Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!! 2004

The future when everyone would be famous for 15 minutes is far behind us: now all it takes is three seconds, which is how long Wellington actor and musician Bret McKenzie appeared as an extra in The Fellowship of the Ring. A glimpse of his elvish pout during the Council of Elrond scene enflamed the imaginations of Israeli Iris Hadad and English woman Sherry de Andres. They met on internet message boards (where else?), coined the name ‘Figwit’, an acronym of ‘Frodo is Great… Who is That?!!’, and created the website www.figwitlives.net. Peter Jackson and the LOTR producers have taken a suitably indulgent view of the elf-hijack and this amusing magazine-style documentary culminates in the spectacle of McKenzie undergoing Figwit make-up once again for his one-line part in Return of the King. We also meet Iris and Sherry, with other fans from around the world, as they gather at the Edinburgh Festival to meet each other for the first time and check out their fantasy elf in the flesh. — BG