It’s hard to imagine SAG-AFTRA president and Goonies star Sean Astin as a struggling actor now. However, in a recent interview, he revealed that he had to sell his house due to how little he made on The Lord of the Rings films.
“I was not prepared for that level of visibility and access,” he told The Guardian. “And there was a disconnect between the attention that I was getting and how much money we had. It was not a lot of money! In fact, I had to sell my house because I negotiated such a small amount on the trilogy.”
What Astin Made
In a 2017 interview, he revealed he was paid $250,000 for all 3 films, with no residuals and an undisclosed percentage on merchandise. Now it’s easy to jump on Astin for taking such a laughably low sum, but the whole cast did. In the early 2000s, Peter Jackson was asking New Line Cinema for millions to make a trilogy of films based on a beloved IP. The Bad Taste director was asking the studio to take a huge gamble on not 1 but 3 movies. Now, obviously, it paid off, but no one had any way of knowing that at the time.
It’s not uncommon for performers to agree to a lower upfront salary to keep the initial budget down. Most do negotiate for residuals or a cut of the profits, assuming the project is successful. This way, if something does become a huge hit, the people involved should get a slice of that success. (While it rarely works that way, this doesn’t seem to be one of those cases). Later in the 2017 interview, he says the studio did try to make it right to the cast after the success of the 3rd film via undisclosed means. It was a moot point by then, considering most of them had moved on to other highly lucrative roles.
A Return to Lord of the Rings?
Andy Serkis is currently in New Zealand filming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, with Elijah Wood and Sir Ian McKellen reprising their roles. Plus an upcoming project co-written by Stephen Colbert. Astin says he has spoken with Colbert, and while nothing is even being hinted at in terms of a contract right now… He would be willing to do more of The Lord of the Rings.
“I don’t think anybody is opposed to it. We’d all love to connect to those characters, particularly if it’s done with such sensitivity as we heard.” And this time with significantly better pay.
