Sean Connery Turned Down a Role That Could've Made Him $150 Million (And Didn't Regret It)
There are a lot of actors who have failed to get roles in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and a lot of actors who were offered such roles but refused.
Most of the latter declined because they weren't prepared for the time commitment or had scheduling conflicts. Sometimes nobler sentiments were involved, as in the case of Russell Crowe, which we've covered before.
But one actor rejected a role, because he did not like the story. You see, initially Peter Jackson considered Sean Connery, among other actors, for the role of Gandalf, before finally picking Ian McKellen.
To be fair Jackson thought from the start that Connery wasn't right for the role because too many people would recognize his face, as The Scotsman reported, quoting a biography of Peter Jackson, entitled A Film-Maker's Journey by Brian Sibley:
"I felt Gandalf would take on a Sean Connery persona, with a long beard and robe."
But New Line Cinema was pushing him to hire the most famous actors possible.
They especially wanted Sean Connery for Gandalf, and they were inclined to give him a substantial cut of the movies' box office, as they had doubts about commercial prospects of the project and felt that Connery's normal fee might be too big for their budget.
As Jackson explained:
"Mark said New Line was prepared to give him between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of the films' income. Some kind of offer must have gone in because in April 1999 the script was bundled off to Sean who read it – and declined the role."
If true, this means that starring in the trilogy might have earned Connery a huge sum, as the global box office for The Lord of the Rings movies nearly reached $3 billion.
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But Connery had no interest in donning Gandalf's robes. According, to the same source the actor said:
"Yeah, well, I never understood it. I read the book, I read the script, I saw the movie. I still don't understand it. I would be interested in doing something that I don't fully understand, but not for eighteen months."
We cannot tell what Connery thought about his decision after witnessing the success of The Lord of the Rings, but he never publicly expressed any regret about not taking up the wizard's staff.