Russell Crowe Reveals Why He Turned Down The Lord of the Rings

Hollywood is full of near-miss stories, tales of those who were up for particular roles in films -- as actors, directors, writers, what have you -- but either missed out on the opportunity or chose to walk away for various reasons only for that opportunity to end up being a huge one. For actor Russell Crowe, one of those opportunities was Peter Jackson's epic Lord of the Rings series and it turns out, the actor had a good reason to decline the offer.

In a recent appearance on The Howard Stern show, Stern brought up the fact that Crowe had passed on Lord of the Rings and a sizeable payday -- 10% of the film's cross, a roughly $100 million. However, Crowe didn't seem to be too bothered by having missed out simply because he didn't think that Jackson really wanted him for Aragorn -- the role that went to Viggo Mortenson.

"Because I didn't think Peter Jackson actually wanted me on the film," Crowe explained. "Because I think he was forced into talking to me because there was a moment in time when everybody wanted me in everything and he's a fellow New Zealander and so I can hear his voice. I'm talking to him on the phone and it's like, I didn't think he even knows what I've done and 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."

For Mortenson, playing Aragorn in Lord of the Rings was a major mainstream breakthrough and for Crowe, he doesn't appear to have any regrets about his choice. He went on to tell Stern that he really only ever thinks about the payday he missed out on when it's brought up to him in interviews. But Aragorn in Lord of the Rings isn't the only major and iconic role that Crowe passed on. In the same interview, Crowe revealed that he was also almost cast as Wolverine in Bryan Singer's X-Men, but that he's also fine with not having played the role, arguing that he wouldn't have been able to pull off the role the way Hugh Jackman ultimately did.

"There's no way I would have ever done that," Crowe explained. "Even if I'd done the film, I wouldn't have carried it through with the grace and the direction that Hugh gave it."

For Jackman's part, he's long been open about how Crowe's passing on Wolverine impacted his career.

"I owe [Russell] because two of the biggest roles I've ever had in my life, he turned down -- and suggested me for them," Jackman said in 2012. "On X-Men, he was Bryan Singer's first choice for Wolverine, and he mentioned me also for [Baz Luhrmann's] Australia. He really is incredibly smart, and generous."