The Hollywood star Peter Jackson called “the worst actor that I have ever seen”
Peter Jackson, the most famous filmmaker to ever come out of New Zealand, is one of the most fascinating directors in cinema history. Entering the industry as a lover of horror, Jackson helmed a trio of strange genre flicks before he hit the mainstream, making the splatter flicks Bad Taste and Braindead, as well as the sordid puppet musical Meet the Feebles.
Despite having several movies to his name by the time the new millennium rolled around, it was only really upon the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001 that the world sat up and took notice. Working with an unlikely cast of actors, which ranged from recognisable names to entirely new talents, Jackson curated the greatest fantasy trilogy of all time, forever changing the shape of modern cinema.
Indeed, Cate Blanchett had already earned an Oscar nomination before she stepped foot in Middle Earth, Sean Bean had already worked side by side with the great James Bond, and even the young Elijah Wood had thrived as a burgeoning talent. Meanwhile, the careers of the likes of Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis and Viggo Mortensen were significantly elevated by their appearance in the trilogy.
Just like any major Hollywood movie, several actors auditioned for parts in the film, with Anthony Hopkins and Christopher Plummer turning down the role of Gandalf whilst Vin Diesel, Russell Crowe and Vin Diesel were each gutted to lose out on the part of Aragorn. Strangely enough, though, there wasn’t much competition for Wood in the role of Frodo, with just one major star losing out on the part.
The Oscar-nominated Hollywood talent Jake Gyllenhaal was the man who competed with Wood for the role of Frodo Baggins, with the actor’s agent being “intensely” thrilled with the idea of him playing the Hobbit. Clearly, they were so excited, however, that they forgot to mention that Frodo should have an English accent, leading to a rather embarrassing audition for Gyllenhaal that Peter Jackson blasted.
Gyllenhaal detailed the traumatic audition in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, in which he described his efforts to mime the finding of the mystical ‘one ring’ from the movie, only for the director to disapprove.
“He literally turned to me and said, ‘You are the worst actor that I have ever seen’,” Gyllenhaal stated on the late-night talk show, “He said, ‘Did anyone tell you you were supposed to have an accent?’ I was like, ‘No!’ and he said, ‘Well, fire your agents’”.
Take a look at Gyllenhaal describe the story in full below.
