Considering The Lord of the Rings trilogy is made up of some of the best movies of the 2000s, and they’re truly remarkable fantasy films based on legendary books, it’s hard to believe the cast wasn’t paid a lot to do them. It’s normal for stars of franchise films to make millions of dollars. However, that wasn’t the case for this team, and Sean Astin is making that fact go viral again with his latest comments on the salary he was paid to play Samwise Gamgee.
Back in 2017, Astin said he made $75,000 per movie on the Jim & Sam Show, and he ultimately brought home about $250,000 for the whole trilogy. Then, the topic came up again this year when he spoke to The Guardian. Opening up about all this, and the financial strain he was under at the time, the Sam actor said:
I was not prepared for that level of visibility and access. And there was a disconnect between the attention that I was getting and how much money we had. It was not a lot of money! In fact, I had to sell my house because I negotiated such a small amount on the trilogy.
There’s no doubting the impact The Lord of the Rings movies had and the global success they were (and honestly, still are, as people continue to stream them with an HBO Max subscription). So, the juxtaposition of that with Astin having to sell his house because of his salary for these movies is quite jarring.
At this point, it’s well known that the cast wasn’t paid well for these movies. Orlando Bloom made $175,000 to play Legolas in the trilogy, while Cate Blanchett joked that she “basically got free sandwiches, and [she] got to keep [her] ears.” During that appearance on Watch What Happens Live, she also said: “No one got paid anything.”
However, during this new interview, Astin also clarified that he’s “very comfortable financially now.” He’s also still very connected to the LOTR franchise, as he travels with his fellow Hobbits, Elijah Wood, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, to do conventions frequently.
So, now the question becomes: Would Astin ever return to play Sam? Well, the short answer is yes. In fact, he’s spoken to Stephen Colbert about his LOTR movie, and we know both Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen are reprising their roles as Frodo and Gandalf in The Hunt for Gollum. Speaking to that point, The Goonies star said:
I don’t think anybody is opposed to it. We’d all love to connect to those characters, particularly if it’s done with such sensitivity as we heard.
The story then noted that Astin was asked if he’d get “better paid this time” if he were to return to Middle-earth, and his response was:
Goddam right.
Considering Marvel actors get paid millions per project, you’d think a franchise based on an already popular IP would warrant a big salary from the jump. However, that was not the reality for The Lord of the Rings cast.
Although they’re all doing just fine now, and as Astin said, he thinks most of them would be willing to return (and some of them are). I also assume, however, that if they ever agree to set foot in Middle-earth again, they’ll be getting paid significantly more than $250,000 to do so.
