Interview: Elijah Wood, A True Player
By Ian Bell
December 06, 2006
We sit down with famed actor Elijah Wood to discover what his favorite games are and upcoming projects currently in the works.
Snip:
"Between his youthful looks (despite appearing professionally on-stage since age nine, he's still only 25) and charming demeanor though, the talented thespian's become Hollywood's de facto go-to goofball nonetheless. See: A plethora of roles casting the amiable performer as unlikely hero and/or charming underdog, e.g. wildly unpopular yet tap dance-prone penguin Mumble in Warner Bros' recent animated box office smash Happy Feet.
Therefore it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that Wood isn't just a lifelong videogame enthusiast. He's also an active industry participant, lending his vocal talents to the titular star of just-released 3D platform-hopping romp The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (GC/PS2/Xbox), featuring the world's most popular purple cartoon dragon. The game – which also features voice-overs by comedian David Spade and silver screen legend Gary Oldman – doesn't just raise the visual bar for the franchise and explore its headliner's mysterious origins. It also reinvents the entire series, letting fans new and old freeze or fricassee a range of fantastical enemies with fire, ice, earth or electricity-based breath attacks.
Being the self-avowed dork he is, we seized the opportunity to give Wood a call. The mission: Discover not only what his favorite games are and how much time he's been clocking in behind the controller lately, but also just what his latest venture holds in store for joystick jocks. Following are the Tinseltown A-lister's thoughts on the state of the industry, retro fever and why he'd made a great God of War. (No, seriously…) "