This is our first real look at Evangeline Lilly as the newly invented elf character Tauriel in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Ever since I saw her in LOST I thought she looked like an elf, so the fact that she was cast as one makes perfect sense to me, she looks great in the role! The picture comes from the back of an action figure box.
In a previous interview, Lilly talks about her new character in the film, how the book purists might react to it, and why she thinks the addition of the character is ok.
Yeah! I am very concerned to this day that people will watch the film and I’ll be the black mark on the film. I know how adamant the purists are and I’m one of them! That said, upon reading The Hobbit again, as an adult, I can see why additional characters were needed to round out the story as an adaptation – especially female characters! The Hobbit didn’t include female characters at all and was a very linear story, a book for children, really. What Peter, Fran (Walsh) and Philippa (Boyens) have done is all in perfect keeping with Tolkien’s world, while adding a third dimension to an otherwise very two-dimensional story.