Interview with “LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim” Actress, Miranda Otto

Full transcript of Interview with “LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim” Actress, Miranda Otto.

0:05KT: Miranda, thank you so much for your time and welcome to the For Your Reference Podcast.

0:10Miranda: Pleasure to be here. Thank you, KT.

0:13KT: I know we don't have a lot of time, but I do just want to hold this moment and first of all say congratulations on the legacy of the Lord of the Rings as well as your character and also just to thank you because these stories mean a lot to a lot of us for a lot of our lives. So I just wanted to start off by saying thank you so much.

0:32Miranda: Thank you. Yeah. I know when I, when often, you know, I meet fans of the films, This, Eowyn's character and, you know, coming from Tolkien is such a significant character for a lot of women. A lot of women growing up, you know, say these movies were so important to them and that Eowyn was such an important role model to them at particularly dark times, so there is like a responsibility and a legacy with the character, definitely.

1:03KT: It must be a lot though, because it's like, here's all my feelings, please fix everything. Miranda Otto, please make

1:09Miranda: think I can actually truly fix anything, but, but like, it's, it's always, it's remarkable to play the character that, that, you know, means so much to people. And I'm only, you know, someone interpreting the character from Tolkien, you know, that's, that's my job in the process, but, but it's lovely to be a part of these people's stories in their lives.

1:34KT: Yeah, absolutely. And in the War of Rohirrim, we see ourselves about 200 years before where we know the stories to be in the Lord of the Rings films. We are back with the people of Rohirrim, as well as the land of Rohan, the first iteration of Rohan women. How does it feel, I guess, to be back, obviously in a different sort of format, but how does it feel to be back in those stories and to very similar sort of story arcs? And I'm very excited to talk about, you know, Hera as well, but how is it being back, your performance and your legacy into this film?

2:10Miranda: Well, it's funny. The first recording that I did for it, I was in Los Angeles in a studio in Burbank and I hadn't gotten to work with Róisín, the dialect coach who we'd originally worked with on Lord of the Rings. Um, and it was sort of a little more disconnected, like Philippa was on the line, but I wasn't in the room with her. And so it was nice to be back in it, but I didn't really have a full concept of what was going on. I couldn't see any of the images, but when I came back in May this year to Park Road Studios, and I came back to Wellington, and Philippa was in the room, and then I was there with Kenji, and that it was, it's an amazing feeling to, to come back to something, to hear the music again, and see the, the legacy of these stories was, you know, really quite extraordinary, very emotional, really.

3:00KT: Yeah, there are many things that Aotearoa is known for and the Lord of the Rings is definitely the, the pulse and the heartbeat over there as well. But talking about the narration, um, you know, narration can like make or break like films. And I love the way that you injected into the performance because you got us to where we needed to go, but there was a lot of emotion as well. And even if you're new to Lord of the Rings, because, you know, people watch different things, but if you're new to Lord of the Rings, there's a lot of emotion that gets injected through the narration. It's not just an exposition sort of tool. When you were narrating for this film, were you informed and tapped into your role or were you focused on Hera and I guess the emotional journey that we were going to go on with her?

3:46Miranda: think, you know, in that second recording, which is the recording that you, that you hear in the film, um, I was very tapped into everything and, and having Philippa in the room and being there with the, you know, the big screen and actually getting to see a lot of it wasn't finished the animation, but getting to see a fair amount of it. Um, It all just felt very real and very much, you know, took me back to Middle-earth. So I felt like I was really very much tapped into everything on, on that occasion.

4:20KT: Yeah, and speaking of, we recently, my partner and I, Oti, we recently rewatched The Two Towers. Um, and I don't know if it's a term, Miranda, but I'm going to say maybe not quite, but a strong feminine energy that Eowyn as well as Hera have as well, because we have these very strong, determined young women. Gaia, who voices Hera, talks about drawing inspiration from Nausicaä of Miyazaki, as well as Eowyn's character as well. We have these very strong, determined women that are in roles of leadership that are really trying to fight for the people. They're not scared to scrap and get down and dirty as well. But we also see these beautiful dresses and these ornate sort of costuming that you would probably attribute to like a damsel in distress.

