Lord of the Rings Star Cate Blanchett "Didn't Get Paid Anything" for Original Trilogy

Borderlands star Cate Blanchett reveals how much she did NOT get paid for doing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in the 2000s.

By Kofi Outlaw

Lord of the Rings star Cate Blanchett claims she didn't get paid any substantial amount of money for appearing in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy in the 2000s. Blanchett appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, to promote her new video game movie Borderlands alongside co-star Gina Gershon; during the show, she played the "Plead the Fifth" game in which celebrities get to confront or run away from some hard questions, and Blanchett took on the question of what her biggest paycheck was for a film. 

Spoilers: It wasn't Lord of the Rings like Cohen guessed.  

"Are you kidding me?! No, I didn't get paid anything to do that movie!" Blanchett responded emphatically. 

When she was asked what did motivate her to do Lord of the Rings, Blanchett explained that the opportunity to work with director Peter Jackson was all the motivation she needed: 

"I wanted to work with the guy who made Braindead," Blanchett said in reference to one of Jackson's earliest breakout films. "I mean, I basically got free sandwiches, and I got to keep my ears – which is something they fed me." 

She added that, in a larger sense, "I mean, women don't get paid as much as you think they do."

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(Photo:

Cate Blanchett as Galadriel in the 'Lord of the Rings Trilogy' 

- New Line / Warner Bros.)

It's an interesting cast to examine: Cate Blanchett didn't have an overly large role in Lord of the Rings: she played Galadriel, the "Lady" of the woods of Lothlórien, and one of the key figures of power on Middle-earth. That said, Galadriel plays a peripheral role in Lord of the Rings, only appearing in small (but key) scenes in each movie. At the time, Blanchett was still a relatively unknown name and talent in mainstream Hollywood, having appeared in prestige-level films like The Talented Mr. Ripley and Elizabeth I (the latter film earning her the Oscar nomination that broke her career open). 

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During the run of the Lord of the Rings movies (2001-2003), Blanchett saw her career blow wide open. She worked with the likes of Wes Anderson (The Life Aquatic...), Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio (The Aviator), Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal), Todd Haynes (I'm Not There), Steven Spielberg (Indiana Jones 4), and David Fincher (Benjamin Button), Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Babel), and even a rare prestige film sequel – Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Along the way, Blanchett racked up both big box office returns and multiple top award nominations (Oscars, Golden Globes), and by the 2010s she was officially one of the biggest actors in the world. So, those humble beginnings working on LotR for sandwiches was actually one of the best investments Cate Blanchett could've made; returning for Jackson's Hobbit Trilogy films? Not so much... 

Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies are streaming on Max. 

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