Lord of the Rings star Cate Blanchett spoke candidly about the low salary she received for the iconic franchise Watch live! On August 7, to promote the upcoming action film Border areas.
Host Andy Cohen asked Blanchett which of her films had brought her the biggest income, and she added: “I think probably Lord of the Rings.”
“Are you kidding me?” Blanchett scoffed. “No, no one got paid to make that movie.”
Cohen then asked Blanchett if she “took a back-end cut,” meaning she'd cut her salary in order to cash in on a percentage of the film's overall earnings. Blanchett rejected that idea as well.
“No! That was long before any of this,” she explained, reiterating that she was paid “nothing” to play the elf Galadriel.
Blanchett took the role not for the pay but to work with director Peter Jackson. “I wanted to work with the man who made the movie. BraindeathHere's what he said about Jackson's extremely gory, cult classic 1992 zombie movie:
“I basically got a free sandwich and kept my money [elf] “Women don't get paid as much as you think,” Blanchett said of her salary for the blockbuster trilogy.
Indeed, most of them Lord of the Rings' The central cast was working for a pittance compared to today's blockbusters, such as the $80 million check Robert Downey Jr. reportedly received for the next two Avengers movies.
Community lead actor Elijah Wood is said to have earned around $250,000 from the film. Fellowship of the RingHe was one of the few stars who was able to renegotiate for a higher fee for the sequels, but his total salary for the original trilogy was only around $1 million. Sean Astin received $250,000 for the three films. Orlando Bloom reportedly received even less, making around $175,000 for the three films.
Ian McKellan was reportedly the highest paid member of the original cast, earning a total of $13 million. Fellowship of the Ring And The twin towers. That's still a pretty small amount considering McKellan has already proven himself by starring in a blockbuster movie as Magneto. X-Men and was fresh off an Oscar nomination in 1999 ( Gods and Monsters) when he signed on to play Gandalf. As a point of comparison, Bloom earned an estimated $30 million from three films Pirates of the Caribbean He was making movies and still making much less money than Johnny Depp.
Lord of the Rings The trilogy has grossed $2.9 billion worldwide.