Actor Sean Astin, who is also the current president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), has revealed that he only made $250,000 for his beloved performance as Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
In an interview with The Guardian, Astin got candid about how he wasn’t prepared for the success of the beloved franchise, especially since he only got paid $250,000 for all his work on the three movies, which were shot concurrently in New Zealand.
“I was not prepared for that level of visibility and access,” he explained. “And 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.”
He added that he’s “very comfortable financially now,” but it was likely a tough time for him considering how much work was involved in the trilogy. Filming for all three movies took place between October 1999 and December 2000, but there were also pick-up shoots between 2001 and 2003. Produced on a budget of $281 million for all three movies, a bargain compared to the shooting budgets of just one major movie these days, the series went on to gross $2.9 billion at the worldwide box office. That’s not to mention the money the series made on home video, video game adaptations, and merchandise.
Astin added that he still has a good relationship with his fellow hobbits, who were portrayed by Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan.
“We have a great time,” he said. “We go to fancy dinners together. We really enjoy the fellowship. We’ve probably done a dozen of them; we’ve got more planned.”
Earlier this year, it was announced that J.R.R. Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert is currently co-writing a new Lord of the Rings film with his son, Peter McGee. Astin suggested that he’s willing to reprise his role as Samwise in a future movie, but it’s still in the early stages.
“I don’t think anybody is opposed to it,” he shared. “We’d all love to connect to those characters, particularly if it’s done with such sensitivity as we heard.”
