In the too-near feature, the world's machines, powered and enabled by the invention known as the Great Machine, have turned on Mankind, decimating the human population before mostly shutting down. But, as our world fell to pieces, a mission began to salvage the legacy of civilization.

A group of small creations was given the spark of life by a scientist in the final days of humanity, and they continue to exist post-apocalypse. The conflicted but resilient tribe includes #1 (Christopher Plummer), a domineering war veteran and the group's long-time leader; #2 (Martin Landau), a kindly but now-frail inventor; #3 and #4, scholarly twins who communicate non-verbally; #5 (John C. Reilly), a nurturing engineer; #6 (Crispin Glover), an erratic artist who has visions; #7 (Jennifer Connelly), a brave and self-sufficient warrior; and #8 (Fred Tatasciore), the less than intelligent muscle and enforcer for #1. They are soon joined by another of their own, #9 (Elijah Wood), who displays leadership qualities that may help them survive and possibly even thrive.

This small group of rather unusual creations must band together, under the guidance of #9, and summon their individual strengths, in order to outwit and fight against still-functioning machines, in an effort to change the world. At the film's press day, actor Elijah Wood told IESB about working on such an usual and important film.

Q: One of the great things about this movie is the facial expressions. How much did you get to see, in terms of the animation, before or while you were doing your voice work?

Elijah: A fair amount. When things were even in their rough stages, we got to see them. But, that didn't really happen until a year and a half to two years in. Largely, what we were seeing initially was pre-vis and also animated storyboards. We really didn't get to see semi-finished stuff until probably about a year and a half after we started. It's such a gratifying thing because you do spend this time, even though you have a connection with the character and you have a sense of what the character is going to do and look like, but it's another thing entirely when you start to see it physically moving with your voice.

It's such an amazing experience. It's a wonderful part of the process. It's extremely rewarding. It's also very solitary. A lot of the time, you're in this booth, imbuing this character with a sense of life, in a stationary position, and then those words get shipped to animators, and sometimes there's up to 30 people working on your movements and face and stuff. It's a whole other process that's totally fascinating and then it all comes together. It's pretty amazing.

Q: How long did you work on this project?

Elijah: Three years.

Q: What is Shane like, as a director? What's the difference between working with an animation director and a live-action feature film director?

Elijah: Shane is great, as a director. I think we all recognized that we were in the hands of the person that created these characters. I was a real fan of his short, which is largely why I wanted to do the film. I understood that he also came from an animation background. He actually worked at Weta Digital, on the last Lord of the Rings movie, as an animator. So, he was able to describe things in a really detailed way. I think he was able to articulate what he wanted from the character, both physically and emotionally, and the arc, really well.

A huge strong point was also just being that he ultimately had the whole world in his mind, of what he wants to describe. He was very good at being able to describe what that was, and setting up the environment. One of the more challenging aspects of doing voice is that you are in a room, you have the script, you have a notion of what's supposed to happen, but it helps when you've got some descriptive words that can describe what's going on in the scene, for sure, if you don't have any images.

Q: What was it about the character that resonated with you?

Elijah: Well, I like the journey that he takes. He comes into this world extremely nave because he doesn't have any perspective as to what had transpired and who 1 through 8 are. They've already established a hierarchy and a community that is built on keeping themselves away from what they fear. Then 9 comes in with all these questions and says, "Wait, why have you set this up? Who are we? And, where did these machines come from?"

I really responded to his fearlessness and his questioning, and ultimately taking on board the fact that he has to help bring these people together to see what they are and how to ultimately combat the machines. I liked that about him and I think his journey is a heroic journey. He ultimately becomes heroic and courageous throughout the course of that journey with these characters. But, it's also a very cerebral one. He's the one getting them to all answer questions and think outside of the fear that they've established.

Q: Which was more challenging, Sin City, where you weren't even in the same room with Mickey Rourke, or voicing a character that you'd only seen a few images of?

