There And Back Again: An Actor's Tale

I was prepared to like Mr. Astin - the character of Sam is one of my literary favorites. My daughter, who collects all things LOTR, asked for this book for Christmas, however, knowing that Hollywood types like to lace every thought, written and spoken, with profanity, I checked this book out of the library for a look-see. I was familiar with Mr. Astin, of course. I thought his voice-overs on the extended trilogies were rather verbose, pretentious and self-absorbed (Shut up, Sean! No one cares where your head space was at!)however I admired his skill as an actor. I thought (and still think) that he deserved the Best Actor Award for ROTK. Unfortunately, his pompous diatribes during the commentary weren't an aberration. Mr. Astin is obviously an emotionally damaged person, growing up in a household like he did that is not surprising (three possible daddies? Yikes). What is surprising is that those who love Mr. A would let him publish such an embarrassment of a book. His book is one tedious emotion-based, emotion-driven sentence after another. Does he slam his fellow artistes? You betcha! A lot of his snide remarks are couched in faux-compliments -as King of the [...]-Monkeys, he makes a habit of saying "So and So is much better than me at XXXX...BUT!" This fools no one, Sean. Complimenting Billy Boyd as a better actor than you, then in the next breath slamming him for turning Pippin into a buffoon is all too transparent. And as for politics, Doll, stick with what you do best - reading someone else's dialogue for the entertainment of those who pay to watch you perform. Being an actor DOES NOT make you an expert in everything, you know.

No detailed account I've seen demonstrates the triumph of ensemble acting that characterised the three Lord of the Rings films more than Sean Astin's book.

The deceptively simple but well-crafted text (I guess done with co-author Joe Layden's invisible help) means I could work through more than half the content during a nearly three hour wait to get Sean to autograph the book at the Wellington (NZ) Armageddon Pop Culture Expo.

However there's a contradiction here: it's an easily read book but as a deeply personal account of Sean's experiences mostly with the three LOTR films, it is not an "easy read".

His honesty is breath-taking. And challenging if your worldview of actors, film-making, and the LOTR films in particular has been largely reliant on what has been originated by studio marketers.

We fans got our first detailed actor's perspective of the LOTR opus from Andy Serkis' fascinating but rather technical book "Gollum--How we made movie magic".

Sean's book is a less technical and far more human account, complete with the author's wry observations on some of the issues and events that have become part of the LOTR legend.

For example, we learn that Stuart Townsend (who was replaced by Viggo Mortensen) was "a talented Irish actor" who was "great" with Sean's daughter Ali but when trying to inhabit the Aragorn role was "absolutely beside himself with discomfort--both physical and mental".

There are many many other such anecdotal gems in the book, involving key players like Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh, Christopher Lee, and others including Andy Serkis (Sean gives his version of the "wig pulling" incident that Andy referred to in his book).

The best gems involve the author himself. But to appreciate these ("enjoy" is not an appropriate term for such a personal account that also feels very honest), you really should buy this book!

Well, I had fairly high hopes for this little tome when I started reading it, but it didn't take long for them to be dashed. Other reviews here have pretty much summed it up: a surprisingly bitter and angry diatribe from a modestly (but not modest) successful youngish actor who should feel more at peace with his life and his career. I am a bit shocked that he has chosen to take nips out of the very hands that have handed him a bit more visibility. Big hit films rarely make big stars out of every one in the cast. Sorry, Sean, that Orlando got all the press. Life sucks.

Given the title of the book, I was looking for the bulk of it to be about the process of making these extraordinary films. Alas, it's not the case, and I can think of several other actors it would be more fun to hear whine about their lives. I'm going to re-read LOR and rent Rudy. It will make me feel better.

I'm surpised by the negative reviews posted on this page. It takes a lot of guts to write honestly about your feelings and experiences, and that's what Sean has done. He explains that the filming the trilogy was not always easy, that feelings were hurt and it was difficult at times. I find that refreshing. You want a fluff piece about the films--go somewhere else. For fans who want insight into the making of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and a look at the Hollywood machine, this is the book for you.

Sean Astin's book, There and Back Again, is subtitled An Actor's Tale and an actor's tale is exactly what this books is. In an informal, conversational manner Mr. Astin candidly reflects upon his achievements and disappointments as an actor prior to and during the making of The Lord of The Rings. With openness and honesty Mr. Astin shares his hopes, ambitions, worries, and frustrations. In this frank account of his acting career he earnestly examines what he perceives to be his strengths and weaknesses, his highs and his lows. Throughout the book Mr. Astin paints a verbal portrait of a good and decent man who is by turns insecure, charming, exasperating, engaging, self-centered, eager to please, oblivious, sensitive, jealous, and generous.

