Impassioned to pursue the path of acting since he was young, Dominic Monaghan has seen those dreams come to fruition. A diverse, talented performer, many easily recognize him for his role in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where he starred as Merry, a key member of the fellowship. Forever associated with these iconic films, Monaghan has built on the success in the years to follow, including roles in the hit ABC series Lost, 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, among many others.
Always seeking to challenge himself and do something different, in 2025, Monaghan plays the character of Ned Duxbury in the new Western film Long Shadows. Starring alongside the likes of Jaqueline Bisset and Dermot Mulroney, Long Shadows hit on November 7th before a planned release on VOD on December 22nd with a compelling tale in tow. Unique among Westerns, which are essentially action-driven, Long Shadows relies on its characters’ internal conflicts and genuine human emotions. A part Dominic Monaghan was eager to play, he recently sat down to chat about working on Long Shadows, as well as look back on his impressive, diverse body of work.
Cryptic Rock – You have sustained a lengthy career over the past two-plus decades with plenty of success along the way. Briefly tell us, how would you describe your life entertainment to this point?
Dominic Monaghan – That’s tough. I’m not a big fan of self-exploration. I don’t know how much value there is in that. I’ve not seen anything that I’ve done for a good 20 years. I hustle, and I just try my best.
At the very least, what you can do as an actor, if you’re lucky enough to get a role, is to give an A for effort. What you end up being able to achieve might end up being a B or a C in terms of the performance. In terms of the effort that you put into getting it there, at the very least, you need to give an A because there are so many actors out there that would give their right arm to be on set and working when you are.
I like to work in a variety of different mediums. Certainly, if I’m acting, I try to play roles that I’ve never played before. I try to give the best effort that I can give, really.
Cryptic Rock – That certainly shows. You have definitely built a very diverse resume. As you said, you have played many different roles. Understandably, when you are working and striving to be your best, looking back in hindsight is not something you do. However, when you do, for a brief moment, it is special to see what you have accomplished over time.
Dominic Monaghan – Yeah, it is. I always have the perspective that if I could click my fingers and have the perfect career I’ve always wanted, I would be working 300 days a year. I’d have a couple of weeks off in the summer to spend time with friends, and then a few weeks off in the wintertime to go snowboarding and enjoy Christmas. Then I’d be back to work.
That’s just not how life is for an actor, even if you have some level of success. I’ve worked significantly less than I’d like because I don’t really like repeating myself, and I want to try to do work to a certain standard.
At any given point, I can probably be on set, but it would mean that the sets that I’m walking onto might not be the things that I genuinely want to do. If you have a standard for where you want to work, you’re very often not finding that standard met. A successful year of work for me is probably two or three projects. I’ve always wanted it to be more like four or five projects, but that’s just not how the industry works.
I’m happy to think I’ve done things I’m proud of, and that people still seem to be watching. For the longest time, I’ve always felt like I’ve only just gotten started here. I still feel that way.
Cryptic Rock – It’s inspiring to hear you are very passionate about your craft. Your latest film, Long Shadows, is a little bit different than what you have done in the past. Given that this is a Western-style film, how did this project come about?
Dominic Monaghan – I think the same thing that happens for me with most things is that a script gets sent to my agent, and then my agent finds out if this is a go-project. How long until it’s going to be filmed? Do they have the money? After my agent did his own homework and realized it was a project that was going to go, I read it.
I thought the character that they had offered me to play in Long Shadows just seemed interesting. A little bit of a grifter, a little bit of a chancer. Obviously, someone who’s struggling just to have any influence in society and is a bit of a drinker. The Wild West, as we know, was, in many ways, relatively lawless, and people policed themselves.
This is a character who seems to be always on the edge of getting smacked in the mouth or maybe getting followed home and shot in a dark alley. He’s chancing his luck all the time. I just thought there was something I could do with that. It allowed me to go to Arizona, ride horses for a couple of days, and work on a Western, which I’d not done yet. When I look back at the work I’ve done on my resume, I’m always looking for gaps. One of the gaps was a Western. I was like, “All right, let’s do it.”
Cryptic Rock – It is an engrossing film. It is not a traditional Western, meaning it is not glorifying gun violence or anything like that. It’s more of a psychological study. It seems each character has an individual story and a little bit of heartbreak behind them. Would you agree?
Dominic Monaghan – Yeah. I think the writing is really good. All the characters feel like they come from somewhere real. Traditionally, Westerns often feature these archetypal, trope-like characters: the classic good guy who doesn’t speak much, who looks after the girl, and saves the day. Then the classic bad guy smoking a cigar and spitting tobacco into a spittoon and all that kind of stuff.
