Orlando goes contemporary

2005-08-03 14:00

Tokyo - Orlando Bloom, the British heart-throb of Lord of the Rings fame, said on Wednesday he's glad finally to lay down his sword as he plays his first contemporary role in director Cameron Crowe's upcoming film.

Bloom, who has starred as a warrior in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the epic Troy and the Crusader drama Kingdom of Heaven, plays a young Kentucky aristocrat in Elizabethtown, due for release later this year.

"First and foremost, it was great to do a film without a sword or a horse or suit armour," the 28-year-old hunk told a news conference in Tokyo. "I wanted to do a contemporary film."

The film, described as semi-autobiographical for Cameron Crowe, revolves around a young man who begins to know his family only after his father dies - and is helped along by a perky flight attendant, played by Kirsten Dunst.

Bloom called Crowe "one of the quintessential American directors".

"He really has his hand on his heart and his finger on the pulse of America, and he tells a really soulful story," Bloom said.

It is also Bloom's first time playing an American, for which he enlisted an accent coach.

Crowe won an Oscar for another film based on his life experience, 2000's Almost Famous, the saga of a teenaged music critic.

He was also nominated for five Academy Awards for the 1996 film about self-doubting sports agent Jerry Maguire.

- AFP