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Hot Interview: Orlando Bloom Q & A
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 Q: You almost lost out on doing Elizabethtown. What happened?
Orlando Bloom: I had met Cameron and had always wanted to work with him. I love his movies, to me he is the quintessential American director. He has his hand on his heart and his finger on the pulse of America. For me to approach an American character in the hands of one of the best in the business in terms of pulling off one of those American movies was so right.
Early on in my career we did this commercial for Gap and Cameron was directing it. I remember my manager telling me about this commercial and my first reaction was that I wasn't doing that. Then I was told Cameron Crowe was directing it and it was...ok cool! So we got together on that. I remember on that set that he said...'If only there were words'...because there were no words on that commercial. From then on he kept in quite close communication with my manager and we'd send each other the odd card. He then had the Elizabethtown project which I loved.
Then I was finishing The Calcium Kid and going into Troy. He wasn't quite ready, so he said for me to do Troy. Then when he was ready he was going to go with someone else for a while, I think Ashton Kutcher was going to do it. Then I guess that didn't work out and it did for me.
Q: You are on screen almost all the time, were you always aware of that?
Orlando Bloom: Yes and no. To be really honest I had such a big year last year. These were the most amazing opportunities in the world and what I bit off was a lot to swallow. I have this sort of mentality that anything is a challenge and I will take on anything. But it was really hard work. I didn't stop working and went from Kingdom Of Heaven. these were two great experiences, with two great directors.
So I felt incredibly lucky and had not thought about the amount of screen time I had. I just did things a day at a time. But it was definitely a time for me of going...wow! I have seen a lot of the movie in ADR - we just did a final polish in ADR to get the American accent just perfect - and I thought goodness, I really did do a lot of work in this film. And I am really proud of it.
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Q: How did you go about maintaining the American accent?
Orlando Bloom: I did it the whole time, even when I was not on camera, just for it to feel comfortable in my mouth. We tweaked sounds and polished it and when we were in ADR we tweaked it again. It was a real process and I loved it. I worked with a great voice coach on set and another two great coaches that I worked with when we were doing ADR. It was really good.
But then you are in the hands of someone like Cameron Crowe - whose films are these soulful journeys! This is one of the most uplifting movies he's made, I think. It's the most personal and joyous and life embracing. It starts with an ending and it ends with a beginning. It is just one of those movies that embraces it all. So I was just so happy to get the opportunity.
Q: When you went to buy a coffee and talked with an American accent, did you convince the locals?
Orlando Bloom: Yeah I think I fooled a lot of people. There are so many accents in America and sometimes they'd ask where I was from.
Q: You have talked before about your dyslexia, so how do you absorb such a full script as this?
Orlando Bloom: The more you do it the easier it becomes. He has his own style of writing and music is incredibly important to him. It's all tied in with the music. I really just put myself in his hands...I am here to do the work and you are the guide and let's do it.
Q: How do you maintain the energy required for such a demanding schedule?
Orlando Bloom: It wasn't hard because everyone was just enthused to be on this project. Cameron is one of those guys who just excites people and he played music on the set all the time. He would just burst into the middle of a take with some music. You'd think that was the take over, but he'd say no, let's carry on and see what happens. And this music was so poignant, it took you to another place. I loved it.
Q: You filmed in Kentucky?
Orlando Bloom: Yes we were in Louisville, Kentucky. It was amazing. They call it the heartland of America and you can see why when you go there. I got it, I knew exactly what they meant by the heartland of America. They really embraced us. For the short time that we were there we felt like part of the community. Cameron has family from there and we had a lot of fun making this movie.
When I first got there we rehearsed by doing scenes in the car with Cameron in the back with a DVD camera filming me as I was driving. And we ran out of gas! It was unbelievable. Someone had left us this car and we didn't bother checking the fuel. Was hilarious. Eventually we got to a gas station and while I was buying some things this guy came up to me and said...
'Do you believe in God! You need to believe in God! Who are you young man! What do you do!' He was trying to recruit me for the God squad. I said I had been brought up with God in my life and a sense of spirituality. When I told him I was an actor he said...' You are in Hollywood? You need God!' So we started this journey by randomly meeting people in the community. But by the end of filming there were hundreds of girls waiting and really excited to see Cameron and the movie and me.
Q: Didn't most people out there recognise you?
Orlando Bloom: Not really. It sort of started gradually and then went around. It wasn't immediate. It was cool. We had a lot of fun.
Q: There is a fantastic shot of the sky when you and cousin Jesse are walking at night. Was that starry sky really so impressive?
Orlando Bloom: It was beautiful. That relationship between my character and Jesse was interesting. We have all got family members who we really don't know....a distant cousin or uncle. And one thing about this movie and the experience for me was that it made me want to go and spend time with those people who are my distant family...and spend time with my dad.
This film is about making the time to be with family and experience friends and family in a real way. One of the beauties of this movie is that we can all connect to that sense of wondering whether we really know our family or parents. It's great! Then there is the love story with Kirsten, who just glows on screen. She is that light, that joy, that energy and she just brings such joy and pleasure to it all.
