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Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood recently spoke with Business Insider about his experience with this iconic trilogy. Despite their commercial success, the star was not paid adequately. This is more shocking since Wood led this series as Frodo Baggins. Still, he does not hold any grudges against the makers, according to his recent comments at the 2025 Texas Film Awards. During the interview, he said,
“Because we weren’t making one movie and then renegotiating a contract for the next, it wasn’t the sort of lucrative scenario that you could sort of rest easy for the rest of your life."
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The star refers to filmmaker Peter Jackson, who co-wrote and directed this trilogy based on J. R. R. Tolkien's novels. New Line Cinema co-produced and distributed these films. They had a nearly $281 million production budget at stake. So, Wood notes that Jackson made a "real gamble" by taking on the herculean task of bringing them to the big screens and shooting simultaneously.
By the time the first Lord of the Rings movie was released in theaters, the cast and crew had gotten busy shooting the latter ones. So, Wood or other stars could not renegotiate the deals based on the film's box office output. The trilogy reportedly grossed over $2.9 billion, but the stars did not get paid much as compared to the success.
Despite this discrepancy, Wood notes,
"The benefit of that was that we were also signing up for something that was going to be a part of our lives forever.”
The 44-year-old actor understands the reach and the impact of these films. So, he acknowledges that it will be an important part of his life forever.
"It's such an honor to have been a part of those films, and they represent some of the best experiences of my life."
Wood is not the only star who has spoken about the lower pay for acting in the Lord of the Rings movies.
Lord of the Rings: What did the stars say about their pay for this film trilogy?
The Lord of the Rings star Cate Blanchett, who played Galadriel in the movies, once mentioned,
“No one got paid anything to do that movie. I basically got free sandwiches, and I got to keep my [elf] ears."
The Oscar-winning star responded after talk show host Andy Cohen asked her about her biggest paycheck. While Blanchett may have said that in jest, her words hold water, according to the past comments of her co-stars, including Orlando Bloom and Sean Astin.
Despite the lower pay, Bloom echoed Elijah Wood's comments. During his appearance on the Howard Stern Show, he mentioned that it was "the greatest gift of his life."
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