From showrunnersJD Payne & Patrick McKay, the Amazon Studios multi-season drama seriesThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris set in the Second Age of Middle-earth’s history, thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and at a time when a terrifying villain called Sauron is looking to conquer the kingdoms, defeat the heroes, and gain control over all life. Following an ensemble cast of characters that are both familiar and new, the eight-episode first season is setting up an epic adventure that’s expected to take five seasons of story to conclude.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider,Ismael Cruz Córdova(who plays elf soldier Arondir) talked about the out-of-body experience of playing this role, why he loves his elf ears, the incredible craftsmanship of the prosthetics, the relationship with Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), picking up the language, and how the first day of filming for the season compared to the last day.
Collider: As an actor, to get to play a character like this, in this world, on this show, it’s something that you sound quite emotional about. When did the reality of all of that truly hit you, and what does it mean to you to be playing this character?
ISMAEL CRUZ CÓRDOVA: There have been stages of that reality. I would say a very important moment when it started hitting me was on my final hair and makeup test and costume fitting, when all the elements came together. I had my ears. My makeup was done, with my prosthetics, my hair, and the incredible costume by Kate Hawley. The design is wonderful. All of my props were designed by Weta Workshop. There are so many elements. I have this beautiful archery ring. I have many tiny elements that came together. I saw myself in the mirror and that image struck me, as an out-of-body experience. It was the first time I was seeing an elf that looked like that. We were creating this thing. It was the first day of a historical moment. And to be the vessel for that, the representative for that, it brought tears to my eyes. Not in a disarming way. It was like, “We’re here, let’s go.”
When you’re playing an elf, the ears are a very important aspect of that. What was it like to get used to seeing yourself in the ears, but then also get used to not seeing yourself in them anymore, once the season was done?
CÓRDOVA: It is a very sad moment, when you don’t have the ears. Especially for a person who has tiny ears, like myself, I felt like, “Finally, this is what it’s like to have normal-sized ears.” My family used to tease me because I have these tiny ears. It is the ultimate Elven thing. I’m a short-haired elf. There are all these discussions about it, but truly, hair does not an elf make. It is the ears. It was so friggin’ cool to have that, as part of my performance. But on top of that, just going into what the elves really are, they have superior hearing and eyesight. Arondir is a warrior, he’s a soldier, and he uses that sense quite a bit. There’s a lot of listening and hearing. He can catch an arrow midair, but he can also hear those arrows coming, in time to be able to catch them. That element was pivotal for me to form my character around, to train, and to tell the story.
Have you already planted the seed with them, so that they know that when this show is done, you’re taking those ears with you?
CÓRDOVA: I already did.
You have to. How can you not?
CÓRDOVA: Those prosthetics are very fine, handmade, crafted, and sculpted to the actual anatomy of your face. They’re extremely individual. you may’t really wear my ears, and vice versa. They’re hand-painted, painstakingly so. They were done by Carly Marr, my prosthetics person and makeup artist in New Zealand.
There are so many characters on this show, and they all have such a richness to them. If you could create your own spinoff for your character, focusing on any specific aspect of him, what would you want to see him doing? What would you want to learn about him?
CÓRDOVA: There’s a lot. You think about this a lot, as an actor. I would love to see how he would fare in Eregion, for example. I would like to see him collide with the High Elves. We’ve seen the graceful, wise High Elves, but this is one of the first times that you’re getting to see a grittier, “low-class” elf. What’s pretty cool about our show,The Rings of Power, is that there are all these layers and there’s diversity within the culture of the elves, especially. I would like to see a little spinoff. Arondir has very big potential, with the adventures of Arondir through Middle-earth and going to different kingdoms and making himself useful. Because they’re eternal, at some point, Arondir could go to New York City and have a spinoff there. There are many seasons to come, so who knows if he’ll make his way to Eregion or see other kingdoms.
I also love the relationship that he has with Bronwyn. What do you most enjoy about that relationship? What do you connect with most, when it comes to that dynamic and working with Nazanin Boniadi?
CÓRDOVA: You know that moment, when things shift, and you fall in love, and it just hits you? I remember there was a time that I was brushing my teeth in the morning and I got hit with that. You’re missing them. You want to know everything. You want to text. What are they doing? What are they eating? What are they thinking? Am I gonna see them again? It becomes this need, almost like you want to fuse with that person. Close is not close enough. That is also a wordless feeling. There are millions upon millions of love songs that have been written to try to approximate this wordless moment. Love is very hard to describe. So, I love that we got a chance to portray that vibration. They have that obstacle, in which it’s actually forbidden for them, so I really love the curiosity that they share. I love how tender he becomes with her, or at least tries to, because he’s also slightly awkward. I like that simple cinematic moment, where the audience can take it in visually and make it their own story. you’re able to think about your own love story and how far you would go for that love. His journey is, how far would he go for that love?
I thought it was so interesting that you said you’ve picked up the language because it has similarities to Spanish. How did learning and speaking the language affect things for you with your performance and with your understanding of who the character is, and how much fun is it that you’re able to have that little bit of an advantage because you speak Spanish, whereas some of the actors might have a lot more trouble with the language?
CÓRDOVA: I love that I have a little advantage because I’m very competitive. It’s great. The cadence of the language, it’s such a beautifully crafted language. Just like Shakespeare, there’s a lot of information in the cadence and tone, and in the way in that it lands. It definitely makes you stand a little taller and a little prouder. It helps your resonance. It lands in your chest. You bring that vibration to your chest. The language forces you to have a different pace as well. It’s slower and has this lyricism. If you let it, it flows through your body, and it helps you. It impacts your physicality, your performance, and your way of thinking. It becomes a bit more Elven. They’re eternal beings, so it’s hard for us to approximate what that would be, as mortals with very short lifespans, comparatively.
When you do something like this, it doesn’t matter how much preparation you have, you just have to jump into the deep end because nothing can really fully prepare for something of this size and scope. How did the first day of filming and walking on set in character on the first day, compare to the last day and having a full season behind you? Do you feel more of a sense of ownership of the character, by the time you finished the season?
CÓRDOVA: Naturally, yes. On the first day, it was so crazy because I had moved out to New Zealand in December 2019, and trained and trained and trained. I worked on the stunts and the language and every element that I had to learn. He’s a very active character, and the accent is not at all my natural accent. And then, COVID hit and production paused, the day before my first day. It was four months after we started, so I had all of this momentum, and then five or six months later, we finally got to do it. By that point, I had so much pent-up energy that I was anxious to start. That first day, I owned him, or he owned me, but I definitely grew more and more. I bonded, more and more, with him, as we went.
The last day was pretty cool. I can’t say much because it would be a plot point, but I grew very close to all the incredible New Zealand crew. Their hearts are huge, and they’re just great people. The stunt team almost became my primary community. It timed so that my last day had most of the people that I had worked for so long, for two years. It was beautiful. I felt extremely bonded with this character, since the first time that I read the audition sides. I fought for the role. I got a couple of rejections. My audition process was extremely long. I had to be very, very determined and go at it quite strongly and aggressive to be with him because I felt so aligned with this warrior.
He’s a warrior who leads with his heart. No matter what obstacle you throw at him, he will keep going with any amount of fear, to find and protect that which he loves. I’ve had quite the parallel journey in my life, coming from a very low-income family. I say low-income, as if we had income. It was quite a poor family. I had a teenage mom. There was a lot of illiteracy in my family. We traversed all over the landscape and social mobility, all the way to being your friendly neighborhood elf.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris available to stream at Prime Video.
