Elijah Wood leads the cast of "Everything Is Illuminated", a road movie about a young American in search of the woman who saved his Jewish grandfather during the Nazi invasion in Ukraine.

Wood will next be seen in "Green Street Hooligans," in which he plays an expelled Harvard student who moves to London and becomes caught up in the menacing madness of soccer. The two movies will are to be released until the end of September.

It was kind of unique and great to have two films coming out within a week. It certainly was a different experience for me, Wood told The Associated Press at the Toronto International Film Festival, where "Everything Is Illuminated" was presented.

They are so completely different. Football hooliganism and violence and mad Ukrainian road movie, Wood added.


Ultimately, it was meeting with Liev that sold it for me. He has a very strong perspective on what he wanted to do. At one point, we were talking about the character. One of the greatest references in his mind, and the way that he visualized the character while writing it, was Chauncey Gardener from 'Being There.' That was a great inspiration. The characters were similar in a sense that Chauncey is also very quiet, and a bit of an observer. And he has this whole other world going on, that is very different from the outside world. He's not comfortable amongst society, and doesn't really fit in much. Yet, there's also this beautiful silence to him, as well.

"Everything Is Illuminated" marks the directing debut of actor Liev Schreiber, who adapted the script from the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.

I really liked the idea of delivering an American character who defied some of the cultural cliches we have been exporting to the rest of the world. A character who was awkward, vulnerable, young, innocent, neurotic, somewhat alien, Schreiber confessed.

Those characteristics kind of led me to Elijah. Not to mention that when trying to articulate a character who is in essence an observer of the world, eyes become important. And if eyes are the portals of the soul, Elijah's got garage doors, the director added.

Wood went from "Avalon" and "The Ice Storm," through "Lord of the Rings" to "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and played against type as a taciturn, cannibalistic killer in this year's "Sin City."

I don't know that I necessarily feel more comfortable in the context of smaller films, but I tend to feel more comfortable more often than not with the material of smaller films, Wood mentioned.

I do think there was an active choice to do something small, as simple as it may sound, just so I didn't have to work on something for 16 months. The idea of two months, nice and contained, just about character, and no time in makeup was a thrill to me, the young actor added.