By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The original Lord of the Rings films are pure, cinematic magic. While Rings of Power might be running this franchise into the ground, the original movies from director Peter Jackson are almost universally beloved. That adoration translated to serious box office success, too: by the time these movies left theaters, the trilogy had collectively earned $2.9 billion. Because of that, you might assume that all of the core actors got a healthy payday. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for Sean Astin, who plays the fan-favorite character Samwise Gamgee. Sadly, the actor behind Frodo’s most faithful friend earned so little money that he had to sell his house!
Recently, Sean Astin gave an interview to The Guardian. In it, he admitted, “I was not prepared for that level of visibility and access.” Furthermore, “there was a disconnect between the attention that I was getting and how much money we had. It was not a lot of money! In fact, I had to sell my house because I negotiated such a small amount on the trilogy.” Understandably, this shocked Lord of the Rings fans who assumed that Astin had walked away from the biggest role of his career with a life-changing amount of money.
They Couldn’t Get Far Without Their Samwise
So, how little did the Samwise Gamgee actor make? In a previous interview with IGN, Astin said that he only made $250,000 for the entire trilogy. On average, that means he only got a little over $83,000 per movie, which seems unthinkable considering that the Lord of the Rings trilogy earned billions for New Line Cinema. Sadly, Astin wasn’t the only one who was underpaid for his work on Lord of the Rings. Previously, Orlando Bloom told Howard Stern that he earned a comparatively measly $175,000 for his work on this beloved trilogy.
As soon as The Fellowship of the Ring proved to be a massive hit, it was clear that the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy was going to practically print money. Why, then, did Sean Astin not get a better payday? It all comes down to how director Peter Jackson filmed these movies. They might have released a new movie each year, but the movies were filmed all at once. As Frodo Baggins actor Elijah Wood told Business Insider, this was a “real gamble” on New Line Cinema’s part; if the first movie failed, they’d all fail. So the studio hedged their bets by offering the actors what Wood called “not massive salaries.”
Samwise Cashes In
However, as in the films, things ultimately worked out very well for the Lord of the Rings actors. Being part of the most beloved fantasy movies ever made led to other major opportunities, both in front of the camera and (especially with Wood) behind the camera. They were also now famous enough to command much healthier salaries. As Astin told The Guardian, he’s “very comfortable financially now,” but that doesn’t change the ironic fact that the movies that made him into a household name paid him so poorly that he lost his house.
It could have been worse for the Samwise actor. Just think: he could have lost it to the Sackville-Bagginses!
