Why Sean Astin Had To Sell His House After The Lord of the Rings

Sean Astin has revealed a surprising detail about his Lord of the Rings fame. The actor who played Sam in the beloved franchise has opened up about life after the success of the role. In a new interview, Astin shed light on the financial difficulties he faced at the time.

Sean Astin’s Lord of the Rings fame didn’t pay as you think

Sean Astin got candid about facing financial difficulties after starring in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as Samwise Gamgee. Speaking with The Guardian, the actor and SAG-AFTRA national president opened up about not earning enough from the iconic role.

“I was not prepared for that level of visibility and access,” Astin shared. He added, “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.” The actor assured that he is “very comfortable financially now.”

In a 2017 interview on the Jim and Sam Show, Astin revealed that he made “$75,000 a movie” for the Lord of the Rings film series. This confirms that the actor earned around $250,000 for the entire trilogy.

Last year, Elijah Wood, who played Frodo Baggins, explained why the actors did not receive “massive salaries.” Speaking with Business Insider, Wood shared that the production company New Line Cinema took “a real gamble” financially to make all three movies at once.

“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 explained. He said that the agreement was “that we were also signing up for something that was going to be a part of our lives forever.”

Source: Comingsoon.net