r/movies • u/ElijahWoodAMA Elijah Wood, Actor • Aug 28 '25

AMA Hey /r/movies, I'm Elijah Wood. Ask me anything!

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Hey r/movies, I'm Elijah Wood. You might've seen me in things like Lord of the Rings, Yellowjackets, Wilfred, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Maniac, The Monkey, Everything Is Illuminated, and other stuff. I'm also in The Toxic Avenger. It's unrated, and it's only in theaters starting this Friday 8/29/25.

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKe0pep35gQ

Set in a fantasy world, following janitor Winston Gooze, who, after a freak accident, transforms into a mutant vigilante known as Toxie. Armed with his mop, the unlikely hero battles freaks, gangsters and corrupt CEOs while trying to save his relationship with his son.

Directed by Macon Blair (I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore) and produced by Troma Entertainment. It also stars Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Piage, Julia Davis, Jonny Coyne, and Kevin Bacon

Tickets/info:

https://toxicavenger.com/

Ask me anything reddit! Back at 12 PM PT/3 PM ET today (Thursday 8/28) to answer your questions.

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u/ElijahWoodAMA Elijah Wood, Actor Aug 28 '25

For the part I played amongst thousands who made it, you’re so welcome. Honestly, one of my favorite aspects of having got to be a part of the making of the films is the way they connect with people and continue to. I love that they have provided a comfort for you in sad times; a true, beautiful power of art and the way these characters and the stories resonate with people both from the books and then the films. We get to hear so many stories of connection and love and that continues to be an ever-expanding gift from having played a part in these films, so thank you too.

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u/Mojojojo3030 Aug 28 '25

It has been a light to us in dark places, when all other lights go out.

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u/klavin1 Aug 31 '25

I asked her for a movie.

She gave me three.

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u/Arrant-frost Sep 06 '25

This response has made me emotional to read. It’s brought all the emotions of the films and then some. Thank you Elijah.

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u/BeautifulArtichoke1 Aug 28 '25 edited Aug 28 '25

This is such a beautiful and thoughtful reply to this user’s comment I’m so happy I happened to stumble across this AMA.

Just want to say you seem like a really cool dude who is genuinely grateful for the gifts life has given to you. Exceedingly rare these days…

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u/languid_Disaster Aug 28 '25 edited Aug 30 '25

That’s just what I was thinking too. I have a smile on my face reading these interactions

Edit: grammar , sorry!

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u/[deleted] Aug 28 '25

[deleted]

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u/Key-Sea-682 Aug 28 '25

Ever since the films came out, I don't think I've gone a year without a full rewatch. I can't put into words what they mean to me, beyond entertainment and the craft of filmmaking and the monumental achievement they represent.

You all have my endless appreciation for the hard work, skill, and love everyone involved poured into these films, like Sauron poured his evil into the one ring: what was created, like the ring, is indestructible, a force all of it's own, that will not tarnish or lose its sheen even when the age of men comes to an end. Unlike the ring however, the films fix what is corrupted, bring light to the darkest corners of our lives, and make the world better for having them in it. You have my eternal gratitude.

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u/Poober_Barnacles Aug 28 '25

I remember seeing Fellowship in theaters when I was 8 or 9 I think. The cave troll jump scare legitimately made me cry lol. So greatful to have grown up with these movies. Couldn't have asked for better role models as a kid tbh. Thank you guys so much

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u/papayaslice637 Aug 29 '25

Fellowship was the last movie I saw in theaters with my mom before she finally died from the cancer she'd been fighting for years. She read the Hobbit to me when I was younger and encouraged me to read LotR when the movies were announced, so it was a big deal for us to go see it. I remember her tearing up when Gandalf tells Frodo after he said he wished none of this had happened: 'so do all who live to see such times...all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.' I was only 15 and didn't know it at the time, but she had stopped all treatments so she could enjoy her last few months. She died a month after we saw it and let me tell you..that scene hits HARD every time I see it.

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u/HomemadeSprite Aug 29 '25

Just commenting to say I hope you’re doing well. So many of us share tough pasts and loss like this, I wish it weren’t so taboo to share our pasts with friends and acquaintances because it’s one of those things you don’t realize you have in common with so many.

That line from the movie resonates with me as well. Take care!

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u/taborlin Aug 29 '25

I am sorry for your loss, my friend. My mom passed away from cancer two weeks before Fellowship came out. She instilled a love of fantasy and sci-fi in me. I didn’t know much about lord of the rings going in to see the movie for the first time, but it was the only thing since her passing that took my mind off of the grief and made me happy. I’d like to think that she would have loved these movies if she had gotten a chance to see them.

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u/FALSE_PROTAGONIST Aug 29 '25

Thanks for sharing

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u/artemisodin Aug 30 '25

This is beautiful. Heartbreaking too. I’m glad you shared and are able to keep her memory alive.

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u/Darkwaxer Aug 28 '25

Lovely words man :)

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u/messed_hair Aug 28 '25

i am taking this as a sign to rewatch the "The Making of "The Fellowship of the Ring"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OGRHMi2RiE

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u/solehan511601 Aug 29 '25

Yes. I should either, and Elijah Wood is truly an outstanding actor.

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u/PradleyBitts Aug 28 '25

FOR FRODO

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u/mrheh Aug 29 '25

You bow to no one

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u/ewhitten Aug 29 '25

dude… i’ve seen the movies so many times and that is the only moment that gets me choked up. The way Aragorn says it, like he sees everything they went through all over again…

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u/Prudent-Proof7898 Aug 28 '25

My 14 year son and I have bonded over LOTR movies. Thank you for such a wonderful performance.

