The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy from the early 2000s remains one of the biggest box office smashes of all time, grossing nearly a billion dollars each worldwide. But Cate Blanchett, currently on a press tour to promote the video game adaptation "Borderlands" and who plays elf queen Galadriel in the films, recently claimed during an interview on "Watch What Happens Live" that the success of the franchise did not translate to big salaries or residual checks for the cast.
"Watch What Happens Live," host Andy Cohen asked Blanchett which of her film roles provided the biggest paycheck, taking a guess that it would be something from the "Lord of the Rings" series. Blanchett, suffice it to say, begged to differ:
"Are you kidding me? No, no one got paid anything to do that movie."
The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was something of a financial gambit for New Line Cinema, letting director Peter Jackson, mostly known at that time for low-budget horror films, direct feature film adaptations of all three installments of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy concurrently. So it kind of makes sense that salaries for the cast were on the low side. But when asked about residuals, Blanchett doused that idea in cold water too: "No! That was way before any of that. No, nothing," the actress said.
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Blanchett also revealed she signed on for the project because she "wanted to work with the guy who made 'Braindead'" rather than for any financial incentive. "I basically got free sandwiches, and I got to keep my [elf] ears," she added.
As surprising as they may be, Variety points out that Blanchett's comments mirror those of her "Lord of the Rings" co-star Orlando Bloom, who told Howard Stern in 2019 that he made a total of $175,000 for his role of Legolas in all three films, a significantly larger role than that of Blanchett's.
