Russell Crowe walked away from a bumper payday when he rejected the chance to appear in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, but the Hollywood star insists he has no regrets about the decision.
“Never thought about it”
Crowe says he turned his back on the project after talking to the franchise’s director, Peter Jackson, about the possibility of playing the role of Aragorn.
The part finally went to Viggo Mortensen – and Jackson’s trio of movies, which were based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novel, went on to gross a combined total of nearly $3 billion worldwide after their release in the early 2000s.
Speaking on The Howard Stern Show in 2019, Crowe appeared to confirm that he was offered a profit-sharing deal for the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring, worth as much as 10% of box-office takings.
As Stern pointed out, such an agreement would have netted the actor around $100 million from the 2001 picture.
However, the Oscar winner said he has “never thought about” the huge pay check that he missed out on: “[I] only [think about it] in situations like interviews where people are polite and kind enough to add shit up for me.”
It is not clear whether Crowe also stood to benefit from such a deal in subsequent instalments in the franchise.
Crowe sensed LOTR director “forced into talking to me”
Recalling his talks with Jackson, Crowe said he sensed during an initial phone call that he was not the Lord of the Rings director’s pick for Aragorn.
“I didn’t think Peter Jackson actually wanted me on the film,” Crowe told Stern.
“I think he was forced into talking to me, because there was a moment in time when everybody wanted me in everything.
“And he’s a fellow New Zealander, you know. And so I can hear his voice when I’m talking to him on the phone, and it’s like, I didn’t think he even knows what I’ve done.
“I just knew that my instinct was that he had somebody else in mind – which turned out to be Viggo – and he should be allowed to hire the actor that he wants.”
“The studio were making that decision”
In a Q&A with British GQ in 2024, Crowe doubled down on his lack of second thoughts about the project.
“Do I regret turning down The Lord of the Rings? I don’t, actually,” the 61-year-old said. “I was a big Tolkien reader when I was a kid, so I got quite excited about the idea of The Lord of the Rings.
“But I very much felt the studio were making that decision, not the film director.
“I talked to Peter Jackson over the phone, and he wasn’t saying the sort of things that directors would say to you if they were really trying to attract you to it.”
How much did each LOTR film make at the box office?
Released in December 2001, The Fellowship of the Ring grossed around $868 million globally, according to figures compiled by Box Office Mojo. The movie also won four Oscars.
The second film in the trilogy, The Two Towers, earned just over $923 million worldwide after its release in December 2002. It collected two Academy Awards.
Finally, December 2003’s Return of the King made nearly $1.12 billion at box offices across the planet.
The film then swept the 76th Oscars by scooping a joint-record 11 awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
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