Pubdate: Tue, 18 Dec 2001
Source: Sun, The (UK)
Copyright: News Group Newspapers Ltd, 2001
Contact:  http://www.the-sun.co.uk/
Author: Thomas Whitaker, The Sun
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

MY DRUGS HOBBIT

A POT-smoking film extra who worked on Lord Of The Rings boasted yesterday 
how he got away with pure Mordor -- by acting while zonked out of his head.

Tattooed Nathan Crombie -- who plays a creature called an orc in the 
blockbuster movie trilogy -- claimed he and a group of fellow actors got 
high EVERY DAY on ultra-strong grass called Thunderweed.

They would sneak away between takes in New Zealand to smoke spliffs at the 
top of a tower on the set.

Nathan, 40, said: "It made it more difficult for people to catch us as they 
couldn't smell it. We'd have been kicked out of the job if they had."

The New Zealander was among 20,000 extras hired as JRR Tolkien's famous 
books were turned into three films -- shot one after the other.

The first, which hits cinemas today, is called The Fellowship Of The Ring 
and stars Elijah Wood as Frodo -- the hobbit who ventures into the dreaded 
land of Mordor.

Nathan missed out on appearing in that but is in the sequels The Two Towers 
and The Return Of The King.

He stressed he never saw any of the films' big names getting high.

But he and his chums had a spliffing time. Nathan said: "New Zealand has 
some of the strongest grass in the world. Thunderweed blows your mind away."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager