Elijah Wood Loves ‘Total Madness’ Of ‘Wilfred’

Elijah Wood’s latest acting gig is ridiculous, and he’s OK with that.

The actor stars in the new FX show “Wilfred,” playing a depressed guy named Ryan who is on the verge of suicide. He finds a new zest for life while hanging out with his neighbor’s dog Wilfred, except this dog is quite different.

As Ryan sees it, Wilfred is a talking man in a dog suit who also smokes cigarettes.

“There were days where there would just be absurd situations that my character and Wilfred would get into and you’d step out of that and thing ‘what are we doing? What total madness are we creating?” Wood said. “And there was a gleefulness associated with it like wow, this is really bizarre and wonderful and it was a joy. So much fun.”

The show, based on a hit comedy in Australia, had 2.6 million viewers when it premiered June 23. That’s the best ratings FX has ever had for a comedy.

Wood says over the course of the season the character of a stuffed bear that Wilfred is drawn to will be developed.

“There’s an interesting parallel because Ryan is the only one to see Wilfred as a man in a dog suit and Wilfred refers to this bear as having its own personality as well, but we never see bear move or talk. It’s very weird.”

In October, Wood heads to New Zealand to resume the role of Frodo Baggins from “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy in “The Hobbit,” directed by Peter Jackson. Wood says he’s “really excited” about it and compares it to a family reunion.

“It’s not often in your life that you get to revisit such a significant time in your life,” Wood said.

New Zealand is also where Wood started DJing for fun. An avid music lover, Wood even gets hired to do it.

“I brought down like 4 Case Logics full of CD’s because I was there for so long. We DJ’d a couple of parties and Dom (Monaghan) and I DJ’d together and we’d played at bars and I was just playing songs. … Now I’m doing it more frequently and being asked to DJ.”

“Wilfred” airs Thursdays at 10pm on FX.

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