Peter Jackson‘s “Lord Of The Rings” trilogy may be a modern classic, but that doesn’t mean it was easy to make. Nor was it easy to act in, as Cate Blanchett revealed her pay for playing Galadriel was so miniscule she “basically got free sandwiches.”
IndieWire reports that Blanchett talked about her meager pay on the early ’00s trilogy in a new interview on “Watch What Happens Live.” And according to the actress, her salary covered craft services and costumes, nothing more. But Blanchett was happy to take the cut at the time, given who she was working with. “I wanted to work with the guy who made “Braindead,”” Blanchett said. North American audiences know “Braindead” as “Dead Alive,” a 1992 independent zombie comedy that first put Jackson on the filmmaking map.
However, to work on the trilogy meant the entire cast needed to work for less. “Are you kidding me?” Blanchett responded when asked about her salary. “No, no one got paid anything to do that movie…I basically got free sandwiches, and I got to keep my [elf] ears.” “WWHL” host Andy Cohen pressed the actress later if she “got a piece of the backend”; that is, a cut of the trilogy’s box office gross, which totals nearly $3 billion. “No!” responded Blanchett. “That was way before any of that. No, nothing.” The actress also refused to say which film in the trilogy paid her the most, hinting, “Women don’t get paid as much as you think they do.”
Blanchett’s comments shouldn’t come as a surprise to “LOTR” fans, as other cast members have been vocal in the past about how little their salaries on the trilogy were. For instance, fellow elf Orlando Bloom once referenced his salary for all three films as a mere $175,000. Like Bloom, Blanchett starred in all three films, reprising her brief role as Galadriel in “The Two Towers” and “The Return Of The King.” She also reprised the role in Jackson’s “The Hobbit” trilogy.
As for playing Galadriel again, Blanchett wouldn’t rule it out. And it may come sooner than you think: in Andy Serkis‘ upcoming spinoff movie about Gollum. At the Glastonbury Festival in June, the actress praised the actor-director, saying she would “do anything with Andy Serkis.” “That bunch of people have been like a life raft for me, and I adore Andy, so yes,” she continued. “I finagled my way into “The Hobbit.””
And maybe Galadriel will finagle her way into the Gollum movie, too; but only for more than sandwiches and elf ears.