I don’t think William and his team are that interested in that. I think he wanted to tell a story of real people because, obviously, the West is full of real people. So much time has passed by that we now see them as these classic cowboy types sitting on horses. These people have wives, children, mothers, and bills to pay, and all that kind of stuff. Every character felt like they came from somewhere real.
I also thought the actors who were cast wanted to do their own homework and make the characters feel like they’re not stepping out of a Bonanza set. These are actual real humans.
Cryptic Rock – It certainly comes across that way. For the most part, your character in the film plays opposite Jacqueline Bisset. You two are depicted as a team in the movie. What was it like working opposite her character?
Dominic Monaghan – Yeah, she’s great. Jacqueline Bisset is obviously a legend. I remember telling my mom and dad that I was working with Jacqueline Bisset, and they were very impressed because, obviously, Jacqueline was a big deal at one point. She’s a lovely lady, very fun to work with. She and I spoke off-camera about what we thought the relationship was with my character, Ned, and hers. There was this idea that she seemed to have said to him, “Look, if you look after me, keep me safe, help me out, if you scratch my back, I’ll do the same.”
I think Ned sees her as an opportunity to make money. Maybe there was some element of a romantic thing at one point, maybe when they first met. I also think Ned, unfortunately, is a bit of a barfly. He has an opportunity to have a relationship with someone who has access to free alcohol and the ability to spend more and more time in a bar. He’s going to take up that opportunity because he’s probably an alcoholic, I would think. He seems to be struggling with that, certainly, when we meet him.
Cryptic Rock – Yeah. It’s interesting watching all the dynamics play out with you and the other characters. Another thing that stands out about this film is that everyone seems to have some regret about things they may have done or things that happened to them in the past. With your character, Vivian, the opposite of you, says, “I’ll tell your secret.” You say, “I don’t really care. It doesn’t mean as much to me.” Was the secret revealed in the script, or did you ever think about what the secret may have been? It was interesting how that played out.
Dominic Monaghan – I talked to William Shockley about that. It was purposefully vague because, again, these are real people. You don’t have people in real life talking about exposition or talking about their history in the same way. Lots of it goes unsaid, unspoken, or maybe implied as Jacqueline’s character does.
I said to William, “Is it important for the audience or Jacqueline to know specifically what that is?” William said to me, “No, I think it’s important for you to know it. Whatever you think that is, you’ve committed some misdemeanor or crime that she knows about, where if she were to tell the sheriff or anyone interested, they could use it as collateral against Ned.”
It’s a bribery thing, obviously, and it gave her a little bargaining chip. I love the fact that it’s not made clear, because then the audience can spend as much time as they want thinking about what it means to them, just as I did when I added color to the character I was playing.
Cryptic Rock – Absolutely. All these aspects give each character a little bit of mystique and depth. That worked very well for the film.
Dominic Monaghan – Yeah. That’s credit to William, his team, and the script. They were very keen for all of these actors to show up with their own ideas about costume, how they speak, what they drink in the bar, whether they wear a pocket watch, or a bandana. They wanted us all to make these characters as real as possible because it helps everyone on set. Everything feels a little bit more authentic.
Cryptic Rock – Absolutely. When people see this film, they are really going to enjoy it because it stays with you. Going back to your career, clearly, there is a legend surrounding The Lord of the Rings trilogy. You being a piece of that history, as key character Merry, how amazing it is to see how the power the films have retained?
Dominic Monaghan – Yeah. As an actor, you always want to be involved in something that has any element of mileage because it helps to keep you relevant. It also reminds people that you can do a nice job. The Lord of the Rings is just one of those projects that you could never have predicted would happen in that way. Obviously, everyone’s working as hard as they can on that project. Pete Jackson is a brilliant man in a lot of different ways, but even Pete would say to us when we were filming the trilogy that he didn’t know what was going to happen with it.
It came at an amazing time in cinema, when technology had just reached a point where those types of films could be made, and CGI had not yet gotten out of hand. You’ve got a nice combination of special effects mixed with practical effects, and some great performances. I love the fact that what’s clear with The Lord of the Rings is that we’re meeting people at these conventions a lot, and when I’m out and about, it’s getting passed down through generations. If someone’s parents saw it, then their kids will see it. If someone’s grandparents saw it, they’ll show it to their children, and their children will show it to their children or their friends.
It’s an undeniably good trilogy where, if you’ve enjoyed it, you think there’s a pretty strong chance that the people in your life are going to enjoy it as well. It’s just a real honor to be involved in something like that as an actor.
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