Finland’s national public broadcasting company Yle interviewed actor Sean Bean (article in Finnish; the 4-minute video in English) during his promo tour for The Martian.

(Note: I wasn’t able to share the video; you’ll have to follow the link to Yle and play it there.)

Bean mentions that the Lord of the Rings reference – Project Elrond – was something he didn’t know how to react to. My partial transcription from the interview (from ca. 1:50-2:30) picks up with Bean’s answer to how it came about:

“I don’t know. I think it was in the script originally and it stayed in there, and it was very funny ’cause I’ve never been in a f– I was in a film that– then– which was– within a film. So it was very funny. [Laughs.] And, erm, you know, I just kind of listened to it, I didn’t know how to react, really [laughs], to that. It’s an unusual kind of situation I was in. But it was great, it’s great. I love that, it’s nice.”

When asked whether they joked about the reference on set, Bean answered:

“Not really, no, you said it and everyone went, like– [indistinct; laughs.] You know, I couldn’t kind of go, like, ‘Oh yeah, I was in [that]’, you know. But I– So I just kind of– [makes a gesture of playing it cool] went on with it.”

Other questions touch on the large number of team leader roles he’s played or characters who die (which Bean doesn’t seek out, specifically), how Bean built the character of Mitch Henderson with director Ridley Scott, and the kind of roles Bean would like to play in the future.

Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.