Evangeline Lilly is working on the transition from the end of Lost into features.  Step 1 is Real Steel, which based on early buzz, should bolster her rep.  The role after that, though, has the potential to be something iconic---at least in certain realms of fandom.  Lilly is shooting The Hobbit films in New Zealand; while on a break for the Real Steel premiere, she discussed her role as the Woodland Elf, Tauriel.  That name will be unfamiliar even to the most devoted Hobbit fan because the character was invented for the movies by director Peter Jackson and his screenwriting partners Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens.  Lilly vouched for their work:

"I believe [Tauriel] is truly authentic, because Tolkien refers to the Woodland elves.  He just doesn't talk about who they are specifically... [Jackson,  Walsh, and Boyens] know that world so well.  They are not going to create a character that's not true to Tolkien's world."

Lilly certainly looks the part of an elf, and manages to voice her respect for the material her without condescending or pandering.  The highlight amid discussion of fan response and script security was Lilly whipping out a couple of Elvish phrases.  Watch the clip after the jump.

Access Hollywood [via Cinema Blend] conducted the red carpet interview.

Umm, miss?  There's a difference between sci-fi and fantasy.

Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, James Nesbitt, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Andy Serkis star in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, scheduled for release on December 14, 2012.  The Hobbit: There and Back Again follows on December 13, 2013.  Click here for all our Hobbit coverage. 

Official synopsis:

Both films are set in Middle-earth 60 years before Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar®-winning “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”  The adventure of “The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug.

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