Despite being an Oscar-nominated and twice-nominated Golden Globes actor, Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t exactly impress “Lord of the Rings” director, Peter Jackson. In fact, Jackson labeled Gyllenhaal the “worst actor he'd ever seen” when Gyllenhaal auditioned for the role as Frodo in the popular trilogy.
In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show on March 23, Gyllenhaal recounted how he awfully failed at his audition.
“I remember going into this room and there was a lot of stage directions—we didn’t have any lines to say, really it was just like finding the ring and you are supposed to open the thing and there is a ring there,” the 35-year-old actor said.
“And I remember I didn’t really do it because I didn’t really understand—because there were no lines—so I walked up and sort of opened it up and was like: ‘Was that good?’” he continued.
Jackson was so disgusted with what he just witnessed that he just placed his head in his hands and shook his head.
But it only went downhill from there.
Unbeknownst to Gyllenhaal, when it was time to read the lines, he was to recite the lines with a British accent. He didn’t do so, which led to Jackson harshly telling him: “You are the worst actor that I have ever seen! Did anyone tell you that you are supposed to have an accent?” He further went on to tell the “BrokeBack Mountain” actor to get rid of his agents.
The role of Frodo ended up going to Elijah Wood.
As for Gyllenhaal, he has had plenty of success as an actor since. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Role for “Brokeback Mountain,” a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for “Nightcrawler” and received Oscar buzz for his performance in “Southpaw.”
He is currently making the television circuit rounds promoting his new movie, “Demolition,” which is scheduled to hit theaters April 8.
