Urban And Otto's Royal Roles
"The Two Towers," the second installment of "The Lord Of The Rings" trilogy, includes many of the hobbits, elves, and wizards from the first installment.
The film also has some new human characters, including brother and sister Eomer and Eowyn, whose uncle, King Theoden of Rohan, has been put under a spell. Karl Urban and Miranda Otto visit The Early Show Friday to talk about the film and their roles.
Otto portrays the human Eowyn of Rohan, the niece of the King. She lost her Rohan parents to marauding Orcs; Eowyn yearns to fight the terrible forces threatening her homeland.
Urban plays Eomer, the nephew to King Theoden and brother of Eowyn. He is a fierce warrior of the Rohan people. Director/writer/producer Peter Jackson cast the New Zealand actor after viewing a rough cut of the critically acclaimed indie film "The Price of Milk," which garnered Urban a Best Actor nomination at The New Zealand Film Awards.
About Miranda Otto:
After earning top accolades for her Australian film and stage work, Otto has recently completed work on both sides of the Atlantic. She will be seen starring as the title character in "Julie Walking Home" (filmed in Canada and Poland) for acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Holland. The film premiered at the 2002 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. She will also star in the forthcoming "The Three Legged Fox," (filmed in Italy) directed by Sandro Dionisio, as well as "Doctor Sleep" (filmed in the UK), a thriller that also stars ER's Goran Visnjic.
Recently, she completed the Australian romantic comedy "Danny and the Deckchair," in which she is re-teamed with Rhys Ifans. She was last seen on screen with Ifans alongside Tim Robbins and Patricia Arquette in Charlie Kaufman's first feature since "Being John Malkovich," "Human Nature." The dark comedy, directed by Michel Gondry, premiered at both the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and was released in April 2002.
This spring, Otto garnered rave reviews as well for her portrayal of Nora Helmer in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of the Henrik Ibsen classic "A Doll's House."
A graduate of the prestigious Australian theatrical school NIDA, which also boasts such alumni as Mel Gibson, Judy Davis and Cate Blanchett, Otto has been honored with Australian Film Institute award nominations for her work in "In The Winter Dark," "The Well," "Daydream Believer," and "The Last Days of Chez Nous." She also earned an Australian Film Critics Circle Award nomination for her performance in "Last Days of Chez Nous," as well as for "Love Serenade," which won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Otto's other credits include Robert Zemekis's "What Lies Beneath," with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer; Terence Malick's "The Thin Red Line;" "Kin;" "Dead Letter Office;" "Doing Time for Patsy Cline;" "True Love and Chaos," and "Jack Bull," opposite John Cusack, for HBO.
About Karl Urban:
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Urban first appeared on television as a child. Throughout his school years he wrote, directed, and starred in many film and stage productions. As a young adult Urban postponed his university studies to further pursue his acting career, training and working throughout "Australasia" in theatre and film.
Urban landed his feature film debut in Miramax's "Heaven," starring Martin Donovan and Richard Schiff, and garnered his first Best Actor nomination at the New Zealand Film Awards for his work in "Via Satellite."
Urban was seen earlier this year in the Warner Bros./Dark Castle production "Ghost Ship," also starring Gabriel Byrne and Julianna Margulies.