The Lord of the Rings franchise has been one of the most successful fantasy narratives ever made. In addition to its big commercial success, the franchise has won numerous Academy awards throughout its three films. The franchise managed to get in some great actors including Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Cate Blanchett, and Andy Serkis to portray iconic characters.
Various actors have expressed their admiration for the franchise and their desire to be in the film series. But there was one actor who shockingly turned down the opportunity to star in the films. Former James Bond alum Sean Connery had a unique reason for rejecting the acclaimed fantasy series.
Also read: The One Ring: The Top 10 Unforgettable Lord of the Rings Video Games
Sean Connery Turned Down The Lord of The Rings As He Didn’t Get It
The Lord of The Rings franchise has been a staple of every fantasy narrative that came after. The franchise set a high benchmark for fantasy stories and audiences showered praise on it making it a huge success financially. Any actor would have jumped at the opportunity to star in these films. But one actor shockingly turned down the opportunity.
James Bond star Sean Connery was approached by the makers of the franchise to play a huge part in the films. But according to New Line Cinema’s executive Mark Ordesky, Connery refused to star as he didn’t get the appeal of the franchise. He told the Independent,
“We did make an offer to Connery but he said no. We never got an answer until years later, but apparently, he read the material and just didn’t get it.”
Connery would have been an interesting pick for the film series. But in retrospect, he made a good call to pass on as he wouldn’t have done a good job if he had been forced to (as he was not interested). Casting other actors who were more passionate and interested than him was the best decision for the franchise.
Viggo Mortensen Calls the Making of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy ‘Sloppy’
Actor Viggo Mortensen played a huge role in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as Aragorn. Although all three films were huge commercial successes and received various accolades and awards, it seems Mortensen was not a fan of the production process of the films.
In an interview with The Telegraph, he explained that the making of the trilogy was a huge mess and the latter two films would have gone for a straight-to-video release if the first film hadn’t succeeded. He said,
“Officially, [Jackson] could say that he was finished in December 2000—he’d shot all three films in the trilogy—but really the second and third ones were a mess,” Mortensen says. “It was very sloppy—it just wasn’t done at all. It needed massive reshoots, which we did, year after year. But he would have never been given the extra money to do those if the first one hadn’t been a huge success. The second and third ones would have been straight to video.”
Mortensen went on to express his disappointment with Peter Jackson relying too much on CGI in the latter two films which reduced the subtlety and grittiness that the first film had. Reading these comments, it is understandable why he went on to do fewer big-budget studio films and more character-driven films in his career.
Also read: Peter Jackson Desecrated His Greatest Creation, Called Lord of the Rings “Pretty Basic”
