The Hobbit: Nori slots back in to special family

It takes about 20 minutes to apply Nori's beard, says Jed Brophy, who plays the part. Photo / Supplied

What's your actual height and did you lie about it to get the part?

I'm actually 5ft 9in, and no there was no need to lie.

Was that a real beard? If so how long did it take to grow?

No, Nori's beard is so elaborate that I had to have a beard made. Besides my own beard is grey now so it would have had to be coloured. It took roughly 20 minutes to put on each day.

Given the similarity of names, did you have any initial problems remembering who was who in the company of dwarfs?

No luckily we can all read and so we did so. We also had eight weeks together before principle photography in a dwarven boot camp, and so we got to know the characters well. We were given detailed character references from the writers and very individual costume and weapon design, and also talked a lot in our family groups.

Had your guy instead been part of that other storybook dwarf team - Sleepy, Dopey, and Grumpy etc - temperament wise what would your name have been?

Dodgy or possibly Slippery ... a distant cousin of those guys.

The Fellowship of the Ring blokes went out and got tattoos. What was the dwarf bonding equivalent?

We got especially designed rings inscribed on the inside ... very secret stuff you understand, not to be spoken of outside the group ... oops.

Of the other actors in the Hobbit cast, were there any you encountered that made you slightly starstruck and why?

Not really with the possible exception of Cate Blanchett, she is so luminous when she acts it is hard not to be a bit in awe. I had worked with Ian and Hugo and Andy and Elijah before as well, and they are all so humble, as were the rest of the visiting cast .We all truly felt part of a large family.

In figuring out how to act like a dwarf, was Gimli from The Lord of the Rings a good starting point?

Gimli is the only Middle-earth dwarf we have seen on screen up to this point, so of course we need to show consistency in the feel of his race, but we had to individualise our characters to make them distinctive in their own right. Apart from Gloin of course, because he and Gimli are father and son.

Presumably you will be immortalised as an action figure. Will you be giving them away as Christmas presents?

Possibly. I have nephews and a niece .. . I wouldn't mind someone giving them to me actually.

Who's who

Who: Jed Brophy of Wellington
Who plays: Nori
Who is: The dwarf with the star-shaped hairdo and a reputation
of mischief, and a brother of Dori and Ori.