Elijah: Yeah, Mickey Rourke and I were literally not in the same scene. They are definitely different challenges. The thing I'll say about Sin City is that, despite the fact that I didn't work with Mickey Rourke, it wasn't as if there was dialogue. That would have been different. Jessica Alba did scenes without him, where they talked to each other. I can't even imagine that. Well, I guess I can, because I did some of that in The Lord of the Rings. That's harder because you're having to carry on a scene with someone who's not there, or isn't the right actor, and they get fused together. Whereas, I was being physical and I didn't necessarily have to talk. So, at least I got to be physical with someone who was Mickey's stunt double. That wasn't super-challenging. I didn't necessarily need the environment around me to be able to do what I was doing.

Whereas, with voice work, there is a lot that you have to create. The most challenging aspect of it is making your voice sound like it's experiencing something that it isn't. You're not running, you're not jumping, you're not falling, you're not being ripped from one place to another, so you have to figure out how you do that vocally, so that it's convincing. But, I love that. I think it's a lot of fun.

Q: How do you do that? Are you running in place?

Elijah: There's some of that, and also, physically, you can't help but move. You have to. It's almost not even a choice. It's almost like a reflex because you know what your character is doing, and so you do something similar to that, just naturally, because that's what your voice wants to do. But, yeah, you run in place and you try and get a sense of breathlessness. That's interesting.

Q: What are the big mistakes of doing voice-over work? What are the things you definitely don't want to ever do?

Elijah: Don't go in too hungry. You'll have a lot of problems with stomach gurgles. This is the mundane shit that you don't think about. Then, there's dry mouth. You can drink water, but not too much water. You just know. You hear your own voice, so you can gauge where you're at. But, dry mouth definitely is a weird one. You can't make clicking noises. You can't move too much because, if you move too much, then there's rustling noises of your clothing. It's interesting. The mic picks up so much, so a stomach gurgle would be horrible. You'd have to go again.

Q: There were a lot of fight scenes in this, where you could just hear two different people breathing. How did you do that?

Elijah: They do grab-bag breathing takes. You also do that sometimes with ADR on movies, where you do a whole wild take of breaths and efforts, usually towards the end of the day. It's like grabbing things, falling and being hit. You have to get different versions, so you do it long and short, and more intense and less intense. It's the whole world of voice.

Q: There are so many themes in this movie, about the apocalypse, what it means to be consumptive, and what it means to be a Pacifist or not. What were some of the themes that really resonated with you, that you thought were the most interesting to put out to an audience?

Elijah: People are certainly connecting to the theme of technology being our downfall, and that's certainly in there, but it's also technology at the hands of greed and power-hungry people. It's ultimately humanity that corrupts the machinery to turn on humanity, and I thought that was interesting because the scientist creates this machine for peace. The great Chancellor announces this machine that will lead us into 100 years of peace, but then that machine gets circumvented and turned into a war machine, and that war machine turns on man. I just loved that. I thought that was very interesting, and it's something that we can certainly relate to.

There are the common themes of greed and lust for power, but also technology and what our relationship with technology is, and how it could eventually turn on us. But, I don't necessarily think that's what the movie is about.

Q: There are a lot of films coming out, right now, with the apocalypse as its theme. What do you think it is that makes that subject so appealing to an audience?

Elijah: I also think that the heart of this movie is, ultimately, about rebuilding. And, it's about humanity. Humanity is in these characters. People have used the phrase "stitchpunk" to describe it, which I think is kind of funny. There are these mechanized rag dolls, but they do represent humanity.

I think the movie is really about the aftermath of something horrible that has happened, and these characters rebuilding after that, and ultimately putting to rest the machines or the creations that had caused that problem. I feel this movie is more about hope and discovery, and rebuilding life, than it is about the end of life, per se.

Q: Was there anything in seeing the finished product that surprised you?

