Evangeline Lilly talks The Hobbit

Self-confessed Tolkien geek Evangeline Lilly admits she's worried fans of The Hobbit will be up in arms about her role.

The Real Steel actress has moved to New Zealand to shoot Peter Jackson’s two-parter based on the JRR Tolkien childrens' novel, playing a newly-created character not from the books.

“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!” she said of her role as Tauriel the Elf.

However, she described signing up for The Hobbit as “a no-brainer” having been a fan since she was 13-years-old.

“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.”

Lilly admits she didn't want to watch Jackson's Lord Of The Rings movies when they first came out in cinemas.

“I swore up and down that I would not see them because I thought it was sacrilege that anyone would adapt Tolkien’s work... Then my entire family when I was visiting went to see the movie and so I relented and went. We were all fans of the books and we were all blown away!”