Feature: Movie Idols Profile

Orlando Bloom

We take a look at the blossoming film career of Orlando Bloom, rising to stardom as the elf Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and then in Pirates of the Caribbean

It’s astonishing to think that Orlando Bloom’s only movie role prior to The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a bit part in Brian Gilbert’s Wilde. Since having secured one of the leads in Peter Jackson’s trilogy based on JRR Tolkien’s timeless novels, the 26-year-old actor hasn’t looked back.

In 2001, having returned from New Zealand, Bloom landed a part in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down as the ill-fated Todd Blackburn, one of the US Army Rangers that were dropped into Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu. It’s Blackburn’s 60-foot fall from a Black Hawk helicopter that sets the dramatic chain of events into motion, leading to a prolonged fire-fight in the streets.

The following year Bloom took on a role in a short black-and-white film called Deed Poll. In it he was to play a drug-addicted gambler called Sean Poll who, following the death of his parents, moves into their former home with his sister and begins, among other dark dealings, an incestuous relationship. After just four days shooting (only one day of which Bloom was on set for) the production folded, leaving just 15 minutes of footage in the can that has yet to be seen by anyone. The movie co-starred German actor Andre Schneider, and the two allegedly found that they got along so well they decided to make another movie together later that year. The result is a movie that’s become shrouded in myth. Lullaby of Clubland gave him another role in which he was as alleged to portray a drug addict. Although plenty of reviews and interviews can be found on the Internet, to date Bloom has denied any participation in such a project, citing the reviews and interviews as entirely false. More mystery surrounds the production as the director (Mikey Myers), sound technicians and assistant director are alleged to have consequently committed suicide within months of each other.

Ned Kelly
Between the months of April and July 2002, Orlando decided to return to the Antipodes, this time relocating to Victoria, Australia with his sister Samantha in tow for company. The film is a fictionalized account of the classic story of the outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang who all wore home-made steel helmets and chest plates during their robberies in the 1800s. This latest adaptation, based on the novel Our Sunshine by Robert Drewe and which stars Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush, has Bloom portray Joe Byrne, the handsome opium-addicted Irish right-hand-man to Ned (Ledger) and became useful to the gang due to his sharp-shooting skills and ability to speak fluent Cantonese.

by Grant Kempster

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Movie Idols #33

Photo © Warner Bros
Feature © Visual Imagination 2003. Not for reproduction

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Movie Idols #33
Orlando Bloom 2003
ships from Aug 14 2003
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