This is the tale of a young actor's private and professional quest to make a name for himself in Hollywood. It is a tale of making important career decisions and coping with the inner struggle to remain true to self. It is the story of a husband and father working to fulfill private and professional dreams while also worrying about mortgage payments, balancing career and family, and dealing with a family history of mental illness. It is the story of how Mr.Astin landed the role of Samwise Gamgee at a dry point in his career as well as a tale of what he wanted for both himself and for the character of Sam during the filming of The Lord of the Rings. It is a tale of a young man learning lessons about himself and learning how to make adjustments in his life. It is a tale of personal feelings and observations. It's a story of the necessary self-promotion and the occasional bruised ego that are part and parcel of the acting profession. It is a story told with wit, honesty, and, above all, sincerity.

At least two thirds of the book focuses upon Mr.Astin's account of his participation in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He makes it clear that being a part of the film was something he wanted and for which he actively campaigned. He expresses gratitude for the opportunity to be part of such an important project and thanks those who were instrumental in helping him gain the role. He admits, though, that after arriving in New Zealand he was surprised at the amount of hard work participation in the project would entail. He addresses his excitement and commitment to the project, but confesses that at times, for him at least, the process of filming the epic trilogy was not always a picnic in the park. He details how he came to understand and respect the character of Samwise Gamgee and also reveals his resistance to the concept of the noble Sam being reduced to an object of comic relief for the film. Mr. Astin discusses the close bond between Sam and Frodo, and tackles with frankness and respect the ticklish question of homoeroticism in Tolkien's writing. He explores his relationship with director Peter Jackson and discusses how he learned to have faith in Mr. Jackson and a filming process that was not always clear. He lauds the talents and dedication of those involved in every phase of the project. He speaks of the bonds formed among the actors and reflects upon his place in that "family." He acknowledges his joy and pride in being involved in the film making adventure yet does not fail to hide his own personal disappointments.

If you want a day by day chronicle of how The Lord of The Rings was filmed, or if you expect a Lord of the Rings tell all, this book is not for you. However, if you are interested in learning more of one actor's journey of growth and awareness through the process of film making, you will enjoy There and Back Again. In its first chapter, Sean Astin states: "I have talked extensively about how positive my experience in New Zealand was, about family bonds that were created, and the love and passion and dedication that everyone involved brought to their work. My intention here is absolutely not to disavow any of that sentiment. Rather I want to amplify and explore some of the other kinds of emotions and dynamics that I felt. Furthermore, I want to explain how a lot of my early experiences as a professional actor informed my thinking and attitudes during much of the filming." To that extent Mr. Astin has absolutely and entertainingly succeeded in his goal. He writes his story as if he is sharing himself with a trusted friend, one with whom he is not afraid to reveal himself in all his humanity.

Sean Astin's tale of his experience making the film where wholehearted, honest, and hilarious at times. He depicts the life of an actor with a tinge of humility and hope. Highly recommend the book to those interested in an honest portrayal of an actor's trial and tribulations and his emergence into stardom. For those of you LOTR fans, it's a good to see the fine minute details that went into making one of the greatest films of all time from the perspective of Samwise Gamgee. Kuddos to the authors for a fine piece of work.

In reading back over some of the reviews by other readers, I must say I'm a bit shocked. It's clear to me, having just finished the book, that it was written as a sort of catharsis for Sean, possibly even a wrapping up of loose emotional ends that needed to be expressed in order to reach a sort of closure to his personal LOTR experiences. I've seen several complaints mentioned, but I can't understand the point of view they're coming from. This book is subtitled "An Actor's Tale", and that's just exactly what it is; an honest, open, insightful look into this wonderful actor's life and experiences leading up to and ultimately focusing on the LOTR trilogy, and how it felt, specifically to Sean, to be a part of it all. The complaint that the book is self-indulgent, for me does not hold water. Sean Astin cannot be expected to write from others' points of view, because this is told from HIS point of view. It's HIS book, after all. I personally found it very enjoyable and tastefully written, as it is not peppered with the non-stop foul language, etc, that many of these kinds of books deluge the reader with. Any coarse language is used appropriate to the given situation. The self-deprecatory nature of the writing I find shows an extraordinary honesty. The ability to admit one's own mistakes is a highly commendable quality, and one that I suspect is rare in the entertainment field. This is a fine book for fans of Sean and fans of LOTR and cinema in general.

A disappointing tale of an insecure, immature, and arrogant actor, who believes he is more important then he really is.

As other reviewers have noted, Astin's love of his own voice is evident in the commentaries of the extended versions of the movies - his constant interruptions, and boring monologues detract from hearing from the other, far more interesting, actors. However as an avid fan of the books, and the movies, i bought this book as it presented itself to be an inside look at the making of the films, in particular looking at the interactions between cast and crew.

What a lie!

