‘I was just walking around, spying on her from the corner of the room. In a non-creepy way.’
While all of us remember the first time we set eyes on Legolas with his blonde tresses and bright blue eyes in The Fellowship of the Ring, Orlando Bloom had his eyes on somebody else while filming Lord of the Rings. Namely, someone you might not have even remembered starred in the film: Cate Blanchett.
The two were reunited for a special London episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden, where they chatted with the host and singer Niall Horan about everything and nothing. The Lord of the Rings alum reflected on their time dealing with Frodo Baggins’ infamous ring and their first meeting in New Zealand, which was when Orlando revealed he held a torch for Cate.
James asked, ‘What was your first impression of Cate Blanchett when you first met?’
Orlando turned to Cate and blurted, ‘I had such a crush…I had the biggest crush on you. But I was 21 and you were just-’
‘And I was what, a hundred and ten?’ Cate deadpanned.
Thinking quickly, Orlando said, ‘But you were like 25…26…no, 28?’
‘I’d go to the lower end,’ she advised him.
Although Orlando may have well and truly put his foot in it during the interview, he apparently was a secret admirer from afar while they were filming. The Tolkien epic was one of his first big gigs out of drama school and we bet Cate, with her poise and endless list of film credits on her IMDB page. It turns out that they didn’t have very long together on set however, as Cate was only there for about three weeks – and Orlando really didn’t make an impression. Mainly because she didn’t even know who he was.
‘I didn’t recognise you for two weeks…The first time I saw you, you had hair – like Fabio hair – and blue eyes. And then I just saw you, like this really cute guy out of drama school who was at the parties. And I didn’t put two [and two together that it was] Orlando,’ she said.
Orlando joked, ‘And I was just walking around, spying on her from the corner of the room. In a non-creepy way.’
While it may not have worked out for the former elves, they seemed to be in good spirits and bounced off one another well on the show. They also both were suitably flabbergasted when Niall Horan revealed that One Direction had been thrown out of Trump hotel by – you guessed it – President Donald Trump.
Ah well, such is life. To be honest, we only want the best for our Cannes-protesting, suit-wearing, no-bullshit-talking queen Cate Blanchett.
We love you Orlando, but we don’t know if you’re it.
This article originally appeared on marie claire UK.
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