NEED TO KNOW
The Goonies was one of Dominic Monaghan’s favorite movies as a kid.
Monaghan and The Goonies star Sean Astin worked together in Lord of the Rings.
Astin says Monaghan couldn’t stop talking about The Goonies when they first met.
Lord of the Rings
Image credit: The Star Tracker
As a young boy, Dominic Monaghan was entranced by the 1985 kids’ adventure classic The Goonies, about a group of friends who go on an epic journey to save their homes.
He had no idea that nearly 15 years after first seeing the film, he would go on a similar adventure alongside The Goonies star Sean Astin in the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Separated from their family and friends for over a year while filming in New Zealand, Astin and Monaghan formed a bond and a true fellowship over a movie released years before they ever met.
Dominic Monaghan and Sean Astin bonded over The Goonies
Before setting out on an epic quest to save Middle-earth, Monaghan bonded with fellow hobbit actor Astin over his childhood love for The Goonies.
Speaking on a 25th-anniversary Lord of the Rings panel at the Anaheim Fan Expo, Monaghan shared how the movie inspired him to become an actor and drew him closer to his fellow castmates.
“Watching it as a kid and having an interest in wanting to be an actor and everything. All these kids are doing it, and they're doing it in such a charismatic way, and they're going down water slides in pirate ships. I just so wanted to be in that film when I got on a plane going to New Zealand and found out that Sean was in it, I was over the moon.”
When the moderator pointed out the obvious commonalities between the two films, Astin joked, “A dead pirate and the source of all evil. Parallel and parallel exactly.”
How The Lord of the Rings cast first met
The first meeting between the Hobbit actors was far less dramatic than the Council of Elrond; however, Astin says their connection was immediate.
“When Elijah and I met in a hotel in L.A., we just saw each other and gave this huge bear hug. Usually, you have to know someone a little bit before you do that,” Astin told thousands of fans.
“When I met Dominic, he couldn't stop wanting to tell me about what Goonies meant to him. And when I met Billy, and I heard him talk, I was like, ‘I just wanted to hear him say certain words in a Scottish accent.’"
The cast shared that they formed a deep and lasting friendship that has endured since the day they first met, and they still maintain an active group chat where they share favorite restaurants, Wordle scores and, presumably, recommendations for second breakfast.
The Lord of the Rings cast knew they were making more than a movie
Wood emphasized that their fast friendships were essential to succeeding in what would become the adventure of their lives.
“It felt very instant. I mean, I think we all stepped into New Zealand with a heightened sense of embarking on something that was unprecedented, that was very apparent to all of us. And we were all leaving our homes for an extended period. So I think that instantly creates a sense of leaning in to the people that you are meeting, and kind of locking arms in a way, sort of emotionally and spiritually.”
But he also added that their friendship extended for decades after production ended because the bond they formed was genuine.
“And then these human beings are wonderful, delightful, funny, beautiful humans. So there's that. It's like I think there was an immediate sense of 'oh shit,' you know, we're about to do this thing, but then also we did genuinely like each other at the beginning.”
The Fellowship of the Ring broke apart before the end of the first film, but twenty-five years later, the fellowship among Wood, Astin, Boyd and Monaghan remains intact – and so is their group chat.
