Orlando Bloom

Fifteen minutes later, I'm walking along the beach of Young Island Resort, peering into several thatched outdoor huts that add up to a restaurant. They are empty. Suddenly, a voice calls out from the shadows. I turn and see Bloom, standing alone in the distance. He is beaming.

Perhaps this interview is going to work out after all.

"What did you think?" he asks in greeting. He is referring to the movie.

"I thought it was gorgeous. Epic." I choose my words carefully. 2005 is the year of Orlando Bloom, in which he steps away from his traditional role as the hero's sidekick -- in The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Troy -- and becomes a hero himself. Besides Kingdom, he also has the leading role in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown.

The problem is: Though Kingdom is great eye candy, Bloom's character, the reluctant knight and troubled soul Balian, hardly speaks or merits any empathy during the first half of the film. When he finally does take a stand, it leads to thousands of deaths.

"Did you think it was great?" he persists. His heart is on his sleeve, which, by the way, is checked. He is wearing faded jeans and a tight, button-down, tablecloth-patterned shirt. His dark curls stop just above his shoulders. Though renowned as a sex symbol, his charisma is not physical. He sucks you in with his deep, patient eyes; his earnest lack of self-consciousness; his graceful gestures and easy, relaxed body language; and his wholesome, empathic energy. It's easy to understand why Rings director Peter Jackson cast this unknown as the most fair and graceful of J.R.R. Tolkien's creations.

Bloom sits down at the table and leans forward. He rubs a thumb along his ragged mustache, and the interrogation continues.