Jake Gyllenhaal Says His Lord Of The Rings Audition Was His Worst Ever
Jake Gyllenhaal may have starred in a number of memorable flicks in recent years — including "Brokeback Mountain," "October Sky," "Love & Other Drugs," and "Source Code" (via IMDb) — but he's also missed out on several roles, including the part of Frodo in "Lord of the Rings." During a May 2016 appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," Gyllenhaal admitted that he's had "so many bad" auditions during his decades-long career and then opened up about the moment he auditioned for the trilogy (via YouTube).
"I auditioned for 'Lord of the Rings '... [for the role of] Frodo," he told the late-night talk show host. According to Gyllenhaal, multiple agents called him about the part after feeling he would make for the perfect hobbit.
"I got a call from all these agents. I got like a conference call from like 14 agents and they were all so excited and when like agents are excited, it's really intense. And so they called me up and they were like, 'Oh, guess what?!' And I was like, 'What?' They were like, 'They're making a Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson's making it. It's going to be three movies over three-and-a-half years.' And I was like, 'Oh, wow. Cool.' They're like, 'And when they said they needed a hobbit, we thought, Jake!' I was literally like, 'Thank you?'" he recalled.
Jake Gyllenhaal was called the 'worst actor' at the audition
"So I went in. I remember going into this room and I remember there was a lot of stage direction so there were no lines. Like, we didn't have any lines to say, really. It was just like finding the ring," Gyllenhaal continued on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" (via YouTube). Looking back, Gyllenhaal admitted that he didn't feel as comfortable as he normally is because there were no lines to read. Plus, his agents failed to inform him that he was supposed to be auditioning with a British accent.
"Everyone has a British accent in that and I didn't do an accent for it and [Peter Jackson] turned to me. He was like, 'You are the worst actor that I have ever seen. Did anyone tell you you were supposed to have an accent?' ... He was like, 'Get him out of here!'" Gyllenhaal laughed. Also during the interview, Gyllenhaal revealed he took part in a failed audition for "Dude, Where's My Car?"
"I auditioned for a lot of classics that I'm not in," he joked.