, Jorge, Josh Holloway. We're all busy and stuff, but when we see each other it's cool. There's a weird camaraderie with those people because you shared such an experience with them.

It's very difficult to get shows on the air anyway, so I'm always a little disappointed when you've made it to that point and the show doesn't return. I thought Flash Forward was really well written and had a great group of actors involved with it, but the irony of that was that I probably would not have been able to do Wild Things if I was still doing Flash Forward, so you just have to give in to the flow of, I dunno, the universe? The cosmos? Furbies?

Did you ever get around to fighting Elijah Wood?

Well, yeah, we had a boxing match. Which we did for a film festival. And the kind of sponsored film in that film festival was a documentary called Knuckle, so they did these commemorative boxing matches, so the guy from Knuckle, for the guy who ran the film festival, that wasn't a real fight. Then a girl fought a boy. And then a six foot three guy fought a five foot two guy, and they didn't have a real fight either, so Elijah and I looked at each other, we're both good sports and we love each other, and we said "Hey, let's fight." There must be a link somewhere that you can see.

Hey Dom! Do you ever have a LOTR marathon where you sit at home and watch all the movies (extended editions, of course) back to back and just get lost in the story? If so, are you able to distance yourself from your acting experience and watch the movies from the perspective of a regular audience member? I've always wondered how/if actors are able to do that without being critical of their own work.

It's almost impossible for me to watch anything that I do as an outsider. I always have an agenda on how it could have been better, or where the camera was, or how I was feeling that day. I think it's a bit of an undertaking for me to spent 11 or 12 hours watching 3 movies that I was in that I know backwards and forwards anyway. Maybe with my grandkids or nephew, but for me by myself, it feels a little Howard Hughes-esque.

Where has been your favorite place you have traveled? And would you like to do any comic cons to meet your fans?

I've done Comic-Con a bunch! I think I've done it 8 times. Favorite place to visit? I really like Southeast Asia, so any of those places - Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand. The food is so great, the people are so friendly, animals everywhere.

Did you ever get Aragorn straight on that whole “Second Breakfast” thing?

Hi Dominic, thanks for doing an AMA!

I did a phoner with you a year and a half ago when you were doing press for The Day. I’m curious: what’s the most annoying question you’ve ever been asked during an interview?

Also, you’re attached to “The Hundred Code.” I’m assuming from the title it’s a police drama. What can you tell us about it?

Thanks again!

That's a fun question.

I don't think humans will ever understand the idiosyncrasies of hobbits.

It's good to be curious. And the most annoying question that I got asked are the lazy ones where they ask you to do all the work, like "tell us the most amusing story from on set" or "tell us about your character" that's a little lame. I get interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos a lot and he really does his homework, and it makes the interview really enjoyable because he asks questions that come from a place of research. Chris Hardwick is the same. Hello /u/ChrisHardwick! He clearly does his homework. And if I'm going to show up at an interview and try to make it best and give the best answers, it's refreshing when the interviewer tries to give their best questions.

The Hundred Code is a swedish cop show that I'm going to do in May. Which deals with a New York cop (who I play) who goes to Stockholm following a very specific type of serial killer, whose case file has shown up in Stockholm. And I have to work with a completely different type of police unit. It's Seven meets Lethal Weapon. It's Lethal Seven.

I will be able to see Billy Boyd at Fan Expo in Vancouver, is there you can suggest I can say to him to make him laugh?

Ask him why he watches so much news.

You rode a mule near the end of The Return of the King. The mule has died. In a sailing accident.

Out of the animals you've never kept as pets, are there any that you would really, really like to have?

If we're talking about fantasy animals, I'd very much like a black panther, or a raven. But I wouldn't keep either one of them, because it's totally unfair and they live in the wild. I like the idea of having a raven sitting on your shoulder, and you could sort of have a conference with it. They're just cool, you know? And it could answer for you when your friends ask if you want to go to the cinema, and say KAW. He's feeling it.

Do you ever ask yourself, "What the fuck am I doing?" when handling wild and dangerous animals on your show? Have you ever been bit?

That's one of the more common questions that i get asked, are you crazy, are you mental type thing. You know, the potential of being bit or being in any sense of peril is outweighed by the profound experience of interacting with a wild animal. It's powerful, you know? And palpable as well. An animal will fight you a little bit, but then you communicate to the extent it will stay with you, it's quite powerful.

I've been bit a few times - snakes, spiders, stung by scorpions, I've been bitten by an anaconda this year, it was definitely a dodgy moment on set.

What's your very best life advice?

Adversity is opportunity.

Where do you think the female Ents went?

I think they probably left the forest, knowing that it was inevitable that it was going to be destroyed, and then tried to go somewhere safe, and were probably unfortunately found by the evil forces and turned into a lovely mahogany desk or something.

