It happened when I was 20. I was climbing out of a window and down a drainpipe trying to get onto my friends roof terrace. I fell down 3 floors. I was told I may not walk again but they operated and I walked out of the hospital in 12 days - which was a bit of a miracle. It was one of the most profound things to happen to me. To have time to contemplate your life and make something positive out of the experience. It changed the way I approach everything in life.

 

[Laughs] I love anything dangerous. Anything dangerous, you can count me in! And yeah, you'd have thought my accident would have put me off. I did look into whether it would be a safe thing for me to do, and it's OK. I love sports like bungee-jumping and snowboarding and they'd be hard to give up!

 

I've broken both my legs, my wrist, my nose and all sorts of things, but breaking my back is a different thing. I didn't think I was going to get through that one. I was told I was going to be in a wheelchair - for four days they thought I'd never walk again.

 

I was a rebel. I still am! [laughs]. I'm a rebel without a cause! I'm not excessive, though except with danger. I'm an adrenaline junkie. That's why I love snowboarding, skydiving, surfing, bungee-jumping and motorbikes!

 

New Zealand was great fun because it's one of the best places in the world for all the sports I enjoy. I did a few bungee jumps, in fact I did five in a row at one point! I also did a little skydiving, snowboarding and fishing. I just had the best time!

 

In New Zealand I got into surfing. I felt we needed to so something outside the movie to keep us all sane. So I was like, "Let's get motorbikes!" and the guys weren't into that at all. They were like, "There's no need to kill ourselves while we're working on this." So one day I just said to Billy Boyd [who plays Pippin Took], "Let's buy surfboards!" We walked to the beach with these brand new, sparkling boards, freshly waxed and in our new little wetsuits - the other surfers were looking at us like we were idiots! And the water was freezing. But we ended up being quite good and then the others bought boards - Elijah [Wood], Sean [Astin], Dom [Monaghan]. Even Viggo [Mortensen] had a board!

 

Yeah, we did. The whole fellowship got tattoos. There are nine in the fellowship, so we got nine tattoos in Elvish which were designed by Alan Lee who did the illustrations for the books. Mine is under my right forearm, under my wrist. Everyone got involved, even Ian McKellen who plays Gandalf. There was a real camaraderie to it.

 

The sandflies. They're probably the nastiest of insects. Their bite is bad and it lasts for ages - horrible! Thankfully there was tons of insect repellent on hand!

 

I try not to take myself too seriously. I feel quite privileged to have been able to be an actor. I still find it unbelievable I'm being paid to do something I love.

 

The traveling. You get to go all over the world and experience different cultures, and you're so well taken care of. We shot 'Black Hawk Down' in Morocco, which was amazing. I had a a great time exploring Morocco.

 

It's a British movie, it's a comedy and I play a guy who's a milkman by day and an amateur boxer by night. It should be out sometime next year. It's all about finding the right project where I'm inspired to do good work.

 

I had a voice coach on set because I wasn't the only Brit. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. But hey, if you've seen the movie, let me know what you think!

 

I plan to spend some time in LA in the not-too-distant future because it will be useful to be there when the movie is released. But London is my home and will always be my home!