Sequestered on the massive New Zealand set, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd and the rest of the Lord of the Rings cast formed an indelible bond, often referring to one another as 'the hobbits' off camera.

Even Sir Ian McKellen, Wood recalled, was "just one of the guys." Indeed, McKellen joined the other (substantially younger) members of the fellowship in immortalizing their bond with a commemorative tattoo.

McKellen did have one minor quibble: "It says nine in elvish," he later explained. "But upside down, it seems to say Gucci!"

[The hobbits also went surfing and bungee-jumping together and DJed at clubs in Wellington. After the film wrapped, they gave Jackson a scale model of the director as a hobbit -- complete with pointy ears and hairy feet.]

["I wasn't over-impressed," McKellen once recalled of his first theatre experience ("Peter Pan"). "For one thing it wasn't a real crocodile and I could see the wires!"]