Jake Gyllenhaal nailed every role he has taken, and his dedication to the craft has been quite evident in many of his works that were critically acclaimed and deserving of prestigious awards. But like many other actors, he also had his fair share of failed attempts at securing roles from huge franchises.
A lot of fans are not aware that Gyllenhaal tried for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. He might have made a great addition to the cast, but after botching his chance during his audition, there’s doubt that the director would even consider him again.
Jake Gyllenhaal Ruined His Own Audition For Lord Of The Rings
During Jake Gyllenhaal’s appearance in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the actor shared some of his most notable audition experiences that went wrong. He almost joined Lord of the Rings if it was not for his cluelessness. His agents suggested he should try for it.
“I auditioned for Lord of the Rings for Frodo. I got a call from all these agents, and they were so excited. They called me up, and they were like, ‘Guess what? They’re making Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson is making it. It’s gonna be three movies over three and a half years, and when they said they need a hobbit, we thought Jake.’ ”
Peter Jackson, the director of Lord of the Rings, was so immensely disappointed with Gyllenhaal’s unawareness of the scene that he did not even hide his embarrassment for the actor. Even so, the Nightcrawler star remained oblivious.
“I remember going to this room. There were a lot of stage directions and there were no lines. It was just like finding the ring, and you’re supposed to open the thing, and there’s a ring there. I remember I didn’t really do it because I didn’t really understand because there were no lines so I sort of walked up and sort of opened it up and I was like, ‘Is that good?’ and literally Peter Jackson was like [face palm].”
For the last time, Gyllenhaal managed to spoil his own audition by forgetting to use the British accent when speaking his lines. He told the director that his agents failed to mention it to him out of excitement. Jackson was so mad he told the actor to get rid of his agents.
“And then I had a scene with lines, and I didn’t have an accent because everyone has a British accent. I didn’t do an accent for it, and he told me, ‘You are the worst actor I’ve ever seen. Did anyone tell you were supposed to have an accent?’ I was like, ‘No.’ He’s like, ‘Well, fire your agents.’ ”
Gyllenhaal’s disastrous audition was probably meant to be because the role of Frodo Baggins ultimately went to Elijah Wood, who did a phenomenal job at portraying the beloved hobbit.
Elijah Wood Cast Himself As Frodo Baggins
While Jake Gyllenhaal failed to exert any effort in playing Frodo, Elijah Wood gave everything to snag the role. He shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he made his own audition tape and sent it to Peter Jackson.
“I went to a vocal coach for the dialect and enlisted some friends, including George Huang, who is a writer and filmmaker. We went out to the woods in Griffith Park and shot two of the audition sequences there and one at my house. And then I took that tape — output to VHS — to Victoria Burrows’ office, and they FedEx’d it to Peter.”
Wood’s dedication and creativity, along with his knowledge of the books, ultimately convinced Jackson. Surprisingly, he was not initially a top choice for the part, but his perseverance earned him the inside joke that “Elijah cast himself.”
