Just WHO on earth is Sarah McLeod?

She likes to remain an enigma, staying behind the scenes and waiting for her return to the screen in ‘The Return Of The King’, over two years from now. What does Sarah McLeod do in the meantime? She’s not going on any rock concert tours anytime soon, that’s for sure.

Xoanon recently sat down with this Kiwi native and chatted LOTR, fake wigs with real hair, and just WHO is that other Sarah McLeod anyway?

TheOneRing.net: How did you get the role of Rosie Cotton in LOTR?

Sarah McLeod:

Sarah in Costume

Well Liz Mulane was the casting director, she had cast me in an earlier production of a Peter Jackson film called 'Forgotten Silver' for which I played Al. When they did the audition for Rosie Cotton I was six months pregnant at the time, and I did the audition and didn't hear back from them for about 4 months, so I thought the whole thing had gone away. Then one day they called me and told me they'd like to see me again, and a little bit after that they told me I had the role. This was after I had the baby, so my first day on the set, the baby was 12 weeks old. So from the first time I auditioned for the role, until the whole thing comes out, the third film, my baby will be four years old, it just goes to show you how big and long this production is.

TORN: For the first film you do not have very much screen time, how long were you on the set filming?

SM: For the party scene I had a whole week of rehearsals with Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, but my scenes was just one day filming. They did a whole lot for the party scene, but they only had me for the one-day.

TORN: And what about your costume?

SM: Yes, there were about 3 wardrobes they had for me on the set.

TORN: Now, what about those infamous fake feet, did you have yours?

SM: Yes! I was up at 5 am every morning getting my feet put on. You don't see my feet at all in the first film, but you may see them more in the third film. I had the most amazing wig, it was beautiful, and it was made from real hair.

TORN: Have you ever worked on such a large-scale film before?

SM: I haven't done much work in the past, but this is most certainly the biggest film I've ever worked on before.

TORN: Did you work with Sean Astin specifically, or did you two just meet on the set the first day of filming.

SM: No, I actually had plenty of rehearsal time with Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, Dom Monaghan and Billy Boyd. Our caravans were very close together and I saw alot of them whenever I was on the set. Yes we rehearsed all the scenes together and we hung out alot. We definitely had alot of time to hang out with the others, all the big actors, to be with them and get to know them. Every single day on the set was absolutely amazing, such a friendly feeling on the set.

TORN: You have your own Decipher card, have you seen it?

SM: I think I have seen it, on the internet; this is the one where it says 'Sam's Allies?'

TORN: Yes, and it shows you dancing at Bilbo's party

SM: Yes, I've seen that, it's very exciting you know, seeing yourself in magazines and such. When my friend showed me the card image, I emailed all my family (laughs)

TORN: So, has the local press approached you at all in regards to talking about the film?

SM: Actually no, I've had no publicity at all actually. I was quite surprised about that, I mean there are alot of quite amazing actors in this film, and there are alot of famous actors from New Zealand, they get the bulk of the attention. But I've been enjoying surfing the web and checking various sites.

TORN: Now, when we first heard you were cast as Rosie Cotton, we tried to find some photos of you, we had a little bit of trouble doing that. We then found some images of 'a' Sarah McLeod, who ended up being the wrong person, but it is a common mistake mixing the two of you up, are you aware of this other Sarah McLeod?

SM:

The REAL Sarah

Well I thought it was very funny for a while there, that I had suddenly become a rock star. I thought that was quite amusing, and yes I was fully aware of it. I had been following that for a while as well. When I first saw that I thought 'oh my god they've got the wrong Sarah McLeod!' and I thought it would be pompous of me to say 'Hello, this is the REAL me thanks', so I just left it. I quite like the idea that I'm a sort of an enigma, and that alot of people have to work to discover who the real Sarah McLeod is (laughs)

TORN: You bring up the internet and emails often, do you go online often, and are you a net regular?

SM: Yes, I am, I'm on the net often, mainly to check out information on LOTR. Probably once a fortnight I do a 'LOTR' search on the net, just to see what comes up.

TORN: What are some of your favorite websites that you like to check out?

SM: I mainly check out LOTR sites

TORN: So how do you like TORN?

SM: Yes, I like it very much actually. Particularly when they were filming here in New Zealand, and there was alot of news in NZ. It was interesting to hear about all the gossip that was going on around the production. It was interesting to know weither some of these rumors were well founded or not.

TORN: So you must know about these DVD rumors now, people are calling for expanded scenes, do you think they'll add more scenes of you and Sam together?

SM: Well, they could because I know we shot more than what was shown. I've heard that the in the DVD version, alot of what was cut out will be back in.

TORN: Speaking of news and insider info, are you still 'in the loop' or is that part over for you?

SM: No, not at all, I shot my scenes but I had alot to do, not only with the other cast, but also with the crew. I know Peter well so LOTR is still alive and well in my sphere of life at the moment.

TORN: Sarah, it was great talking with you, best of luck in the future and thanks for the chat!

SM: Thank you!

Sarah McLeod Bio | Rosie Cotton Bio

BACK TO NEWSROOM HOME