In an incredibly revealing interview with The Sunday Times, Elijah Woods has made reference to the darker side of Hollywood, and alluded to the idea that there exists organised paedophile rings in the movie capital of the world.

Speaking to the weekly broadsheet, the Lord of the Rings start likened Hollywood’s underbelly to the Jimmy Savile paedophile scandal in the UK.

Suggesting certain individuals in the industry ‘preyed’ upon the vulnerable, Elijah, who secured his first role at the age of eight,  said: “Clearly something major was going on in Hollywood. It was all organised.”

“There are a lot of vipers in this industry – people who only have their own interests in mind,” the 35-year-old actor added.

While insisting that his mother did her utmost to protect her son from this element of the movie industry, not all of Elijah’s peers were as fortunate.

“That’s the tragedy of attempting to reveal what is happening to innocent people,” he said. “They can be squashed, but their lives have been irreparable damaged.”

"There is a darkness in the underbelly – if you can imagine it, it’s probably happened," he said.

Feature image: Barry J Holmes