Local hobbit shows video skills

Heather Rawlyk

Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003 | 8:49 a.m.

For most families, the day after Thanksgiving is a restful day, dedicated to lounging and polishing off leftovers.

But one Henderson teen and her family will spend Friday traveling halfway around the world in an adventure tailor-made for the ultimate "Lord of the Rings" fan: A trip to New Zealand to interview the stars of the third installment of the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Return of the King" at its exclusive world premiere Dec. 1.

Thirteen-year-old Hillary Hindi won a nationwide contest and will get to host AOL's online broadcast of the movie's premiere in the country where the trilogy was filmed.

AOL encouraged members to submit audition tapes that showed off their red-carpet interview skills, AOL spokesman John Angelo said. The company received submissions from members across the country and narrowed it down to five finalists, he said.

The videos of the five finalists were then broadcast on the Internet, where tens of thousands of AOL members voted for the one they thought would be the best red-carpet interviewer.

Hillary, who in her video dressed and spoke as the hobbit Pippin, won over voters with her enthusiasm, creativity and personality, Angelo said. The teen beat out 50,000 contestants across the nation to take first prize.

Hillary's mother, Emily Hindi, home schools her and her 17-year-old sister. Hannah. and knows how bright and creative they are, but she was shocked that her youngest daughter had won such a large competition. The two teens were constantly entering different "Lord of the Rings" contests, without much luck, Mom said.

"They're always looking into these contests about the 'Lord of the Rings' and I always said it was OK as long as they didn't have to release any personal information," she said. "My oldest daughter Hannah mentioned the contest and said they were going to submit videos."

Hindi said her daughters made two individual videos and entered the contest themselves.

"They printed out the rules and did it all on their own," she said. "I honestly didn't pay much attention because they did it so often."

That was until the girls approached her with an unusual request.

"One day they asked if they could have money to get a passport," Hindi said. "They said they had to have valid passports to enter the contest, in case they won the trip to New Zealand. I thought that was ridiculous."

Hindi said she conferred with her husband, Robert, a Metro Police officer.

"At first we agreed we would not do it, but you look in her little eyes and tell her you're not going to do it. You can't.

"Her father said to her 'I'm going to go ahead and do it,' " Emily Hindi said. "He told her, 'I'll do it because I believe in you.'

"It ran us over $200 to get the passports because we had to expedite them," she said.

Just two weeks after signing the permission papers, the Hindis received a phone call.

"A woman called one night and told me that my daughter was a finalist," she said.

The finalists were supposed to be called on Nov. 6, but the call came the day before, the young contest winner recalled.

"My sister asked me where we sent in the tapes and I told her Manhattan," Hillary said. "It said Manhattan on the Caller ID. We didn't want to get our hopes up because it was only the 5th, but then I heard my dad say, 'Wait, is she the winner or just the finalist?' and I started screaming."

She said the next two weeks, until the winner was announced Nov. 19, were nerve-wracking. When the call came, it had a familiar feel.

"We were sitting by the phone and it rang and said Manhattan, New York," she said. "I thought, 'This is a dream.' It was the same, like deja vu.

"Everyone screamed and cried. Some of my friends were speechless and others screamed and couldn't believe it."

But Hillary's family believes it. From a young age Hindi has been making videos and movies, her mother said.

"She has aspirations to be a movie director, especially after seeing 'Lord of the Rings.' I thought it was so neat that Peter Jackson said he was interested in directing after seeing a movie at a very young age. It's neat that he is now inspiring someone to do that with his movie."

The teen said she has been making movies with her sister and friends since she was 8 years old.

Her parents purchased her a video camera when she was 11 because of her love of directing. It came in handy for the contest, but the youngster brought a personal flair to the task, as well.

"I had to pretend I was interviewing something so I interviewed a cardboard cutout of Gandolf," Hillary said. "I would answer for it, and then I also had to say 'My precious,' like Gollum. I finished by saying, 'See you on the red carpet.' You didn't have to do much."

What she did worked.

"We leave the day after Thanksgiving to fly to Los Angeles," Hillary said. "From there we fly to Wellington, New Zealand."

She said the premiere will give her practice on the red carpet.

"This is a good opportunity," she said, "because I want to be in acting or a director."