In a disused power station in the London borough of Chelsea, Orlando Bloom is wearing boxing gloves and silly white shorts. His hair is dark and curly, his eyes brown. You have to look closely to find Legolas, but he's in there somewhere.
The reason the young actor is so unusually dressed is because he's making The Calcium Kid, a comedy-thriller about a milkman who becomes a pugilist. It's his first lead role and testament to the effect the slender Elf has had on his career. Since completing the trilogy, he has gone on to feature in Black Hawk Down, the upcoming Ned Kelly and now this. In a few days he's be off to shoot Pirates of the Caribbean in Los Angeles with Johnny Depp.
And most places he goes these days, he's followed by hordes of tearful girls, clutching "Marry me, Orly!" banners with the self-control of wailing banshees.
"They're cool, that's sweet, but they don't know me - they see characters I play in movies and I am very flattered that they respond to them in such an excited way," he says with a shake of the head. "There's a lot of mad stuff on the internet. My mum keeps trying to tell me about it but I ask her not to. I just try to keep it real as possible; I'm still riding my bike around London, still living in the same sort of area." He looks at his feet, just to make sure they're still attached to the ground. "I do feel incredibly lucky, but that doesn't do it justice," he says of the Lord of the Rings extravaganza. "It's like - fuck, I was so happy with the way the film turned out, I was so honoured to be a part of that. If I do nothing else, I've been in these films."
Talking of which, Bloom is as ravenous to see the completed version of The Two Towers as the next fan. "When I saw Pete, he was just so excited. It is just going to go off! I saw some funky stuff doing my ADR [Additional Dialogue Recording]. I'm sliding down this star on an Uruk-hai shield, firing arrows, taking out these guys. It is like the gift that keeps giving. Here's another one..."
And even if Bloom was disappointed not to figure in the reshoots - he was too busy in Australia filming Ned Kelly for Gregor Jordan - he did at least manage to fly over for one last dinner party. "I went over anyway, like for a weekend to say 'Hi,'" he laughs. "Because, I was like, 'This is bollocks, I feel out of it.' I met up with Viggo," he smiles. "And let me tell you, we had one mad night in New Zealand!"
ORLANDO'S CAREER
BEFORE THE LORD OF THE RINGS
IF HE'D NEVER DONE LOTR