The ‘Lord of the Rings’ role Nicolas Cage turned down
Nicolas Cage has been in more iconic roles than most people can keep count. Throughout his career, Cage has appeared in over 100 different films, including some of the best and worst that modern cinema has to offer, from Moonstruck to Vampire’s Kiss. Although Cage has a special connection to almost every role he plays, one of the premiere fantasy series ended up slipping through his clutches.
When talking about some of the best roles that he has being offered, Cage remembered being shown the role for films like The Matrix before turning it down. While Cage may have done fantastically working in the role of Neo, he went on to say that the team behind Lord of the Rings was originally in talks with him, telling Newsweek that he was working to play Aragorn instead of Viggo Mortensen.
Though Cage might have missed out on one of the most successful film franchises of all time, he mentioned not having any regrets about not taking it, recalling: “The thing is about those movies, I can watch them. I can enjoy them as an audience member. I don’t really watch my own movies. And so I genuinely do have the joy of watching these—especially with Lord of the Rings”.
Mortensen eventually took on the role of Aragorn, and it didn’t come without hardship. Throughout the process of filming, Mortenson would cheat death numerous times, deflecting a real blade that was thrown at him by an acting Orc and breaking his toe when kicking one of the helmets when he thinks some of his hobbit friends have been killed.
While Cage working in the Peter Jackson may have looked different, Cage admits that a timing commitment got in the way of him filming it, saying, “There were different things going on in my life at the time that precluded me from being able to travel and be away from home for three years. And I do mean it. I get to enjoy the movies as an audience member, because I don’t watch my own movies”.
However, Cage would eventually go on to work with many alums of Middle Earth, starring alongside Sean Bean in the Jerry Bruckheimer thriller National Treasure. Elijah Wood would also work alongside Cage in the film The Trust.
Wood would often speak fondly of working with Cage, telling him that working in that film was one of the first times he had an out-of-body experience working on a film, telling Hot Ones, “I remember being in scenes, conversing with him and he would say something to me and I would think as I’m opposite him ‘Oh my god, that’s Nicolas Cage. The way he said it was so like Nic Cage.’ He was a delight and to see his creative process was a joy”.
Then again, Cage would go on to work in many other fantasy films since, starring as a wayward magician helping out Jay Baruchel’s Dave in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Cage’s filmography as an actor has already been set in stone, but adding another iconic film series to his resume would have been much different had he aligned with Peter Jackson’s schedule.