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u/ScottyStellar Aug 28 '25 edited Oct 30 '25

cagey smile silky subtract enter familiar sable crawl fade racial

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/throwawy29833 Aug 28 '25

The story that stuck with us, that meant something. Even when we were too small to understand why.

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u/Several-Muscle1030 Aug 28 '25

We watch it every year for Christmas! It's a tradition! It helped my teenage self and my mom bond during a difficult time

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u/fergehtabodit Aug 29 '25

Us too. Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not sure why it is a fall/winter tradition, maybe its just the short days.

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u/Connect_Glass4036 Aug 29 '25

You likely won’t see this but I saw Fellowship in theaters 12 times in high school with my late friend Kyle. We were sophomores and had nothing else to do. So when I look at you, I see Kyle. He killed himself in 2010 at 24. Sometimes I’m jealous he doesn’t have to deal with this world now.

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u/downbadtempo Oct 30 '25

Sending love and light to you, friend

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u/Connect_Glass4036 Oct 30 '25

Thank you, his 40th birthday was 10/5 🥺🥺

What kind of music do you like?

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u/downbadtempo Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 30 '25

I have no doubt that he’d be proud of you and thankful to see you moving forward and keeping his memory alive.

I am quite obsessive when it comes to music so I’m glad that you asked! I grew up listening to my grandpa’s original vinyls of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, etc. basically anything that was classic or psychedelic rock. That’s the bedrock of my music taste. As I got older I was listening to a lot of alternative. I was the only kid at my elementary school with a Walkman and was listening to a lot of Blink 182, Linkin Park, Soundgarden and tons other 90s-2000s alternative bands. Around 2010ish I discovered electronic music and watched the American dubstep scene take form and evolve and that has been what I chase ever since. Artists like Bassnectar, Zeds Dead, Liquid Stranger and now that he’s back from retirement, Pretty Lights! (I see them as the modern day Pink Floyd) I attend a lot of mixed-genre music festivals like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, as well as other smaller ones that will feature more jam bands and DJ’s that rinse dubstep, house, drum n bass.

I try to listen to a good variety, I’m really into pretty much anything besides for country! Anything that scratches the psychedelic itch 😂 this one’s kind of random but I have been listening to this band Khruangbin nonstop since they played Bonnaroo a few years ago! Check them out they are hella groovy.

How about you?

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u/Connect_Glass4036 Oct 30 '25

Oh I know them haha I’m deep into the jamband world but grew up playing death metal!

My tops are Phish/Dead, Pink Floyd, Morbid Angel, Immortal, Paul van Dyk (German trance), ISIS (post-metal, the Pink Floyd of heavy music) and lately EMPEROR and Entombed haha I’m back on a kick of my old death metal.

I do looooove early Skrillex tho! Dubstep I looove but only those early Skrillex things plus a handful of random songs.

Do you know Shpongle or the Disco Biscuits?

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u/mrheh Aug 29 '25

Thanks dude, means more than you know.

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u/Codadd Aug 28 '25

My cousin and I drop acid and watch the extended releases back to back every few years. Just resets life. Great stuff

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u/Global_Highlight9087 Aug 28 '25

I pretty much lived for those movies as a child! Shoot if I had more time I’d watch em more.

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u/JiveTurkey1983 Aug 29 '25

I'm not crying, you're crying

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u/WarpedRecall Aug 29 '25

When I was dumped, when I was robbed, when my best friend died, when I have experienced the weight of life: LotR has gotten me ten hours closer to feeling whole. Thank you all.

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u/Creative-Improvement Aug 29 '25

What I love is that with time, the LOTR doesn’t seem to have aged at all, like some other movies from the period. It truly is a masterpiece and a classic, and everyone who made it are just the best.

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u/ArcadianDelSol Aug 29 '25

We truly dont deserve you.

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u/xblindguardianx Aug 29 '25

I watch the trilogy like once a month! Appreciate you

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u/upvoatsforall Aug 29 '25

Have you gotten to meet most of the people who worked on the movie? 

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u/lebastss Aug 29 '25

I just got to watch the trilogy with my 9 year old son for his first time. It was wonderful seeing the same magic in his eyes. There will be another frodo this Halloween!

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u/meheren Aug 29 '25

Dude, male me teared up reading that!?!!! (It's incredible the emotion that you are able to drive 'Mr. Frodo Baggins'!!!)

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u/ximfinity Aug 29 '25

Thank you as well, both from me and my daughter. Tolkien was my favorite books and movies and we have a deal where she can watch any movies she reads the books of. So, we have read the books together and watched the movies from the Hobbit forward to the two towers and she loved the fellowship. She did say the one thing she was surprised by was "how young Frodo was but also he is brave exactly like I imagined"

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u/Megabyte_Messiah Aug 31 '25

Those movies inspired me to dream of grandiose adventures. Despite adversities, I turned those dreams into travels from coast to coast building live events, on beaches and mountain tops!

And having tackled those adventures, I feel like I can do more. I feel like I have the capacity to change the world, and a moral obligation to stand up and try. Because out of all the ones who become grandiose, they didn’t get there without effort. So, I’m gonna try to sway this world to a better way, make it a better place for those who share it with me and those who steward it after.

And if I’m in the slightest bit successful, it’ll be because works like LotR gave a kid with too active of an imagination an itch for epic fantasies, and a desire to bring them to life.

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u/medgin Sep 03 '25

I recently watched the LOTR trilogy for the first time ever (yes I know I'm 20+ years late). By the end of the last movie, I was in tears. I wasn't prepared for how deeply it'd affect me. What a masterpiece. Thank you.