James Corden was almost a resident of the Shire.
On the Dec. 27 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Late, Late Show host confirmed that he auditioned for Peter Jackson‘s 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
“Every single person in London auditioned for Lord Of The Rings,” he told host Josh Horowitz. ”Everybody. I auditioned for Samwise. I was doing the accent and everything.”
Although the audition process was “not good” for Corden, the late-night host shared that he did land a second chance, as he was called back. ”Two of my other friends went in [to audition] and then we all got called back the next day,” he recalled. “Then we got called back the next day.”
But, as fans of the franchise well know, Corden didn’t book the role. In fact, according to Corden, ”None of us got called back after that.”
Eventually, the role of Samwise ended up in the hands of The Goonies alum Sean Astin.