The book is 3/4 filled with Astin's boring and haphazard story of his own experiences, his personal life, his insecurities, his ambition and inflated belief of himself, his struggles with money and weight - yet discussed in the most boring, self involved navel gazing ive ever read. How this verbal diarrhea was ever published is astonishing. Astin manages to come across as both weak and insecure, and yet arrogant and self involved.

It is the only book ive ever bought where i feel it was a complete waste of money, and a complete waste of the 2 hours it took to read it. It gets one star as that is the lowest score it can achieve.

With this novel, Sean Astin chronicles his journey to become an actor portraying Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
Astin gives readers a rare glimpse behind the scenes and into the world of acting, in all its gritty, sumptuous glory. It is from this personal account that readers discover that the Helm's Deep filming took "eleven weeks of night shooting", and that Astin had to wear a wig. Where else would you get interesting details like that?
Astin takes on a down-to-earth, conversational tone with his writing, reminiscent of the style of Samwise Gamgee. The photos in the middle of the book are a delightful treat. Also, Sean Astin manages to write thoughtful and descriptive portrayals on his fellow actors, and this lended to my enjoyment of the text.

Mr. Astin, What were you thinking???? This book was so disappointing to me. (I actually ordered it from the store on pre-sale). I cannot fathom a man (who by the way I think is a very talented actor) trying to capitalize on the sensational success of LOTR-and dare to use Bilbo Baggin's title for such a manuscript of self serving whining. Mr. Astin comes across as an absolute spoiled brat, offers little insight into his experience with LOTR (except that he was miserable and did not enjoy the experience until it was over) I think he was disrespectful to Peter Jackson and to the screen writers-Most of his complaints were because he wasn't tough enough to come through the process without saying "what about me" His writing style couldn't be more fragmented and the book had no cohesive method of story telling. Even his wife several times in the book had to tell him to stop whining and to appreciate the experience that he had.

Sean Astin always seemed like a nice, down-to-earth kind of guy to me. I was amused by his rambling on the actor's commentary on the LOTR dvd's as I assumed he was so enthusiastic about the movie that he could not contain himself. So when the book arrived I was really excited, my excitement almost completely gone after the first few chapters.

Because this book is all about Sean Astin, and while he does discuss his insecurities at length (It gets boring after a while), he also makes sure he sounds like a victim almost every time. Poor Sean is probably what he wants the reader to think.

And why does it take him almost half of the book until he gets to the actual filming? I do not need to hear about every famous person he has met in his life. And when he does finally get to the filming it's still all about him. Sure, he does mention others but even then it's still the Sean Astin story. Because those who weren't his closest friends (or didn't appreciate his obvious genius) get put down, subtly, yes, but if you read closely it's there. Sir Ian McKellan is a good example, the bit about Viggo not wanting to discuss his politics with Sean another subtle example. And why doesn't Viggo discuss his views with poor Sean? Doesn't he mention he wants to be in politics over and over again? Again, poor Sean.

I do think it was a good choice to focus on the human aspect of filming and I don't doubt for a minute that it was a rather difficult experience. The book had its moments in describing those, but it always led to more of Sean's whining. The worst part was Sean using the last chapters to apologize for remarks he made about Peter Jackson's directing and whine about how he should have been nominated for his role. Very sad.

I think Sean would have been better of writing a biography, or no wait, that's what he did. He should have called it a biography then.

And what's up with the one mention of Sean Bean and not at all mentioning some of the other main characters? I can only suppose that those actors didn't give him the attention and respect he seems to think he deserves?

Poor Sean indeed.

The book is about the actor and his perspectives. I found it to be honest, insightful and decent...just like the man! He doesn't dish the dirt or betray secrets. He does like to talk, but we already know that about him from the dvd commentaries and if you've ever met him. I can't fault him about his barely veiled disappointment with certain aspects of the movies because for the most part, I totally agree with him. As a huge LOTR fan, I would really like to have seen Sam and Frodo marching with the Orcs and managing to escape! This book feels like the confessions of a friend...over a Jack Daniel's on the rocks! Bravely done!

If there is a fault--it lies with managing the expectations of the readers. Clearly, many people wanted a different tale!

Oh dear! Someone close to Mr Astin should have pointed out 'Actually Sean this isn't very clever, this book makes you look like the Hollywood brat you keep saying you're not. It reads like the private diaries of a teenager and will only put any potential employers off hiring you as an actor in the future'. Alas it's too late and the book is now out in the public domain.

