It didn’t make much difference if Russell Crowe (55) had played Aragorn in the ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. New Zealand actor said that in an interview with Howard Stern (65). Despite the more than decent wage, Crowe refused the role.
In the interview Russell Crowe says that director Peter Jackson phoned him to offer him the role of Aragorn in ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Allegedly he would get 10 percent of the profit for that, which according to Stern amounts to around 100 million dollars.
“I don’t think Peter Jackson really wanted me for that movie,” said Crowe. “Because he was forced to talk to me, because at some point everyone wanted me for every role.” He went on, “I’m on the phone with him, and I think he doesn’t even know what I’ve already done. . I just knew instinctively that he had someone else in mind, and that turned out to be Viggo (Mortensen, ed.). He should be able to hire the actor he wants. ”And so Crowe said no. Presenter Sterne then wanted to know whether Crowe ever regretted that he had never got hold of that 100 million dollars, but the actor replied in the negative. “I never thought about it, only in situations like this: interviews where people are so kind to add things together,” he laughed.