Astin Takes Us Into Awards Season Tornado
Although Sean Astin insists he does not consider himself a shoo-in for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, plenty of other people do. Thus, the "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" actor has found himself making like Dorothy's "Wizard of Oz" farm house, spinning in a whirlwind toward the outer reaches of the rainbow."There's no rule book for this moment. I want to honor each interaction and leave everyone with the feeling, 'He's so nice,' but it gets impossible," Astin admits. "I have to decide which business opportunities to take advantage of, but there's no time to look at them.
"The route director on my incoming email is unbelievable," adds Sean. "I finally put my head into the email yesterday for nine hours, until my wife came in and said I looked surly, and I went to read a book to my seven-year- old daughter before she went to sleep." He has months of regular mail to go through.
Lately, Astin reports he's found himself staying up 24 hours at a time and sleeping 10-15 hours. After months of global traveling and promoting, "My body clock responds differently than it used to."
He recalls, "When the first 'Lord of the Rings' film came out, I didn't have any money in the bank and I was racing to lose weight to fit into shelf sizes of formal clothes -- and begging people for favors."
Now he has stylist Deborah Waknin (P. Diddy, Leonardo Di Caprio) putting together his look for every event. When Astin returned from a recent trip to South Africa, he says she arrived at his house 15 minutes after he did "with five racks of clothes." He tried on the designer gear as fast as he could, "until the limo arrived" and he was whisked to another destination.
Sean tells us he and wife Christine keep reminding each other that everything's great and the chaotic crunch is "a crisis of imagination." And "Return of the King," he knows, "is a benchmark of my life. When I die, they'll play the footage."