Everybody's Tolkien

Dominic Monaghan swopped Hetty Wainthrop Investigates for a plum role as a hobbit. Now that's magic

A few months ago, Dominic Monaghan was talking on the phone to his friend and Lord of the Rings co-star, Billy Boyd. 'We were saying how these are the last mmonths of our life that we'll be Dom and Bill,' he recalls. 'After that, for at least four or five years, we'll be Dom and Bill the hobbits. When the movie comes out, the world's going to go mental.' So 2001's been pretty sweet for the 25-year-old Mancunian: spedning time with his family and old mates, travelling the world to continue the intense friendships he forged during the 15-month Rings shoot and hanging out in LA with Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper and Gary Oldman. Work, refreshingly, has been a pretty low priority for the actor, whose biggest previous gig was in TV"s Hetty Wainthrop Investigates. Dominic says that, just as his character Merry transforms through the trilogy from happy-go-lucky glutton to 'a war-torn soldier shattered by his experiences', so he himself feels 'changed by the experience totally'. From day one, he bonded with the other three hobbits - Eijah Wood, Sean Astin and Boyd. 'We were scared and intrigued and in awe of everything, but we went through it together.' He resists any suggestion that, while Elijah is the youngest and most famous of the four, he himself, with his lean, muscled frame and chiselled features, is the sexiest hobbit. Provided, of course, you find Merry's pointy prosthetic ears, bushy wig, hairy feet and pot-belly fatsuit a turn-on.

Charles Gant

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring is released on Decomber 19

photography Tom Dunkley

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