Cate Blanchett set the record straight on her pay for filming The Lord of the Rings.
The star of the Peter Jackson-directed trilogy cleared up the misconception that it was a high-paying job.
While appearing on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, Blanchett played “Plead the Fifth,” in which host Andy Cohen asks his guest three hard questions and can only veto one of them.
Cohen asked Blanchett which one of her films gave her “the biggest paycheck.” The Borderlands star told Cohen to guess which film it was after he said he assumed it was Lord of the Rings.
“Are you kidding me?” Blanchett said. “No, no one got paid anything to do that movie.”
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Cohen asked Blanchett if she got a cut of the film’s box office success, to which she said, “No, that was way before any of that.”
Blanchett said that she signed up to do the film because she “wanted to work with the guy who made Braindead,” Jackson’s 1992 zombie comedy film, which was released in the U.S. as Dead Alive.
“I basically got free sandwiches,” Blanchett added. “And I got to keep my ears.”
Blanchett reiterated that “no one got paid anything,” later adding, “Women don’t get paid as much as you think they do.”
It was in 2001’s The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring that Blanchett first played Galadriel, a royal elf in Middle-Earth who has magical abilities. Blanchett reprised the role in 2002’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and 2003’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Although Galadriel was not part of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit prequel, the character was written into the 2012 film prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most successful film trilogies, grossing $2.9 billion worldwide.
Watch Blanchett’s appearance on WWHL in the video below.