The road not taken is sometimes as fascinating as the one folks went down, and in the case of “The Lord of The Rings” movies, one could probably talk all day about the versions that never came to pass. As Peter Jackson‘s trilogy was gearing up back in the day, Elijah Wood was officially revealed as the first cast member, landing the crucial role of Frodo Baggins. And he was perfect in the part. But as tentpole projects go, there was probably no shortage of actors trying out for the role, and among them was someone who was an unlikely candidate at best.
Speaking with THR as part of their awards season roundtable, Jake Gyllenhaal reveaked that he once got in front of Peter Jackson to play Frodo…and failed miserably. ” I remember auditioning for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ [the role of Frodo] and going in and not being told that I needed a British accent,” he shared. “I really do remember Peter Jackson saying to me, ‘You know that you have to do this in a British accent?’ We heard back it was literally one of the worst auditions.”
Ouch. But perhaps all’s well that ends well, because perhaps if he did LOTR, he wouldn’t have gone down the path that resulted in two of his best movies to date: “Prisoners” and the forthcoming “Enemy.” And that’s some pretty sweet lemonade he’s wound up with.
Watch the full discussion with Gyllenhaal, Matthew McConaughey, Forest Whitaker, Josh Brolin and Michael B. Jordan below.