Elijah: I was surprised by how scary it was. Some of those action sequences are really scary, as are the machines. The Seamstress is so creepy. The Cat Beast is really scary. I found those action sequences to be more visceral and intense than I'd expected them to be.

Q: Was the darkness and the dark humor in it something that interested you in participating in the project?

Elijah: Yeah, totally. We've established this over many, many years, but the United States and their relationship with animation tends to be more geared towards families and children. There are certainly exceptions to that rule. Pixar does a beautiful job of teetering on the edge of both. They appeal to families and children, but they also appeal to adults. But, there are so many animated movies that are just for families, it seems. Whereas, if you go to Japan, there are movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell that are adult movies in the animation medium.

That's definitely something that appealed to me about this particular film. It felt like it was separating itself from some of the typical animation fare that we're used to, while appealing to a wider audience that might go see this kind of thing, if it weren't animated. The darkness, or maybe some of the more intense or adult themes, interested me as well. But, there's also just the world. Shane definitely created something that is familiar, but is also quite different. We haven't seen these characters before. The fact that he made that short film, over the course of four years, and it was his college thesis, is fascinating. He did it all by himself.

Q: What made you want to do Yo Gabba Gabba?

Elijah: I don't know. I came into that because I know one of the producers on it. When they were trying to get people to do the pilot, he asked me if I wanted to do it and I was busy at the time. But then, they came back around when they got the deal with Nickelodeon and said, "Do you want to be on an episode?" I just loved what they were doing. I just thought, for a children's TV show, it was pretty amazing to have Biz Markie doing human beat-box of the day and Mark Mothersbaugh doing drawings that came to life. I just thought that was the coolest TV show ever.

Q: As Frodo hasn't been born yet, does that mean you won't be in The Hobbit?

Elijah: Somebody actually asked me, "Would you want to play Bilbo?" No, I don't want to play Bilbo. That would be far too weird. Yeah, Frodo doesn't exist. He's not born yet. For awhile, there was talk of a bridge film that was being bantered about, with the notion that the second film that they would make would chronologically bridge the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, so conceivably some of the characters could exist. But, I don't think that's going to happen now.

Certainly, if they found a way to make the character work, I would love to be a part of it, but I'm just excited that they're doing it. I'm so excited that they're getting so many of the original team back together, creatively, because it's really I think going to help to keep the continuity of what was already established. I think it's going to be great. I love Guillermo del Toro. I think he's amazing.

Q: Do you think it will happen, given the Tolkien estate's current unhappiness?

Elijah: There's some talk of that. I just saw Peter Jackson at Comic-Con and, as far as he's concerned, it's full steam ahead. Technically they don't actually have a green light yet, which is funny because we're all talking about the movie as being filmed next year. It's not green-lit because they don't have a script yet. It's not finished. I think all of that business will start to occur in the next couple of months, and it remains to be seen whether that's going to be a roadblock for them or not.

Q: Their complaint is they haven't received a cent for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Were you surprised at that?

Elijah: No, not at all. There was a prior lawsuit. I was surprised that it came back around again, just because it was news to me. I hadn't been following it closely. I followed the initial lawsuit that the family had issued, which I believed proved unsuccessful. This is their second time around. They want to use The Hobbit as leverage to stop them from making it, so they get paid. Who knows if it will work? There have been a few quarrels with New Line. That's nothing new.

Q: Do you ever get tired of fans talking about The Lord of the Rings?

Elijah: Really, honestly, I don't because it's an experience that I hold so dear, and I love those movies, too. And, not only that, but I also understand why people are excited about them. I've got plenty of stories. I could sit around and talk for hours, and I honestly don't get tired of it. I think I just have perspective on it. I know that, for the rest of my life, I'll be asked about it, and I accept that. I thank God that I'm going to be asked about something that I think is really genuinely great, for the rest of my life. It was a great experience. Only positive things came out of it, so people can ask about it all they want.

9 opens in theaters 9-9-09

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