"In creating Frodo, Tolkien may well have been thinking back to the First World War and the lads who went on a terrible journey from which many never returned. Elijah reminds me of those statues of idealised young men on war-memorials throughout the world: more sublime than human and with a complexion of molten marble. He is simply terrific… To have a leading man who is attentive to everybody and so genuinely interested in everybody, and so good-natured, is a very good emotional center for the cast. I was very impressed by the way he handled that. When you think of the monsters who might have landed that part and been absolutely horrendous to work with, well, it just redoubled how lucky we were to have had Elijah. He’s a sweet man and a very good actor… Elijah looks angelic but his beauty of spirit is what makes his Frodo leap out of the screen. Unalloyed goodness is one of the most difficult attributes to act."