INDIANA JONES Actor John Rhys-Davies Explains Why He Didn't Get a Tattoo With His LORD OF THE RINGS Co-Stars

After the three films in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of The Rings trilogy were wrapped, stars of the films Sean Astin, Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean, and Sir Ian McKellen headed to the tattoo parlor. They got matching ink that bore the word nine written in elvish, in dedication to their noble crew of nine. That crew included John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli, but the actor famously declined getting the tattoo. His stunt double ended up getting the tattoo instead.

But Rhys-Davies recently spoke out about his decision in an interview with Comic Book, saying:

“Hell. You really think I want to have my lovely skin broken by a dirty needle? Good God. No. Look, when they dig my body up in 1000 years, they'll find a missing finger. They'll find a broken leg from a plane crash down there. They'll find a damaged hip there. They'll find a brick mark in my skull there. A broken bone in there. A broken thing from a plane crash there. Um, oh, that's a wall that fell on me. That's enough. They don't want any marks on me. No tattoo."

He feels pretty strongly about the whole tattoo issue. It’s all good though. I’m sure his co-stars didn’t lose any love for the guy. Rhys-Davies will next be returning to another beloved franchise with the upcoming sequel Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which hits theaters on June 30th.