- Elijah Wood has defended his Lord of the Rings paycheque
- He said the trilogy wasn’t as lucrative as many would believe
- Cate Blanchett has also commented on the topic
Despite being featured in arguably the biggest movie trilogy of recent years, Elijah Wood insists that the salaries he and his fellow Lord of the Rings castmates received weren’t “massive.”
Wood starred as Frodo Baggins in director Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Released between 2001 and 2003, this hugely ambitious adaptation of author J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic featured an all-star cast.
Read more: Lord of The Rings Star Elijah Wood Cast as Voice For Scarecrow in Batman: Arkham Shadow
Wood was joined by Sean Astin as fellow Hobbit Samwise Gamgee, Sir Ian McKellon as Gandalf the Grey, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn and Sean Bean as Boromir among others.
However, during a new interview with Business Insider, Wood insists that starring in the trilogy wasn’t financially life-changing – but he’s okay with that.
Read more: Andy Serkis to star in and direct a new Lord of the Rings film
“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,” he told the outlet during a red carpet event at the 2025 Texas Film Awards.
“The benefit of that was that we were also signing up for something that was going to be a part of our lives forever,” he said, adding that the studio took “a real gamble” on the idea of making three movies at once.
“Paid in sandwiches” – Elijah Wood comments follow Cate Blanchett
Wood’s comments come shortly after his Middle-Earth co-star Cate Blanchett shared similar thoughts.
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in August 2024, Blanchett – who played Galadriel in the trilogy – suggested that no one got paid much.
“Are you kidding me?” Laughed Blanchett when asked about how much the work earned her. “No, no one got paid anything to do that movie.”
For reference, the trilogy went on to earn over $2.9 billion at the global box office.
Cohen even asked if Blanchett got any residual payments for her performances. However, Blanchett shut him down here too “No! That was way before any of that. No, nothing.”
“I basically got free sandwiches, and I got to keep my [elf] ears,” she concluded.
The Lord of the Rings cast salaries
Wood and Blanchett aren’t the only former Lord of the Rings actors who have commented on the film’s financial legacy.
During a chat with Howard Stern in 2019, Orlando Bloom – who played the Elf Legolas in Jackson’s trilogy – revealed the amount of money he earned for the role.
He told Stern he earned $175,000 for appearing in all three films.
Meanwhile, Astin has said he got around $250,000 for his stint in the trilogy.