His continual interruptions on the TTT extended edition commentary and the first part of Astin's interview with the Decipher LOTR magazine have already revealed that there are times when Astin can be irritating and pretentious, but previous trangressions pale into insignificance alongside some of the outpourings here. What you get is endless sniping about perceived slights from his fellow actors. Annoyingly Astin can't even get some of the basic facts right before holding forth - so we get four pages of how wonderful Walsh and Boyens were for writing his TTT 9/11 speech (when in fact the lines are all from Tolkien) or endless 'poor me, being the oldest one amongst the hobbits' pontifications (Billy Boyd is older). At times the personal attacks over very minor remarks come across as 'Why I don't like xxxx by Sean Astin aged 10 3/4'. And sadly, Astin doesn't even appear to have the intelligence to realise how offensive it would be, given his political leanings, to ask Tim Robbins to perform for troops in Iraq, preferring to rant for two pages on how Robbins didn't even have 'the courtesy' to return a phone call. Based on my own experience I'd like to say to Sean: 'Mr Pot. Meet Mr Kettle. He's black'.

The first four chapters are a mess as Astin seems unable to hold onto a single thought for more than a few seconds, flitting from subject to subject before completing a story, but things thankfully improve as the book goes on and by page 104 he's remembered the subject matter is supposed to be 'Lord of the Rings'.

Fans will appreciate the gossip and 'behind the scenes' facts (his low salary, the reality of on-set life and glimpses at how these things are made), and may even admire his 'honesty', but for me the book was so full of hypocrisy, paranoia and sniping I can't work out whether Astin is deliberately malicious or just not very bright.

The book is credited to Sean Astin and Joe Laydon, and one wonders what Laydon's role in this book really was. A better writer would have protected his co-writer and been far more judicious in editing his outpourings than is evidenced here. Nevertheless this is one book that LOTR movie fans will not want to miss.

EDITED TO ADD: I should point out that the 'pot calling kettle black' comment is NOT based on any promise to call ME back, but on a promise made to me that he would contact an author friend ('I WILL get back to xxxxx. I just need my people to look at these questions first') Sean had been enthusiastic about the author at a premiere I'd attended (I heard his agent say to the author 'You should make Sean YOUR agent - he's always telling everyone how great your books are') so I was surprised at his 'discourtesy' on not keeping to the promise he had made me, even though it had no direct bearing on me personally. I DON'T find it surprising that the two people who've chosen to use their book reviews here to attack me about that comment, based only on their own inaccurate guesses, haven't had the courage to use their real names!

I bought this book because I was fascinated by The Lord Of The Rings, the whole filming process, and the information displayed on the appendices of the extended edition dvd's, and in various books I have purchased.

I thought I would gain an insight into the filming of LOTR, what motivated Sean, what he learned from the journey about himself and his fellow actors, what he took away from the experience and applied elsewhere in his life.

What I found was an insecure, self-opinionated, self-exculpatory, paranoid, obsessed man, with little social grace, and no interest in any point of view save his own, bleating on about how he was cheated, denied, ignored... and criticised by his wife and friends for his self indulgence and pessimism.

I was deeply disappointed, and feel cheated. It could have been wonderful, but it was full of bitterness, and self excuse. Admitting to a fault does not mean one has learned to conquer it.

I hope someone else, less coloured by his own hang-ups will write the book on The Lord Of The Rings and its fascinating journey onto film. Mr Astin failed to do so - what a missed opportunity!

Insider, schminsider. I purchased this waste of paper to read about the back stories of the making of the Lord of the Rings, from an actor who was a recognizable, friendly face. I wanted a personal insight into the actors lives during those 18 + months. What I got was a treatise on Sean Astin's many insecurities wound in and around a few interesting tidbits. I don't care what he thinks of his mother and father. I don't care that Ian McKellen didn't spend quality time with "poor me" Astin. I don't care about his wife and child. I did care to read a book written by someone who would inform and entertain me. This isn't that book. Don't waste your money.

I have to admit I expected something a bit different then what I got. But, as I read the book I found I enjoyed it all the more. Sean Astin is honest...he reflects what life is like in the glamor and glitz of Hollywood. Dishes a little about others, but not to much to take control of the book. It's just a veruy facinating book to read.

Memoirs to read: If I Knew Then,Nightmares Echo, Underneath It All, A Fractured Life

Sean Astin's memoirs are hugely entertaining. He's a very funny, smart, insightful man. The photos of his time in New Zealand are the best, because we get to see him and his LOTR pals in natural, unposed states. He also has some sad stories to tell about his early life, such as his mother's illness, and the triumphant success of "Lord of the Rings." He also gives us ideas of what his costars like Viggo Mortensen are really like.

And by the way, I sort of suspect that if Ian Smith feels aggrieved that an A-list star didn't personally call him (how often does THAT happen, huh?), he's not the most objective person to review Mr. Astin's book.

I bought this book thinking it would be an interesting read about the making of the Lord of the Rings. Instead it is the story of how great and underappreciated Sean Astin is as an actor. To be honest who ever really knew of him before Lord of the Rings. I found the book a big dissappointment. I don't really care about how great an actor or filmmaker Sean Astin thinks he is nor am I interested in his political views. If this was his objective he should have chosen a different title instead of scamming people into buying his book.