Have you ever had a brush with death, and if so, please elaborate.

Yes, I've had a few brushes with death. I think I died once, and then I came back from it. I remember being dead and something saying to me "you can stay here if you want, and if you stay here, you can affect way more change here than if you're alive" and I remember having a dialogue with this voice saying "I don't want to stay here, I want to go back" and then the voice said "OK, well if you want to continue to go back, then follow that girls' voice." so I followed that girls' voice, and it brought me back into consciousness, but it was very very clear to me that I had the opportunity to die. It was one of the most real moments of my life.

Do you have a favorite animal?

Yes, my favorite animals are ants. The insect, yeah. They're fascinating. If you're interested in animals, you should study ants because they are fascinating. They live in highly condensed communities where there's no murder, no rape, they work to protect their kids, they create clean soil and air, they allow trees to grow, they protect the forest, they live in complete balance with our planet. And they're fucking awesome.

That's an unexpected answer! I've always thought bees were really neat, maybe they're on the same level. Are their societies similar?

Thanks for answering, you are awesome!

Well, bees and ants belong to the same insect group, called hymenoptera. Wasps are in that group as well. And ants are essentially wingless wasps. So those 3 animals tend to live in very complex, tightly knit communities and do it very successfully.

Hey i'm a big fan of yours ever since i saw the first LOTR movie and i wonder what's your dream movie to star in ?

Star Wars.

My husband and I are huge fans of your performances in LOTR, Lost, and Chuck.
IMO, the best thing to come out of the LOTR trilogy was the Easter Egg on the ROTK Extended DVD where you prank-interview Elijah Wood on your birthday (and that's saying a lot, because I adored the trilogy). (Link for the uninitiated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EldIWo3k14E)

Your comedic turn there and the comedic aspects of your other characters make us really want to see you in more comedic roles. Have you ever done sketch comedy? Will you do more comedy? Vhen vill you vear vigs?

Much love to you!

I did Mad TV, which I really enjoyed and wrote a few sketches for that. I love to do comedy and that's where my agent thinks I will end up, because he thinks I'm funny for some reason.

What the fuck is seltzer?

Seltzer, I've learned, is fizzy water. And it goes great with dried fruit.

Waddup Dom! Huge fan of your playing of Merry in LoTR, thanks for killing the Witch-King of Angmar! My question for you; if one person has a sniper rifle (50. Cal) and another an axe, who would kill first if they are five feet apart, both weapons are not drawn.

My serious question; what got you into acting, how did you get the role of Merry?

Axe, I think?

I watched Empire Strikes Back when I was six or seven. And then the week after, I watched Star Wars (wrong order but true story) and then very shortly after that, I watched Indiana Jones and I realized that Harrison Ford was both characters, and I started asking my dad, I think, about how that worked, and my dad explained that he was an actor. So by the age of seven or eight, I knew I wanted to be an actor. You know what it's like when you're a kid, you don't really know that adults have jobs and stuff, you think it's what you want to play as today, and it sort of became a career.

I attended an open audition in London, my agent called me and said that they were doing castings for Lord of The Rings and asked if I knew the project, and I said "I do," my dad had read us the Hobbit and we had storybook tapes of LOTR when we were kids. And I had read the book when I was about 15. And so I was in a play in London, I was playing a skinhead and I had a cold, so I had no hair and a little bit of a black eye, and probably looked nothing like a hobbit, and just came in and did this reading, and assumed that i didn't really have that much of a chance,that I should just forget about it. The casting director actually said that David Bowie was coming in later and did I want to stay and see him and I said yes, so I sat in reception another hour, and so that was cool. I think he was auditioning for Gandalf? He would have been a great Elrond. Some of the casting was crazy, I think Sean Connery was being talked about for Aragorn, or Russell Crowe for Aragorn, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke were really close to being in it, some crazy names being thrown about.

And then I was in France making a TV show, and my agent called me and said "you may need to fly to LA to chat with Pete Jackson, or possibly even New Zealand" and I said "OK." And then he called me a day or so later, and he said "Yyou don't need to fly anywhere, they just offered you the part." It was pretty amazing.

Who are your "dream" guest stars to have in Wild Things? (Love the show btw)

David Attenborough (never going to happen, but still), Phillippe Cousteau. Jimmy Kimmel, because people keep telling him to do it and he's super scared of animals, and Scarlett Johanssen because that would just be fun.

Hello Dom!

I've read that you are a nature enthusiast and animal rights activist. Which endangered species of animal do you think needs the most public awareness?

I work with an orangutan orphanage in Borneo, and I'm always trying to help out this organization: http://www.orangutans-sos.org/

They are one of our closest related cousins, and we are unfortunately decimating their habitat for palm oil, and orphaning the kids, and it would be a very sad reflection on our generation if we were part of the group that allowed these stunning creatures to go extinct.

