"I was told I had to gain a lot of weight because Hobbits are very portly. Peter is forever suggesting I have more food. 'A little more food for Mr. Astin.'" "But I'm not really Sam... Nobody could be that good, that noble. He's just better than the rest of us. I'm a lot more Hollywood than Sam would ever be." [refuting the remarks of cast and crew that Sean IS Samwise Gamgee] "I'd never heard of the "Lord of the Rings", actually. So I went to the bookstore and there it was, three shelves of books about Tolkien and Middle-earth, and I was like, 'Holy cow, what else am I missing out on?'" [about the scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in which Sam helps Frodo up Mount Doom:] "It was an incredible acting experience, being on the side of a volcano with that language. That language is so beautiful. 'It'll be springtime soon, and they'll be sowing barley on the fields.' When Peter came up to tell me to lower my arm, something like that, tears were streaming down his face, and to see him that emotional just forced me into it. ... It [i.e., finally seeing the last three reels of the film] was a huge cry. It was all of the tension and stress and pressure of having a wife and children, having a career, the investment of these movies. I was sobbing and heaving, I could barely breathe, and the movie facilitated that. It was just a huge release." [December 18, 2003] [on his character Sam Gamgee:] "I spent the film doing lots of things, but the crying is what lived. He [Peter Jackson] tricks you into thinking you're going to get to do all these brave, heroic things most of the time, and you have to cry once in a while ... and then he cuts out the heroic moments and you're left thinking, 'I look like a big baby'." [December 14, 2003] "I don't care if I'm 5-foot-7-inches tall and pretty heavy, weight-wise, in the film [i.e., the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy]. I still see myself as Errol Flynn. Even when I was a little boy, playing war games in the back yard, I pictured myself as the hero." [February 12, 2004] "I remember, before we started principal photography on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Peter Jackson screened Braveheart and The Thin Red Line for the cast. He said, 'This is the tone I want to strike with the Ring movies. I want to see the grime on their faces, the dirt on the ground, and I want that level of gritty emotionalism and intensity.' I think his idea was that you can enjoy the fantasy more if you really believe it." [February 12, 2004] [on souvenirs from Middle-earth:] "I got Sam's backpack, which began to feel like a second skin, albeit a very uncomfortable skin. I also got to keep Sam's sword, as well as some hobbit feet and ears. I can take them out and make the whole family smile!" [February 12, 2004] "The sidekick business has been good to me." [On Rudy] "I loved this movie because it shows that if you work hard, you can achieve anything."