Actor Elijah Wood is back with a buzzworthy new project—this time on television—just as he’s packing his bags for a quick return to Middle Earth later this year.
“Wilfred“ marks Wood’s first leading role for television. The quirky comedy series on the FX network is an adaptation of an Australian show whose title character is a canine. However, “this is no ordinary dog,” notes the Los Angeles Times. “Wilfred is a foul-mouthed, bong-smoking, beer-drinking pooch with an Aussie accent.”
The twist is that only Wood’s character can perceive Wilfred as the audience sees him—that is, as an adult man in a furry, floppy-eared dog suit filled out by actor Jason Gann, who co-created the series and played Wilfred in the Aussie version. Everyone else onscreen relates to him as an actual dog.
“I don’t think this is anything like what I’ve seen on television before,” Wood told the Times. “It’s unique, dark and strange.”
The Times television critic called “Wilfred” a “twisted version of ‘Harvey,’ the James Stewart movie about a big invisible rabbit, and of ‘Mister Ed,’ the 1960s talking-horse sitcom. But it is also every story in which a meek or hidebound personality learns how to live from a bolder, less conventional one.”
Wood, 30, will head to New Zealand later this year to film a few scenes for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” which hits screens Dec. 14, 2012.
He told The Hollywood Reporter that the script is “incredible” and “definitely expounds upon the book; there are already characters cast that are not in the book, so that indicates that it goes slightly outside the boundaries in the structure of the original novel.”
“It’s a rare opportunity to revisit a specific time in my life,” he said. “It feels like I’m going back to a giant family reunion in a way; a lot of the same creative team are involved and a number of the cast are coming back.”
Wood will, natch, be playing Frodo Baggins. Among those returning are Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis.
He’ll be attending the San Diego Comic-Con later this month specifically to promote “Wilfred” but expects to field more than a few questions about “The Hobbit,” too.
Trivia: Wood had a cameo in Paula Abdul‘s music video “Forever Your Girl” all the way back in 1988, when he was just seven years old. His director was David Fincher (“Se7en,” “The Social Network“).
Trivia: Wood has his own music label. Simian Records, founded in 2005, has released albums by Apples in Stereo and Heloise and the Savoir Faire (via Yep Roc and Redeye Distribution).
CLICK HERE for the Hollywood Reporter story.
CLICK HERE for the Los Angeles Times story.