The ‘Lord of the Rings’ role James Corden auditioned for
The success of Peter Jackson’s remarkable fantasy trilogy Lord of the Rings, based on the iconic novels by J. R. R. Tolkien, was a result of meticulous planning with a sprinkling of serendipity. Bringing together marvellous minds in visual effects, costume design, cinematography, and much more, Jackson also managed to assemble a cast that included some of Hollywood’s most promising talents.
Needless to say, the Lord of the Rings trilogy went on to shape contemporary cinema as we know it, earning a total of 17 Academy Awards across the course of three films. While the first two films in the series only managed to secure technical Oscars, the final movie, Return of the King, earned 11 awards, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’.
Jackson had become the face of the franchise, but it was the actors on screen who really brought the well-polished screenplay to life, with the casting team being applauded for their efforts that saw them holding extensive auditions. While more prominent names like Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellan and Christopher Lee gave the awards titan some credibility, other burgeoning stars like Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom and Billy Boyd came to bolster the cast.
Yet, the world of Middle Earth could have looked far different, with Daniel Day-Lewis almost becoming Aragorn in place of Viggo Mortensen, Nicolas Cage nearly taking Sean Bean’s role as Boromir and even James Corden being close to snatching the character of Samwise from the grasp of Sean Astin.
Well, the word ‘close’ is used lightly in this respect, with the comedian and talk-show host stating on the Happy Sad Confused that his audition for the role was “not good”.
“Every single person in London auditioned for Lord of the Rings. Everybody,” Corden went on to explain, making reference to the likes of Jeremy Irons and Tom Baker, “I auditioned for Samwise. I was doing it! The accent and everything! ‘Mr Frodo!’”.
Continuing, Corden added: “Two of my other friends went in, and we all got called back the next day, and then we got called back the next day. And then none of us got called back after that!”.
Losing out on the part might sully an actor’s enjoyment of the film he failed to become a part of, but Corden maintained that it didn’t spoil the fantasy trilogy for him. Despite this, he went on to admit, “I enjoyed it until the last one, and then I was sort of like, ‘Oh, ok, I’ve seen this now — I should’ve gone to see Love Actually,” criminally suggesting that Richard Curtis’ Christmas saccharine injection is somehow ‘better’ than Jackson’s epic.
Take a look at Corden discussing his brief opportunity to enter the world of Middle Earth below.
