Star “The Star of the Lord of the Rings” talks about New Shire Lego Set and the joy of imagination

Sean Astin has played in many of my favorite films over the years. He played Mikey in The goonies As early as 1985, a film that inspired dreams of pirate ships and booby caught in me, lost from lost treasure and adventure that are waiting around the corner.

This film was one of the most influential of my childhood together with star Wars and books like The chronicles of Narnia And The Prydain Chronicles. Of course it was the Lord of the Rings that I read for the first time in the 4. Class that had the most profound effects. The books were adapted in a trilogy of Peter Jackson films, starting in 2001 Community of the ring. All of these stories helped form the foundation of my imagination and a feeling for what is really important: friendship, loyalty, courage in the face of discouraging chances of winning and the ability for normal people, even children and hobbits to overcome the machinations of evil.

Astin also played in Jackson’s trilogy as Stalwartes Hobbit, Samwise Gamgeee, Frodo’s most loyal girlfriend and one of the most heroic and yet modest characters in modern literature and cinema. I had the great pleasure of recently talking to the actor about his commitment with Lego’s impressive set on the subject of shire on the subject of shire, which restores the 111st birthday party of Mr. Bilbo Baggins.

The set has a whopping 2,017 blocks and a variety of Lord of the rings Characters such as Gandalf, Bilbo and Samwise Gamgee themselves. This is the third large Lego set of The Lord of the RingsAnd by far the most cozy. The other two are Saurons stronghold Barad-Dûr and the elves Sanctuary, Rivendell.

“They somehow forget nowadays,” says Astin, “sometimes they need permission to have fun and leave their imagination wild.”

Astin tells the new LEGO mini film that accompanies the unveiling of the Shire set. The advertising spot offers animated LEGO Lord of the rings Characters that give in some scenes from the Jackson films with an increase in the classic Lego humor, which we expect from the films of the toyman. “When I drove home from the commercial shoot, I just thought, why was it so much fun? Why was it so much fun to play?” Asty says.

Astin spent the day shooting the commercial and playing with LEGO toys. (Lego, astin, informs me, prefers the expression “Lego Toys” to the Plural “Legos”, although Mordor will freeze before I no longer use Lego’s daily speech). Astin has built Lego his whole life, first as a child and later with his own children. “Just let us put it that way,” he tells me. “Last New Year, like between Christmas and New Year, while other people are traveling with pickleball, I was inside and tried to build a Lego.”

Of course, to combine astin with a brand new Lord of the rings The Lego set only makes sense and the result is charming, with many small residues in the cinema.

The shoot was a lot of fun, says Astin. They played with lines of dialogue from the films while they enjoy building and playing with the LEGO figures. “I have three daughters,” he says. “They have grown now, but they can find creativity and imagination in something. You can record a pebble and you can have the pebble. And I think the fact that Lego has found out how to hug this world of literature.

“What I always liked about the bricks was that, although they are small, they are somehow solid,” he says. “You feel that you really build something. And as soon as you have brought it to a certain height, it’s time to put it down and start …”

“The scrub of the floodplain?” I make up.

“Exactly. Oh my god, we should have shown that.”

I asked astin if he read the books before filming the Jackson trilogy.

“Not at all,” says Astin. “I didn’t know anything about Tolkien. I knew nothing about the world of the Middle -earth or I knew The hobbit Or something. It’s not that I was not interested in it. It was the case that I had just never heard of it. And I completed the UCLA with a degree in literature and history, and I thought I wanted my money back! “

Astin says that he read the books several times while making the films in New Zealand because he had a lot of time in his hands, but his approach differed from most fans. “I haven’t really gone into the world, like many people who love Middle -earth to love medium earth,” he tells me. “You just fall in, you know, and it later manifests itself in her life as a cosplay or whatever. But for me I looked through like a miner through a cave, tried to shake away and see what works. It is another part of the brain that is very analytical. And I only envied this experience.

“The books are these engine for pictures and character and story,” he tells me. “I just think about how it must have been for Tolkien to live a life that would enable him to have the imagination he had, and the measure of discipline he had.”

