James Corden recently reminded us all that if things had turned out differently, he could have traveled to Mordor with Frodo.
“Is it true that one of your first auditions was for Lord of the Rings?” Josh Horowitz asked the “Late Late Show” host about his podcast, “Happy Sad Confused,” in an episode that aired Tuesday.
When Corden admitted that he actually auditioned for Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy trilogy in the early 2000s, Horowitz asked how it went.
“It’s not good,” Corden replied, adding that “every single person in London” also rehearsed for the films.
“I auditioned for Samwise,” Corden said. “I was doing the accent and everything. ‘Mr. Frodo!’”
Despite the low rating of his own acting, Corden said he was called back twice for the role.
The role of the hobbit Samwise Gamgee eventually went to Sean Astin, who gave an outstanding performance as Frodo’s loyal friend.
Corden’s near-involvement in Jackson’s adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s beloved stories isn’t entirely new information: Before Corden’s appearance on this week’s podcast, the IMDB page for “Fellowship of the Ring” already included a reference to his audition . But judging by the response on social media this week, it seems a lot of people are hearing about it now for the first time.
And while it may be strange for fans to imagine Corden in the role, it’s nowhere near as shocking as the 2015 revelation of Nicolas Cage turning down the role of Aragorn – the Ranger and reluctant king in the the latter, played by Viggo Mortensen.
