James Corden was rejected by Hollywood for disastrous Lord of the Rings audition

The Gavin and Stacey star failed to impress Hollywood directors
Dominique Hines28 December 2022
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

James Corden has revealed that his audition for a role in Lord of the Rings was "not good”.

The 44-year-old went for the role of Samwise Gamgee, who was famously played by Sean Astin in the trilogy.

The Late Late Show host recalled his disastrous experience, which happened at the start of his career, on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

When host Josh Horowitz asked: "Is it true that one of your first auditions was for Lord of the Rings? How’d that go, James?’

Corden lost the role of The Lord of the Rings Samwise Gamgee eventually played by Sean Astin
Handout

He replied: "Not good. Every single person in London auditioned for Lord of the Rings. Everybody. I auditioned for Samwise and...

"I was doing the accent and everything," he said, before calling for Frodo in Samwise’s iconic accent.

"Two of my other friends went in," he continued.

"And then we all got called back the next day, and then we got called back the next day, and then none of us got called back after that."

Gavin and Stacey returns
Corden, went on to show off his acting chops alongside Ruth Jones (pictured) in their hit sitcom they created, Gavin and Stacey
PA

Horowitz asked: "Are you able to watch the films to this day? Is there PTSD?"

To which Corden praised the franchise and replied: "No, I very much enjoyed those."

Following the chat, fans of the sci-fi films took to social media to share their relief he didn’t bag the role.

"Thank the film gods he never got cast. This would have spoiled it all!" one wrote on Instagram.

Corden currently stars alongside Colin Morgan in Amazon original series, Mammals
Amazon video

A second said: "He’s annoying. Glad he didn’t get it."

While a third commented: "I don’t even watch that trilogy and I’m still glad he never got cast."

The comedian has received a string of backlash over the past few months, including being banned for New York restaurant Balthazar for snapping at a server.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in