James Corden Auditioned for ‘Lord of the Rings’ and It Was ‘Not Good’

James Corden’s career could’ve included a detour to Middle Earth, with the late-night host revealing one of his first auditions was a failed attempt at securing a role in The Lord of the Rings. 

Corden spoke about the audition on a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Though he copped to the fact that his attempt to secure the role of Frodo Baggins’ friend Samwise Gamgee was “not good,” he noted there wasn’t particularly anything special about him getting the chance to try out for the part: “Every single person in London auditioned for Lord of the Rings. Everybody.” Corden quipped.

Corden went on to joke about recording his audition to tape, slipping into a light Hobbit-y accent and even giving a big shout of “Frodo!” for good measure. “Two of my other friends went in,” Corden added, “and 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!”

Despite the failed audition, Corden said he was still able to enjoy the Lord of the Rings films — at least up until Return of the King. “I enjoyed it until the last one, and then I was sort of like, ‘Oh, ok, I’ve seen this now — I should’ve gone to see Love Actually,” he cracked.

Corden is in the final stretch of his tenure as host of The Late Late Show, which he’s been hosting since 2015 and is scheduled to depart in spring 2023. (And he only had to spend some of his precious remaining time explaining his side of the story as to why he was temporarily banned from a New York City restaurant.)

From Rolling Stone US.