Elijah Wood says the 'Lord of the Rings' cast's low salaries on the multibillion-dollar trilogy were 'understandable'

• Elijah Wood said it was understandable that "The Lord of the Rings" cast didn't get paid much.
• Last year, his costar Cate Blanchett joked she "basically got free sandwiches" to be in the film.
• Wood told BI he knows Blanchett's comments were in jest and none of them regret being in the movies.

The classic 2001 film "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" may have launched a multibillion-dollar fantasy trilogy, but star Elijah Wood said the offer he got to play Frodo Baggins wasn't exactly the payday of a lifetime — and he's OK with that.

"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," Wood told Business Insider on the red carpet for the 2025 Texas Film Awards hosted by the Austin Film Society.

Wood described New Line Cinema's buy-in on three movies featuring a sprawling ensemble cast as "a real gamble," one that he said was mitigated by "not massive salaries."

He called the trade-off understandable, especially given how life-changing the trilogy was for everyone involved.

"The benefit of that was that we were also signing up for something that was going to be a part of our lives forever," he said.

Of course, that gamble worked out for everyone involved in the end. The trilogy went on to make New Line nearly $3 billion at the box office, launch an equally lucrative prequel trilogy, and turbo-charge the careers of many of its stars — including Wood, who's currently starring in season two of the Starz psychological thriller "Yellowjackets" in addition to producing films through his company SpectreVision.

Wood's comments come after Cate Blanchett, who played the elf Galadriel, made waves last year when she said she essentially got paid in free sandwiches to appear in the films.

While Blanchett didn't share specific numbers, several other "LOTR" stars have disclosed their salaries. Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, said in 2019 that he got $175,000 for the three movies, but called it the "greatest gift" of his life and said he'd do it again for half that. Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee, said he got about $250,000 for the films and also hinted that the cast had agreed not to talk about their pay by the time the third film, "The Return of the King," came out in 2003.

When asked about unconfirmed rumors that he was paid $250,000 for "The Fellowship of the Ring," Wood said that figure wasn't accurate but declined to elaborate. "It doesn't matter," he told BI.

He added that while Blanchett's sandwiches comment was admittedly "hilarious," he knows that she and the rest of the cast were grateful to have been part of the film.

"Statements like that are not made with any kind of ire," Wood said. "It's such an honor to have been a part of those films and they represent some of the best experiences of my life."