Jake Gyllenhaal was told by director Peter Jackson he was the "worst actor" he had ever seen when he auditioned for a role in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.
The 35-year-old Hollywood star read for the main part of hobbit Frodo in Jackson’s big screen adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s novels but the New Zealand filmmaker was far from impressed by his abilities as a thespian.
Gyllenhaal admits his agent let him down ahead of his audition because they failed to inform him that Jackson wanted the character to have an English accent.
During an appearance on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’, the actor revealed: "He literally turned to me and said, ‘You are the worst actor that I have ever seen’. He said, ‘Did anyone tell you, you were supposed to have an accent?’ I was like, ‘No!’ and he said, ‘Well, fire your agents.’ "
The first half of the audition involved Gyllenhaal miming finding the ring but his efforts only led Jackson to hang his head in shame.
Gyllenhaal – who went on to receive an Oscar nomination for his performance in ‘Brokeback Mountain’ – recalled: "I remember going to this room and there was a lot of stage directions so there were no lines. It was just finding the ring. I didn’t really do it because I didn’t really understand because there were no lines. I walked up, opened [the box] and was like, ‘Is that good?’ "
Elijah Wood eventually bagged the role of Frodo, and he portrayed the character in four movies.
Gyllenhaal also told Fallon he missed out on a part in comedy ‘Dude Where’s My Car?’ because movie bosses didn’t like his accent.
He joked: "I auditioned for a lot of classics I’m not in."
Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott appeared as the two main characters in the film.
Jake Gyllenhaal told by Peter Jackson he was the ‘worst actor’ ever
