Interview With The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’s Gaia Wise and Lawrence Ubong Williams

This week, Warner Bros. Animation and New Line Cinema are debuting The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in theatres. Based on the Middle Earth franchise, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is set 183 years before the events of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The film incorporates characters first penned by J.R.R. Tolkien and tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, the king of Rohan during the fight against the Dunlendings army.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is directed by Kenji Kamiyama and produced by Joseph Chou. Both of whom worked on Warner Bros.’ anime series Blade Runner: Black Lotus. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim takes the high-fantasy and epic storytelling that fans know and love and pairs it nicely with an animated coat of paint. This is the first anime film based on Tolkien’s novels. The film features a star-studded cast including Gaia Wise, who plays Hèra, daughter of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox). Lawrence Ubong Williams is also a leading cast member, playing Fréaláf Hildeson.

iPhone in Canada sat with Wise and Ubong Williams to discuss the film and what it’s like to step into Middle Earth. For fans of the franchise, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a must-see film ripe with explosive moments, character betrayals and familial kinship. The film opens in theatres on Friday, December 13th.

Q: How does the feel to step into the world of Middle Earth, Gaia? Does it feel real yet?

Gaia: A terrifying privilege is how I would say. I’ve loved the films for a very long time, and to be able to bring a sort of female lens to the world of Middle Earth was truly a gift. [Hèra] resonates with me on so many levels. I really hope that she resonates with people who love the film, people who’ve never seen the film, or people who go, “I don’t really know what this is.” I hope that she fills their hearts as much as she feels mine.

Q: Laurence, I’m curious about your reaction when reading the script and learning about the story. What were your initial reactions?

Laurence: I thought that the idea of marrying anime with Middle Earth was such a pulsating and exciting prospect that I obviously wanted to dive in. But then when you’re reading the script, you have to just treat it as a piece of literature, as you often do when you first get a script as an actor. And here was this thing full of beauty, full of loyalties and betrayals and fear. Then a real arc for all of our leading characters in this thing that you just wanted to be a part of and you wanted to serve.

I’m glad to say that the final product, all those things has been served. We have a story that, although set in the world of Middle Earth, which we all love and have loved all of our lives, there’s still such a humanistic aspect to all the proceedings. I think we have something very special.

Q: Animation is such a wildly different beast when it comes to storytelling. When approaching voice acting, did you find expressing your emotions difficult, especially during some of the more intensive scenes?

Gaia: It’s quite daunting when you first step into a booth, and it’s just you. We were thankfully put at ease by a wonderful other actor called Alex Jordan, who just did all the other characters and was a multifaceted legend. That is daunting initially. You get over yourself and you relax into it. You go, “I’m doing what I know to do, which is bring a character to life.” You then have to really explore because it has to come from purely within your body. You can’t really make hand gestures, you can’t move around too much.

That was really interesting for me, at least once I found [Hèra]. Once I found where she sat in my body, I found her reactions to things through my voice. It became incredibly easy and felt very natural. I’ve lived with this character for three years. So, during the emotional scenes, I was getting very emotional. You know, that’s what happens as an actor. You know, you’d have to live it for it to feel real, especially when it comes when you just have to use your voice.

Laurence: I thought the very intimate moments would be just me in a room, so I can just close everything off, and that should be easy. Then the loud, you know, action sequences were going to be the challenge. It was the other way around. It turned out to be that loud and actually easier because you could use your imagination and be a kid again. Go back to when you were 10 or 11 years old, watching the films for the first time. Enjoy all that. But then when you get to the intimate moments, I found that dialing in was quite hard. The nuance of it all. We got there in the end, and we have a wonderful director, Kenji Kamiyama, who just managed to set the tone for us in the room over what two or three years? And then we served it.

[This interview was edited for clarity and length]