Local girl wins spot on red carpet

'Lord of the Rings' stars pause for interviews

Thirteen-year-old Hillary Hindi became the envy of all kids when she got a chance to grace the red carpet. As a winner of a national contest sponsored by AOL, she became part of the "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" premiere, and even interviewed the stars of the show.

Her mother, Emily, said both daughters Hannah and Hillary had entered contests before but never won. This one seemed like another stab in the dark.

"I told her she could enter as long as she didn't have to give out any personal information," she said.

This contest, which required people to film a short interview between themselves and a character, was to grant the winner an all expense-paid trip to Wellington, New Zealand, a trip down the red carpet at the premiere and passes to the after-party.

Emily thought because of the magnitude of the prize and the fact that it was a national contest, Hillary's winning would be a long shot.

"I was supposed to interview a pillow or a shoe," Hillary said. "But I had this Gandalf cardboard character, so I decided I wanted to use him. I dressed up as a hobbit, and used a mushroom for a microphone."

Hillary asked Gandalf questions and feigned responses. Emily recalled how Hillary seemed to not spend much time coordinating the interview.

"It took no time at all," she said. "When she was finished she realized she had to cut it down from 10 minutes because the rules said it could only be three."

After making edits, Hillary submitted her video and waited for the first round of cuts, held in late November. Emily was told to spend $200 on passports just in case her daughter won.

"I couldn't believe they wanted us to do that even if she didn't win," she said. "But I turned to my husband, looked into Hillary's eyes and we both said, you be the one to tell her no."

After the first round, Hillary's and the other four finalist videos were placed online for Internet users to view and vote upon for the final prize. Emily told Hillary to pray for the win. Hillary was notified of her win by phone a few days before the trip. A somewhat nauseating plane ride later, Hillary arrived in Auckland, New Zealand.

Onlookers lined the street on Dec. 1 at the official screening. Hillary said one of her favorite actors to interview was Billy Boyd, who plays Pippin, the character she duplicated for her interview video.

"Another one was John Rhys-Davies," she said. "He gave me a flower and I told him 'you're one of my favorite characters,' and he said, 'well, you're one of my favorite interviewers.' "

Hillary was anything but camera shy. She received local and national television attention, including an interview on CNN. Several people remarked that she was so comfortable, she should consider a career in broadcasting. Hillary has similar goals in mind. She's working on entering another contest, a casting call for the "Chronicles of Narnia," a series of books by C.S. Lewis that could be the next epic fantasy film series.

"I'm definitely going to try it out," Hillary said.


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