James Corden has revealed that he once auditioned for a role in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.
The Gavin & Stacey star had been vying for the role of hobbit Samwise Gamgee, which eventually went to Sean Astin.
Corden spoke about the experience during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz.
In a preview shared to Horowitz’s Instagram page, the host asked Corden how the audition went, prompting the Late Late Show host to respond: “Not good. Every single person in London auditioned for Lord of the Rings. Everybody!
“I auditioned for Samwise and I was sort of, I was doing it, Josh! I was doing the accent and everything.”
However, Corden explained that he had in fact made it past the first round of auditions – but ultimately missed out.
“Two of my other friends went in,” he recalled. “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.”
Horowitz then asked Corden whether he was able to watch the film trilogy after his rejection, joking that there may have been lingering PTSD from the incident.
“No, I very much enjoyed those,” Corden responded.
In the comments next to the clip, Lord of the Rings fans shared their thoughts on the anecdote – with many seeming to celebrate the fact that the divisive presenter missed out.
“Thank the film gods he never got cast. This would have spoiled it all!” one person wrote.
“I don’t even watch that trilogy and I’m still glad he never got cast,” another joked.
“Good,” another person curtly wrote.
Earlier this year, Corden was at the centre of a controversy after he was banned from a New York restaurant over his alleged treatment of staff.
He later apologised to the restauranteur and the ban was rescinded.
