The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
War of the Worlds

IGN Interviews Miranda Otto

We discuss <I>War of the Worlds</I> with the <I>Lord of the Rings</I> star.

What a way to be introduced to a worldwide audience: killing the Nazgul King. Who can forget Miranda Otto as Eowyn in The Lord of the Rings? As an actor, no matter what you do, it's going to be hard to top that, but Otto is willing to give it her best shot. Since the release of Return of the King, she has starred in Flight of the Phoenix and the indie film In My Father's Den. Now, it's the movie she co-stars in this week that's bound to shake things up (literally): Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds.

IGN FilmForce's Steve Head recently spoke with Otto about making War of the Worlds, and what it takes to play the woman Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is desperately trying to see again, his wife, Mary Ann Ferrier.

IGN FILMFORCE: You have a baby now, but you're still putting in a huge amount of travel time. Lots of flying here and there.

Yes, I'm a frequent flyer whore. (She laughs) I love frequent flyer points.

IGNFF: How long did it take you to [get to New York] from Australia? And then you were back and from London and Africa in the past year.

In all, about the time you have to stop in LA, and then you get to New York, it must be all of about twenty-four hours. It's about fourteen or fifteen to LA, and then it's another five to New York. The longest journey is to London. That's about twenty-two hours. That's the weary one. That's on the absolute opposite side of the world.

IGNFF: How were you brought to Steven's attention? Certainly he must have noticed your work in The Lord of the Rings. He must have loved something you did.

Yes, he'd mentioned Lord of the Rings, he said he'd seen that and he just loved it. I think my manager sent him a tape of my work; I think that's what happens when Steven casts things, I think he just calls for tapes that he'd be interested in looking at. He has a look at several of these things put together on show reels. He just decided from that, I guess.

IGNFF: I imagine there must been more to it than that?

I must ask him. (She laughs)

IGNFF: "Steven, what was it really? Why did you put me in this movie?"

(She laughs) I didn't ask him while we were doing it in case he had second thoughts; in case he went, "Oh! I don't know, actually. Why are you here?" I would have to say, "Don't question it." (She laughs).


IGNFF: Well, you know, you wouldn't want to put him on the spot where he'd have to second guess. Had you ever been to New Jersey before?

I'd never been across to New Jersey.

IGNFF: New Yorkers might say, "Oh, you're not missing anything," but that's not the case really.

It was good while we were shooting there. I didn't get so see very much of New Jersey because I was staying in Manhattan and our interiors we did were actually on a studio set, they were in New Jersey, at Bayonne there's a big [studio space] there. So, really, I was turning up at that. We did a couple of exteriors in New Jersey, but that was only really one day. It was pretty quick, really.

IGNFF: Where did you shoot most of your interiors?

In New York. Some in New Jersey. They had a whole facility where the production was set up here, for interiors and exteriors.

In This Article

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Franchises:J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth
Genres:Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Drama
Platforms:Theater, DVD, Blu-ray
Producers:New Line Cinema
Distributors:New Line Cinema, Warner Home Video, New Line Home Entertainment
Release Date:December 19, 2001