Ground control to Major Dom ...
Dominic Monaghan has been busy since "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" premiered 15 years ago. Among his projects, the actor is the star of his own nature show, “Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan," now coming to Travel Channel for Season 3.
In the show, Monaghan goes across the world on wild adventures to find dangerous animals, but while talking to The Huffington Post, he recalled a story about his "Lord of the Rings" audition that's equally crazy.
"I was at the Hubbard's, which is a pretty notorious casting agency office in London, doing an audition for 'Lord of the Rings,' and when it ended I went over and talked to John Hubbard, who was running the audition, and he said, 'Hey, it went really well. You should wait around for 5 or 10 mins. We'll give you some feedback," He continued, "I thought, 'Oh, OK, cool, and I sat in the reception office. As I was reading a magazine waiting, David Bowie came in and signed his little list and went in. And I'm assuming he read for Gandalf. I can't think of anything else he would've read for. He may have read for something else, but I'm a huge David Bowie fan, and I was lucky enough to know his son now so just seeing him in person was pretty special to me."
Whoa. Various rumors and reports online say Bowie may have actually been after the role of Elrond, not Gandalf, but either way would've been crazy.
In addition to talking about Ziggy Stardust, Monaghan opened up to HuffPost about everything from a possible "Lost" connection in "The Force Awakens" to upcoming "Lord of the Rings" reunions on "Wild Things."
Do you think that island at the end of "The Force Awakens" is a "Lost" connection?
Well, there is a "Lost" connection there, because J.J. [Abrams] created "Lost," and he was one of the producers of "Lost," so I'm sure some of those mythologies are running deep in him.
Recently you took down a hater on Twitter, and you said something like, "Hobbits kill trolls." That was hilarious.
I don't know if you've seen it, but on my profile page it says, "professional troll hunter." I know people say, "Don't feed the trolls." You’re supposed to ignore the trolls and all they want is attention, but I don’t know. For me, it’s like when you're in class at school and there’s that kid. Every time you look ahead they flick something at you, and you look behind you don’t know who’s doing it. That, for me, is the troll. And the way that I always expose that person is to catch them in the act and just point the finger.
If you had the One Ring and could be invisible for a day, what animal would you hang out with?
I was having this conversation with my dad over Christmas where we’re talking about what animal's life we thought was the best, and I guess it would be an answer twofold because I think once a large whale moves out of it childhood and becomes a teenager that lifestyle seems to be kind of sedate and safe, you know, a blue whale. [...] When it comes to a dangerous time to watch an animal, maybe a black panther would be a creature to shadow it and watch it hunt for a day.
How do you pick the animals for the show?
We pick animals whose stories haven't necessarily been told yet, and generally animals that are the underdog. I'm a big fan of horses. I love riding horses. I love bears. I love chimps. I love parrots, eagles, and stuff like that, but those are stories that are not only told, but will continue to be told. And we’re looking for animals that need a voice.
Do you have a spirit animal?
I have two. One is kind of an artistic license, and one that has more significance. I've worked with some Shaman before both in Peru and in the United States, and in Venezuela as well, who all pointed out that they thought the armadillo was my spirit animal. The armadillo, it’s an animal that’s kind of tough and resilient but also has a soft underbelly, and can handle itself but is also vulnerable in certain areas. Then, from an artistic point of view, I'm a huge fan of ravens. I have a significant amount of raven pictures and statues and affectations in my house. I always use the ravens i see in my life as signposts. If I'm walking around and not sure where I'm going and I see a raven, I'm probably going to head in that direction. They kind of guide me in my life.
You've already done "Wild Things" with Billy Boyd. Any other "Lord of the Rings" reunions coming up?
I've been chatting to Elijah [Wood] and Viggo [Mortensen] recently about whether they'd come with me for an episode for Season 4. I'm still very close with all those guys, Orlando [Bloom] and Sean Bean. Elijah and Viggo jump out for me a little more just because I've had more history with those guys, and they seem more inclined to get their hands dirty. [...] So that’s something that could very easily happen in the future.
Season 3 of “Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan” premieres Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 10:00 p.m. ET on Travel Channel.
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