It was only when toys came out that he really felt this feeling of joy that many fans feel. “The first time I saw myself as a figure, it was just so cool,” he says. “You know, you just couldn’t believe it. But then, in a sense, if you can cut a figure from me, you can basically cut a figure of someone. We are all special. I am a very special person, I know, but I am not a solo or none of these boys. Junge satisfaction.”

I mention that sometimes I only look at the start of Ringe scholarship Because the floodplain has something comforting. “Of course,” says Astin. “It is the place to die to save.”

I ask astin what he made such great adaptations for the Jackson films. After all, there are many adjustments of beloved stories that fall flat. Astin says when he arrived in New Zealand for the first time. He imitates the Bumpkin species as they spoke in the film. “And I remember that Peter, I really hope that is not the case … we don’t have to do it, right? And he somehow laughed, and he was like ‘no’.”

Astin says that the filmmakers had “a feeling of what feels heroic, what danger feels, what the orcs and uruk shark should look like and” the bets of the world, the nature of good and evil “. They were also able to convey the scope of Tolkien’s tradition and convey a sense of history and size.

“You know, one of the coolest moments I loved, it was to watch when the community arrived in Rivendell,” Asta told me, “and they looked at the mural on the wall, which is a story of the ring. A way, it is as if we are on planet earth.

Of course, the films have influenced people’s lives in a profound way, Ast notes. “I had 25 years of people who came to me who told me that Lord of the rings helped them with a very traumatic time in their lives, a loss of a loved one, depression. The care that the filmmakers and the actors and all films connected to the films, intentions and pride and work, craftsmanship and everything that incorporates into them earns the emotional connection of these people to him. They promise people: come with us on this trip and it will be worth part of you that you want to invest in them. “

Astin jokes that he will undoubtedly start to see Lego Lord of the rings Tattoos, especially when he visited Denmark later this year. “I’m joking, but I’m not joking,” he says. So many things in pop culture are now part of our identity. But there is only something classic Lord of the rings. That is why mythology exists. For us, mythology is that we can share stories with each other, perhaps frame things that touch us, and they feel like you connected to our lives. “

Astin says that fans come to him and say: “That was my life, that’s exactly my experience, and I am like: ‘Really? You have foam feet on and have false hair and how you know you had to use a styrofoam bat?'” He jokes. “But it doesn’t matter. Children are so pure. If they play with these toys or when adults play ups with their children, with their LEGOS, their imagination at this moment is as sensible as everything else that is going on.”

Possible use that parents find with this new LEGO set is the introduction of their children into the Middle-earth. “You want to talk about it Lord of the rings Sit with your child there while your child will put these things together and read the book, you know or have the film in the background. “

Legos was not the only toy with which the actor played as a child. When an astin was young, he loved it star Wars Action numbers. He would use his father’s super eight camera to make films with the toys. “Cut to 20 years later, go to New Zealand and you go to a warehouse and see how Minas Tirith is three floors.

Astin says he would like to be the ambassador for all future Lord of the rings Lego sets, but he is not sure whether that will happen. “You know, for my money, Lego, now that you have the merchandising agreement and you can Lord of the ringsYou will probably want a stupid eleven to make a commercial for the next. “

“A little hobbit against eleven resentments here?” I joke.

“Yes, this crazy, big, blonde, beautiful man,” Astin replies.

I mention the A Goonies The Pirate Ship Lego Set would be cool, and maybe he could make the commercial for it. “Finally,” he says, “I want every film in which I have ever been a LEGO set.”

After all, a hobbit can dream.

The Lord of the Rings: The Shire Lego set will be available for LEGO insiders from April 2 and for everyone from April 5. Anyone who buys the set of Lego Stores or Lego.com between April 2 and 8. The sentence costs $ 269.99/€ 269.99/229.99. Try it and the mini-movie with Sean Astin on the official website.

I will build the floodplain while I wave up again The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the X -Ten. And maybe, maybe only, I will order the Rivendell that agrees. That has elves, do you know? “Wonderful people, elves, sir! Wonderful!”