5:08KT: But there's that strong feminine energy that Hera, as well as Eowyn, have as well. Is that something that felt, like, did that feel a part of your journey in the franchise as well as, uh, for Hera as well?

5:22Miranda: definitely. I know that like from the beginning when we were working on Lord of the Rings and, you know, The Two Towers, I, I felt from Peter that he definitely wanted her to feel like a woman and not just like, sort of like an Amazon type figure. Like he, he really wanted it to be believable that it was her strength of conviction and her strength of heart. And yes, her, her prowess, but that, that she wasn't like necessarily like a huge woman. She was like a very much a feminine sort of woman, but like strong of heart and, and smart and brave. Um, and I think, you know, that that comes across in this as well.

6:10KT: is cute, Wulf is cute, but I'm going to do what I'm going to do.

6:14Miranda: Yeah.

6:14KT: got a, we've got a job to do, ladies.

6:17Miranda: Yeah. Yeah. There are things to be put right. Yeah, definitely.

6:22KT: Do you feel like there were similar sort of struggles of the lineage of the people? Or do you think we're focusing on a very different sort of internal struggle in this film?

6:33Miranda: No, I thought it was, I thought it was similar. I really I felt a strong sense of coming home with this. Like there were so many similar themes and similarities in the characters.

6:47KT: How was it working in an animation sort of format? Because even watching The Two Towers, you, I was like, Oh, okay. You just clock it immediately. And it's so cool to see it in a different sort of format. Was that

6:59Miranda: I know!

6:59KT: trippy?

7:01Miranda: It was trippy when I actually was recording and I got to see everything. It was like, Oh my gosh, that's the stables where I was standing with Viggo and that's the Golden Hall and that's what it looks like and I realized that things were actually taken from plates, I think, from the movie and then illustrated it. I mean, as soon as I heard they were doing it as an anime, I just thought that fit was really great. I really liked the idea that it was through a different lens that it was another way of coming into this universe and it just seemed to me to be a format that would really work with this film.

7:41KT: Oh, absolutely. Um, I guess before wrapping up to our final question, in regards to that, like, strong sort of prowess, do you have any advice for, um, not just, uh, strong young women, but like, just people in general that want to be able to tell real stories?

7:59Miranda: Do you mean in terms of like film how to

8:02KT: Yeah, like, to get into your acting and to have the depth of story and performance that you bring.

8:07Miranda: mean, I think with everything you just really have to personalize it. I mean, you just have to really mean it and find things in your own life that this mirrors, you know, when I was doing Lord of the Rings, I was going through particular things that, that really informed how, how I performed. And I, I loved the idea that, like you speak about, a very feminine character, when you, you first see her in the dress and all of that, like she was like the, the characters that you read about as a child, you know, those sort of like damsel sort of lady princess kind of characters, but then I loved that in this story, you know, she became her own knight in shining armor, instead of like expecting to be saved by a man, that she in fact saves herself. So I thought that was a really interesting concept.

8:59Miranda: I think it's always about, you know, personalizing things and finding, finding the resonance for yourself.

9:06KT: Miranda, this has been so beautiful and it's been so lovely and I want to thank you again for your time. Um, I'm going to wrap up with our final question. We finish off our reviews with a recommendation. So what would you pair with specifically the War of Rohirrim as a double feature? Obviously there's a very easy answer

9:25Miranda: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Just one film or three?

9:30KT: Oh, you, you can, you can give us as many as you like, Miranda.

9:35Miranda: Well, I think I'd have to pair it obviously with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I think, because it just, they, you know, they're different but they mirror each other so much and so that's what I would pair it with.

9:48KT: Well, we'll grab our snacks and we'll be ready for all that emotion, that strong feminine energy.

9:53Miranda: Yes, you'll need sustenance.

9:55KT: Yeah, exactly. Thank you so much for your time.

9:58Miranda: Thank you.