WALKING THE WALK ELIJAH WOOD LIVED THE HOBBIT LIFE TO GET THE PART OF FRODO BAGGINS.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Elijah Wood laughs when he says he doesn't mind that he'll be identified for the rest of his life as Frodo, the young Hobbit who is the hero ``Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.''

The New Line film, first of the three movies based on the J.R.R. Tolkien books, opened Wednesday to mostly very positive reviews and is already a giant hit.

But Wood wasn't even on director Peter Jackson's radar when he began casting the key role of Frodo Baggins for the epic.

``We thought Frodo would probably be an English actor,'' says Jackson. ``And we thought he'd be an unknown actor, so we went to London and auditioned about 200 young English actors. We saw two or three interesting people, but we were still looking when a tape arrived in the mail from Elijah. I had heard of him but never had actually seen him in a film.''

How the audition tape ended up in Jackson's hands was one of those odd-but-true Hollywood stories. It began when Harry Knowles of Ain't- it-cool.com called him up one day and told him they were making a film of ``LOTR'' and said, ``Dude! You got to play Frodo.''

Though Wood had read Tolkien's ``The Hobbit,'' the prequel to ``Rings,'' he had never read the trilogy. Nevertheless, he decided to take matters into his own hands. When Wood heard Jackson was looking for an English actor, he got a dialect coach to help with the accent.

``Then it just sort of popped in my head that I was going to do my own audition reel,'' says the 20-year-old Wood, whose credits include ``The Ice Storm'' (1997), ``Deep Impact'' (1998) and ``The Faculty'' (1998).

``I didn't want to go into a casting office. I got a Hobbit outfit, learned some dialogue from the book and went into the woods with my friend George Huang, who wrote and directed 'Swimming With Sharks,' and he shot it for me. We gave the video to the casting director the next day, and they sent it to Peter.''

Despite the fact the young American on the tape was dressed in a ``cheesy little Hobbit costume,'' as Jackson describes it, the director took one look and ``instantaneously knew I found Frodo. At that point, I said stop the search because I thought he was perfect. He had cast himself.''

For the role, Wood had to wear prosthetic feet (Hobbits don't wear shoes and have oversize, hairy feet), and although not particularly tall himself, the actor - thanks to special effects - only appears to be 3-foot-6 in the film.

That was the least of what he would face. What Wood signed up for was three films, meaning a long, arduous shoot of a year and a half in New Zealand - lots of time slogging through mud or snow and plenty of grueling battle scenes.

But ask Wood about his experience and his expressive face brightens. ``Taking it on, I knew that I would have an adventure with these people and I would be taking a journey that would mirror that of the book - and it did. I made lifelong friends. I grew as an individual, and it was as much a life experience as it was a filmic experience.''

Only once, says Wood, did he waver. ``I got homesick right before the first Christmas break,'' he says. ``Work was stressful, and I didn't want to put the feet on. But when I got back, I was ready to go.''

On the set, Wood and the other young Hobbits (Sean Astin as Sam, Dominic Monaghan as Merry and Billy Boyd as Pippin) became pals and spent their free time together.

``The Hobbits had a weekend in Auckland,'' says Wood, who like many of the actors on ``Rings'' seemed to identify with his role. ``And the Hobbits had a trip to where we learned how to surf. The Hobbits and an elf (Orlando Bloom as Legolas) went to Australia, and we had about a week there and visited the 'Star Wars' set.''

The actor says being on the ``Attack of the Clones'' set was quite a contrast to what they were used to. ``We're this motley group, constantly dirty. The world of Middle-earth that we portray is lived in and messy. But the 'Star Wars' sets were pristine. They thought we were weird because we referred to each other as Hobbits.''

New Line has a big stake in ``Rings,'' investing more than $270 million for the three films plus an estimated $150 more for promotion. So there was a lot of weight on Wood's shoulders.

Sir Ian McKellen, who plays the wizard Gandalf, at first believed Wood was too beautiful for the part, saying he thought Frodo represented Everyman and that somebody more ordinary-looking should be playing him. But Jackson points to Wood's ``wonderful, expressive eyes'' as a reason for casting him. ``You can look into Elijah's eyes and you can see right down to his heart.''

And that's what is needed for Frodo, whom Wood describes as ``an innocent and pure soul, but, unlike other Hobbits, he has a curiosity of the outside world.''

McKellen has since become a ``total convert'' on Wood's casting, saying emphatically that ``if you think Elijah's good in this one, wait till you see him by the end of the third one.''

Coincidently, the third film is Wood's favorite, but he knew before the film opened that he would have to please the numerous fans of ``LOTR'' books.

``Everyone put their complete heart and soul into the films,'' he says. ``We've honored the books, and we were true to what we set out to do.''

And if the films are as successful as they seem to be on their way to being, Wood isn't worried about being Frodo all his life.

``This can only help me; it can't hurt me,'' he says, his wide eyes brightening. ``If it's successful, it can only open more doors to allow me to do what I want. I loved being part of `Lord of the Rings.' It's an important part of my life. It means so much more to me than books or films. It is life and friendship and passion and love for me.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2) Elijah Wood, in a scene from ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,'' says the film series is ``an important part of my life. It means so much more to me than books or films. It is life and friendship and passion and love for me.''

Jim Cooper/Associated Press