Bernard first came to public attention as Yosser Hughes in the critically acclaimed television series Boys from the Black Stuff. Here he talks about Hollywood, Clint Eastwood and life in Suffolk. Lord of the Rings has been hailed as a once in a generation epic of film to change the course of cinema. Is that how you see it? Do you believe all that hype? Yes, I subscribe to that very much. I dont think thered be many film production companies brave enough like Newline to do a big project like this containing three films.
The initial outlay was quite phenomenal really and obviously the gamble was that the first one had to work to make all the money back because if the first film didnt work then people wouldnt go and see the second or the third, so a lot was hanging on the first film. I dont think theyve got anything to worry about at all, just the opposite really from what Ive seen.
Monday night (the premiere) just kind of satisfied all our expectations, it was wonderful. Its very unusual - perhaps unheard of - to do a trilogy like that back to back. Yes, its never been done before. Obviously with the Star Wars project, the concept was to do six to begin with, but they only ever did them one at a time. And there was a long time between the first and the second one, something like two years I think.
And Superman and all the other kind of part one and part two films, usually the second episode would have come off the back of the first. With such a classic book, you really had to treat it as one project. And it just made complete sense to do all three at once. Is it a book that you were familiar with? Did you know the Lord of the Rings? I've got a copy of it from 1977 for my birthday that I used as my reference. I cant own up to having read it all, it is a bit of a heavy read, but I read the second and third books when I heard that we were going to do this. The first book kind of twists and turns so much, its much more whimsical than the other two. I thought Ill read the script and get some background from the script for (film) one, but as far as my character was concerned theres not really that much info in one at all.  | | Ian McKellen as Gandalf in Lord of The Rings |
Tell us about your character. I play Theoden, King of Rohan.
When they come across him in his castle, hes under the influence of Wormtongue whos in the pay of Saruman who's been poisoning Theoden. Theoden is possessed by Saruman whos Sauron's underlord, by that time arch enemy of Gandalf because theyre kind of equal wizards. In film one theres a wonderful battle scene, a classic confrontation between two wizards, its just breathtaking that sequence. 
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The Queen 