Q: What about the way the film shows coping with grief?
Orlando Bloom: In the South it's about food. Feed the grief. It's a celebration of a life as opposed to a commiseration. It is joy for life, even if it is the end of life. That was so uplifting, it took all the fear out of the idea of dying. It was such a positive feeling to the whole process. Dealing with things like will it be burial or cremation...those things that you don't think about; but Cameron makes real life human comedy out of. Only Cameron knows how to make those moments funny.
Q: Have you a better awareness of mortality after breaking your back in an accident years ago?
Orlando Bloom: Yeah. In a sense I definitely learned a lot about my life, appreciating my life and valuing my life, that I hadn't done before. It was certainly a shake-up for me in the best possible way. I was the kid racing through life, not really appreciating the roses. I was forced to slow down and take a good, long breath and really appreciate it. For Drew in the film he doesn't appreciate his life. He is defined by his work. His work is his life. There is no time for family or friends. His girlfriend is the hot chick at work. All his friends are all the cool people at work. he has been primed to be THE GUY by the boss. He's like given free rein to do what he wants.
And when your life is defined by your work and that's all you live for, you don't work to live but live to work. Then suddenly, when the rug gets pulled out from under you, what are you left with and where do you go from there? So it's about changing the way you look at your life and appreciating your life and the people in your life...your family, your friends, your roots....and never forgetting who you are or where you are from. If the roots are deep, you can never be blown away. So for Drew they weren't; it was all surface, all about momentary happiness and the joy of success. It was a huge learning curve and so joyous in the way the story embraces life.
Q: You have always had friends at home who have nothing to do with Hollywood.
Orlando Bloom: My friends and family are so real to me and so not like anything else that I experience. It's hugely important.
Q: Your character goes on a road trip in the movie and experiences the thrill of travel for the first time?
Orlando Bloom: The road trip really represents a man who is diving into life and really being drawn into life by this beautiful woman who is opening corridors in his mind...ideas, experiences. He goes to all these beautiful places . When we went there for filming I just went wow! what an incredible country and what incredible history and what a colourful history. I drove back from Scotts Bluff, Nebraska to Los Angeles, it was a 24 hour drive. I stayed overnight somewhere, I've forgotten where. I had a great trip. It was just me and the dog.
Driving through Colorado over the Rockies was amazing. When you thought about the pioneers who first did that...how did they get over those mountains! It was intimidating driving up it in a big, fat car. It was an amazing experience, you could drive for two hours and not see anyone. The funny thing is that this is such a huge country and when you drive across it you realise that there is so much space in-between. There's desert, land an mountains that is just beautiful. The drive just made it even more real to me and accessible and less intimidating in many ways.
Q: Did you suggest any of the songs that are in the movie?
Orlando Bloom: Cameron is a genius with music. He would put in music that really meant things. I'm a big fan of Jeff Buckley and there was a 1976 live recording of Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man that was really cool. It was the first time I had heard that version...amazing!
Q: After working with Cameron Crowe did you go and buy some music he'd introduced you to?
Orlando Bloom: Yeah and he passed me a few discs as well. It was a sort of music show. After I thought how am I going to cope without music on the next movie!
Q: Are you now in the middle of Pirates 2?
Orlando Bloom: Two and Three yeah.
Q: You had said you were going to take a break from work?
Orlando Bloom: Well I am. I'm not rushing into doing anything after that. With Ridley and Cameron these were things that I couldn't pass up. So after Pirates I am taking some time off. I was planning to do the Joe Orton play Entertaining Mr Sloane on stage - which would have been great. Unfortunately I'll miss it because I will be shooting Pirates. I will be working on that till March or April.
Q: And is Keith Richards definitely in Pirates?
Orlando Bloom: Yes, I've heard he definitely has a moment in there.
Q: On January 2007 you will have your 30th birthday. So next year is the last in your twenties.
Orlando Bloom: It is indeed and it feels really good. The years have really zipped by but it feels good and I'm ready to step on into the thirties. I'm excited, it's cool. I'm loving life, I'm loving the opportunities that I've had. I am feeling very grateful for such huge opportunities. And after I have seen everything I've done I still have so much to learn. I am very critical of my work. Particularly this year I have had huge opportunities that don't come around too often and I feel like I want to keep learning as I go. I'm excited about the prospect of learning, growing and developing myself as a human being and being happy. In terms of being an actor, Elizabethtown is a really different movie for me. It's a different character for me. I'm really proud of it. The opportunity was huge and I explored life without a sword or costume and I really loved it. I just want to keep doing different things.
Q: Would you have had the courage a couple of years ago to take on a part like this?
Orlando Bloom: It was certainly an exciting challenge to undertake and to be in the hands of Cameron Crowe in the first leading role with an American accent was a gift. So I felt very lucky. The prospect of doing it with someone else is something that I wouldn't have gone for but Cameron is amazing.
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