|
 We have just about learned everything we needed to about
Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings from the multiple featurettes and
documentaries and commentary tracks that are a part of the home video sets. But
what isn’t talked about much is who was considered for parts on the films and
why they didn’t take or get them. Aragorn was played by Viggo Mortensen but The
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’s Stuart Townsend had the role and was fired
from it early in production. Townsend wasn’t the first choice; however, the
first choice was Russell Crowe. When on the Howard Stern Show to promote
Showtime’s The Loudest Voice, Crowe was asked if the rumors were true and he
confirmed that not only was it true but he turned down a deal that would have
included a 10% of the film’s gross. Crowe explained that he didn’t turn down the
role because he thought it was beneath him but because he could tell it was
reluctance on Jackson’s part and the studio rather than Jackson pushing for him
to get the part: “I didn’t think Peter Jackson actually wanted me on Fellowship
of the Ring. Because I think he was forced into talking to me, because there was
a moment in time when everyone wanted me in everything. He’s a fellow New
Zealander, and I can hear his voice. And so I’m talking to him on the phone, and
it is like, I don’t think he even knows what I have done. I just knew that… my
instinct was that he had somebody else in mind, which turned out to be Viggo,
and he should be allowed to hire the actor that he wants.”
See Also... |
