Why Elijah Wood Thinks His Low Lord Of The Rings Salary ‘Doesn’t Matter’

Actors get different paydays depending on a variety of circumstances. A well-established A-lister can demand a lot of zeroes on their check and even dictate unique contract terms. That’s how Sandra Bullock got a huge payday for “Gravity” through a 15% share in the profits. When actors are earlier in their careers, though, they often settle for less money in exchange for experience, enhanced resumes, and the ability to partake in special projects. That was the case for many of the actors who signed up for Peter Jackson’s massive “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

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In an interview with Business Insider on the red carpet for the 2025 Texas Film Awards in Austin, Frodo actor Elijah Wood (of current “Yellowjackets” fame) became the latest LOTR alumni to address rumors about his Middle-earth payday. Some gossip claims he made around $250,000 for “The Fellowship of the Ring” movie alone. Another version of the scuttlebutt claimed the sum was for all three films, similar to Sean Astin’s paycheck for playing Sam Gamgee. (Orlando Bloom confirmed that he made $175,000 for all three movies.)

Either way, it’s not much considering the size of the project and the Hollywood backdrop, and the actor told Business Insider as much. He said it wasn’t exactly a fantastic payday, but he added that it’s something he can live with. When asked if the specific number of his rumored salary was correct, he said no and didn’t clarify the amount. Instead, he cut to the quick, saying, “It doesn’t matter.”

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For reasons we’ll explore in a minute, Wood found the low salaries understandable. He also pointed out that the trilogy was life-changing in other ways:

“The benefit of that was that we were also signing up for something that was going to be a part of our lives forever.”

The surprisingly low salaries for many of the “Lord of the Rings” cast members makes sense on multiple levels, according to Wood. The first thing he pointed to was the three-in-one nature of the trilogy project:

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“Because we weren’t making one movie and then renegotiating a contract for the next, it wasn’t the sort of lucrative scenario that you could sort of rest easy for the rest of your life.”

Along with an inability to negotiate contracts between movies, Wood spoke to the fact that New Line Cinema’s commitment to a three-part story was a big deal at the time. Sure, the trilogy’s massive box office success is easy to point to in retrospect, but at the time, studios didn’t often sign up for massive, multi-year blockbusters with unproven IPs and massive ensemble casts. Wood referred to this as a “real gamble” and pointed out that avoiding massive salaries ameliorated the financial pressure as Peter Jackson and company tried to pull the whole thing off. He even called the trade-off understandable.

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That commentary stands in contrast to Galadriel actress Cate Blanchett’s words on Watch What Happens Live! back in 2024, where she said, “I basically got free sandwiches, and I got to keep my [elf] ears.” Woods actually addressed Blanchett’s quip, saying that he thought it was hilarious and adding, “Statements like that are not made with any kind of ire.”

He put the question to bed by revisiting the larger impact that “The Lord of the Rings” experience had on the careers and lives of the crew:

“It’s such an honor to have been a part of those films, and they represent some of the best experiences of my life.”