Cate Blanchett says she didn't get paid much to play Galadriel

Orlando Bloom also revealed his “small salary” for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In full promotion of Borderlands, Cate Blanchett revealed in the show Watch What Happens Live! that she had not earned much money for playing Galadriel in the adaptations of Lord of the Ringsby Peter Jackson. Without giving a specific amount, here is her reaction to a question from Andy Cohen asking her for which role she was paid the most during her career.

“I guess it was for Lord of the Rings?”says the presenter.

“Are you kidding me? No, no one got much money for this movie!”

The presenter insists, assuming that given the crazy success of these blockbusters at the turn of the 2000s, she may have received bonuses on receipts?

“No !, says the Australian-American actress. They came out way before all these contracts. No, nothing. Look, I just wanted to work with the guy who had done Braindeadyou know? Basically, I got free sandwiches on The Lord of the Rings…and I got to keep my elf ears (laughs).”

“Women are not paid as well as you think,” she adds.

Lord of the Rings: Cate Blanchett also wanted to play a dwarf

While the role of Galadriel brought the actress enormous fame, she is not the only one to have explained afterwards that her fee was not that high for this kind of big production. Last year, invited on the Howard Stern show, Orlando Bloom had revealed that his stamp for the three opus of the Lord of the Rings in the Legolas costume was $175,000. A far cry from the millions he was later able to earn for Pirates of the Caribbean !

Orlando Bloom: “I owe everything to Legolas”