They are so noble, you know?

And they just look at us like, you know?

Hey ! Do yo have any plans of becoming a director ? ps. You should totaly do a full version of hey all everybody

I'd like to direct kids. Because I think I communicate with young people pretty well. And I enjoy their company. But I'm not sure if I could direct an adult. Because, hey, what do I know?

Hey Dom! Big Lost fan here! I know you're a big fan of football especially Manchester United. Who are some of your favorite current players?

Ryan Giggs is my all-time favourite Manchester United player. Wayne Rooney is fantastic. Eric Cantona, George Best, Denis Law, those are my favourites. I like fast, skillful, dynamic scoring Manchester United players.

If you had to choose, what would it be: living in Middle Earth or discovering an island similar to the one in LOST? P.S. Big fan. You're awesome. :)

Oh, live in MIddle Earth, for sure! The Shire is obviously beautiful. Has some pretty incredible magical characters in that world. And we're saving something that we love as opposed to, you know, on the LOST island trying to escape.

Hi Dom! Thanks for doing this AMA. I have two questions:

1) What was it like shooting the Eminem/Rihanna video? Any funny/interesting moments?

2) What can we do to get yourself, Billy B. and Peter J. to work on a Merry and Pippin solo movie? You two had such great chemistry.

Thanks!

1) Well, I mean, it was pretty special. The director got in touch with me and said "what are you doing next week" and I said "nothing" and he said "you want to be in the new Eminem video" and I said "absolutely." There was no format for what the video would be at that point that I knew of. But Eminem is probably my favorite hip hop artist of all time alongside Rakim and KRS-One. So I jumped at the opportunity. And then I was talking to the director, and he told me what he thought the video would be, which was a couple in a very dysfunctional relationship, you know, battling and then making up and then battling and then making up, and he kept saying "We should cast someone like Megan Fox, or a Megan Fox type" and then eventually, I emailed him back and said "what about Megan Fox?" And she was an Eminem fan too. So then we met onset and made out a lot, and I got paid for it. Which was great.

2) That's probably more of a question for Peter Jackson, but I'm sure Billy and I would both love to work with Pete again. And Billy and I are also cooking a little show together, which hopefully by this time next year we can hopefully talk about in a real fashion. So watch this space.

Do you keep in touch with other people from Lost? Was Dharma beer a lager or an ale?

Dharma beer was probably a seltzer.

Hi Dominic, when Elijah had his AMA, I asked him if he had any favourite TV shows. So I'll ask you too, what are your currently favourite TV shows?

I watch a lot of Manchester United. I like Survivor, Game of Thrones, Dragon's Den (which is the English version of Shark Tank)… the Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Colbert Report, Key & Peele.

What role was the most challenging for you at the time?

I think the most challenging role that I will do is the one I'm about to do for the Hundred Code. Very serious lead in a foreign project where I play a New Yorker and if you get a New Yorker wrong by one degree, everyone can see it, so, it's a challenge for sure.

Which hobbit would win in an arm wrestle?

Probably Sam, he was kind of the most burly out of the hobbits. He was a bit more heavier set and muscular, because he's a gardener. He's earthy.

Hi Dom, congrats on the new season of Wild Things, I can’t wait to see it. Your passion and hard work is definitely inspiring people to change their ideas and behavior towards animals, including me.

When do you think season 2 will start airing in other countries? Are you optimistic about the future of the natural world? What changes would you like to see happening within a decade from now?

Very soon, I hope. Season 1 is already playing in about 30 countries. I think you have to be optimistic, because it's the only way to affect change, but I think some big decisions need to be made about how we, as the stewards of planet earth, behave towards our fellow animals. We seem to think because we can build skyscrapers or computers that we are in a position that we can dictate what lives or what dies.

Electric cars, heavy recycling, legitimate conservation of wild habitats, more buffalo wings (they're really tasty), and I think that's it.

Hey, your show Wild Things with yourself is really cool. If you could be any animal or insect, which would it be?

Well, insects are animals. So let's point that out. If I could be any animal…maybe like a gray whale or a minke whale? You know, they're big, beautiful peaceful animals that spend their entire life navigating the globe and it seems to be relatively carefree and they go into the deep oceans which is fascinating.

Dominic, Hi!!! So I know you’re a Beatles fan (because of the internet…. not because of anything creepy like stalking you) and I was wondering if you had gotten to go to the 50th anniversary special last month (or if you just watched it) and what was your favorite performance? I got chills seeing Dave Grohl play Hey Bulldog! Also you rule so hard. Thanks!

No I didn't go, I think I must have been away. But I'm sure Dave Grohl's performance of Hey Bulldog was pretty fantastic.