Russell Crowe reveals why he turned down huge ‘Lord of the Rings’ role
Actor Russell Crowe has discussed his regrets, or really his lack of regrets, regarding the Lord Of The Rings offer that he turned down. Crowe claims his doubts spawned from a meeting with director Peter Jackson.
Crowe turned down one of the biggest paydays in Hollywood when he said no to the role of Aragorn in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. He reportedly walked away from a $100million offer. The movie series went on to gross $2.9 billion worldwide and became one of the best-known and most beloved franchises ever made. Yet the actor has no regrets about his decision.
In a conversation with GQ, Crowe was asked whether he had any regrets about his call to say no to the franchise. “I don’t actually,” he said. Instead, he claimed that he immediately had doubts about the project, not because of the content of the film or his intrigue in the character, but all because of the energy surrounding the team at the helm of the shoot.
He felt like something was off about the director Peter Jackson and the wider studio and executives surrounding him. “I very much felt the studio were making that decision, not the film director,” Crowe said.
But mostly, he felt like he wasn’t the man for the job, and Jackson already knew that. “I talked to Peter Jackson over the phone, and he wasn’t saying the sort of things that directors were saying to you if they were really trying to attract you to a project,” he continued. “And I just kind of got a sense that he already had somebody else in mind that he wanted to do. And me stepping forward and saying yes was actually going to get in his way.”
The casting of Aragorn caused Jackson and the team a lot of stress. They originally cast Stuart Townsend but the studio deemed him to be too young. Then they approached Viggo Mortensen who eventually played the role. So Crowe was right that he was always a backup option to the team, not who they desperately wanted.
The actor picked up on that instantly when it came to discussions with Jackson. “We come from the same place,” he added. “So there’s a nuance in that conversation that other people might not hear — we’re both New Zealanders — in his own way without him saying anything negative, that he had another plan. So I just left it at that.”
But while Crowe says he has no regrets and happily walked away from the project, the incredible success of the film series must still make it hurt a little.
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