The legendary ‘Lord of the Rings’ role David Bowie was desperate to play
He’s likely regarded as one of the most advantageous musicians of all time, one the finest songwriters of his generation and a performer that few could categorise as anything other than dynamic, but David Bowie hasn’t always been simply a musician. The ‘Starman’ was certainly always more interested in the art of songwriting as the easiest way to express himself, but he also had dalliances with Kabuki theatre, mime and portrait painting. But perhaps his most adored hobby outside of the recording studio was acting.
It was a hobby that more accurately manifested itself as a parallel career. Bowie enjoyed an acting career as varied and nuanced as his costume changes. Having always been fascinated with acting as an art, Bowie pursued certain roles that intrigued him, often looking for intricate characters. It turns out that he was almost cast in one of the biggest films of all time; Lord of the Rings.
Having held down roles in projects such as The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Elephant Man as well as a bizarre turn in Zoolander, it turns out that Bowie was also in line to play Elrond, the Lord of Rivendell before being beaten out by Hugo Weaving. There is a certain level of mystique that Bowie has always naturally possessed — one which also saw him accused of being a genuine alien from outer space — that would have seen him take on the elven role with aplomb. However, a previous role would work against him. His buoyant role as Jareth the Goblin King would end up being an arrow to the heart of his pursuit for the position.
Speaking at New York Comic-Con, Lord of the Rings writers Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh said that they were “quite keen” on the ‘Thin White Duke’ as Elrond, but the studio pushed back on the idea in what appears on reflection to be a major oversight.
“I don’t think the studio were that keen at that point so we never did meet with him,” Walsh said. “I remember that conversation,” Boyens said. “There was a little hesitancy there because Elrond and the Goblin King. I mean, you know, elves.” While it is easy to see how the connection would put off a studio executive, there are few Bowie fans who cannot see the singer absolutely nailing the role.
While the collaboration seems too farfetched to believe, actor Dominic Monaghan—who played the role of hobbit Merry in the blockbuster fantasy trilogy—also confirmed Bowie’s interest and, remarkably, revealed that the iconic musician went ahead and auditioned. “I was at the Hubbard’s, which is a pretty notorious casting agency office in London, doing an audition for Lord of the Rings, and when it ended I went over and talked to John Hubbard, who was running the audition, and he said, ‘Hey, it went really well. You should wait around for five or ten mins. We’ll give you some feedback’,” said Monaghan.
“I thought, ‘Oh, OK, cool, and I sat in the reception office. As I was reading a magazine waiting, David Bowie came in and signed his little list and went in,” the actor got Bowie’s potential casting wrong, however. “I’m assuming he read for Gandalf. I can’t think of anything else he would’ve read for. He may have read for something else, but I’m a huge David Bowie fan, and I’m lucky enough to know his son. Just seeing him in person was pretty special to me.”
At the time of the gossip, Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson fuelled the speculation when he hinted at a Bowie introduction but offered a reasonable response for opting against the Starman: “These are famous, famous characters, loved for nearly 50 years,” he said. “To have a famous, beloved character and a famous star colliding is slightly uncomfortable.”
It wasn’t the first time pop music and JRR Tolkien had nearly clashed. It was rumoured that, during the 1960s, The Beatles had aimed to provide a new cinematic take on the story, which had, at that time, only had an animated release. They even had plans to include Stanley Kubrick in the mix as the director. However, Tolkien rebuked the acquisition of the rights, noting he “didn’t like the idea of a pop group doing his story.”
While rumours about Bowie’s near journey to Middle Earth have been around for a while, it had always been assumed that he would be in for the role of Gandalf. We can imagine the kind of showmanship Bowie would’ve given Elrond, but sadly, we’ll just have to keep on imagining.
