'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' featuring Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel, Head of Elven Guard, Not Arwen 2.0 [VIDEO]
"Lost" star Evangeline Lilly can now be found on the film "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" as Tauriel, the head of the Wood Elves' Elven Guard. The character Tauriel is not part of the original book "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. She was just added by Director Peter Jackson to the story. It looks like Tauriel is Arwen's counterpart in "The Lord of the Rings," but make no mistake, this she-elf is not Arwen 2.0!
Evangeline Lilly is a welcome breath of fresh air in the film "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug." Even if Tauriel, the character that she is playing, is not originally part of the story, she adds a female touch to the largely male dominated film. Like Galadriel and Arwen in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Tauriel is an elf, "immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings."
However, unlike Arwen and Galadriel, she doesn't dress in beautiful and flowy gowns. Instead, she is garbed in plain green robes and brown underpants with a bow and a quiver of arrows. As the head of the Elven Guard, she has to dress the part and gowns would just get in the way of battles. Her attire makes her look like a female Robin Hood.
"She's utterly lethal and ruthless. She is the head of the Elven guard, so she's an expert killer, an assassin," said Lilly in a report by the Herald Sun.
Despite her dreary clothes, her elvish beauty still shines. In fact, she somehow resembles Liv Tyler, the actress who played Arwen in "The Lord of the Rings." That's why some people can't help but compare the two of them.
This uncanny resemblance could also be the reason why Lilly was cast by "The Hobbit" director Peter Jackson. According to the Herald Sun, Lilly didn't have to go through an audition. She was just offered the role of Tauriel.
Lilly just gave birth to son Kahekili and she wanted to take a year off to be a full-time mother to him.
"I was laid up in bed a month out of having given birth,'' said Lilly.
"I was literally bedridden and holding my little newborn baby trying to figure all that out when I got the phone call."
But, when she was asked to be part of "The Hobbit," she couldn't resist accepting the role because it was her favourite book when she was a child. Plus, she loved the elves.
Lilly did have some reservations in moving to New Zealand and taking on the role of Tauriel.
"You don't want to be the one person who is the mistake in a legendary film,'' she said in the Herald Sun report.
"And that's what I'm risking being the character that was not in the books."
"But I know I am in good hands. Peter Jackson has earned the right to say, "I know this world, I have helped to create this world, trust me."
Lilly knows that she can't please everyone and some people are bound to hate her character. She remains positive that most of them will love her.
The cast of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," who are based in Los Angeles, New York, Wellington and London, recently had a live Q and A session with CNN host Anderson Cooper in New York on Nov. 4, 2013.
The live chat is part of the film's worldwide fan event. Aside from the Q and A, exclusive footage was also shown to fans in participating theatres via satellite including cinemas in Sydney, Paris, Brussels, Toronto, Hamburg, Rome, Madrid, Mexico City and Miami, Florida.
For those who weren't able to be part of the said event, snippets of the film can be seen below:
CREDIT: YouTube/Warner Bros. Pictures
CREDIT: Youtube/Warner Bros. Pictures
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" featuring Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Aidan Turner as Kili will be shown on December 13, 2013 in 3D and High Frame Rate (HFR) 3D. It also stars Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis, Lee Pace, Luke Evans and Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug.