James Corden Recalls Auditioning to Play a Hobbit in 'Lord of the Rings': I Was 'Not Good'
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Dia Dipasupil/Getty, Pierre Vinet/New Line/Saul Zaentz/Wing Nut/Kobal/Shutterstock James Corden (L); Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee
James Corden's career could've had a very different trajectory.
The Late Late Show host said on Tuesday's Happy Sad Confused podcast episode that he was once among "every single person in London" who "auditioned for Lord of the Rings," which was one of his first film tryouts.
"I auditioned for Samwise [Gamgee]," Corden, 44, said about the part of the hobbit character that eventually went to Sean Astin. "I was doing the accent and everything: 'Mr Frodo!' "
Calling his audition "not good," Corden went on to reveal he tried out with two friends and that they "all got called back the next day" and the day after that as well.
But, "None of us got called back after that," he said with a laugh, adding that he "very much enjoy(s)" the Lord of the Rings films today, with no hard feelings.
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Aside from Astin, 51, as Samwise, the Peter Jackson–directed film trilogy featured a star-studded cast that included Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Miranda Otto and more.
Aside from a Hobbit film spinoff trilogy — also directed by Jackson, 61 — the success of Lord of the Rings, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien books of the same name, helped spawn the new Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series, which premiered on Prime Video earlier this year.
The epic is set thousands of years before the events of Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books. It takes place in Tolkien's Middle-earth — but follows a different storyline than the iconic films, and introduces LOTR and Hobbit movie fans to legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth's history for the first time onscreen.
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As for Corden, the London-born actor recently admitted that it's going to be "beyond emotional" for him to leave The Late Late Show when his contract comes to an end in spring 2023. He's known for movie roles in Into the Woods, Cats, The Prom and Peter Rabbit.
"I'm worried about being too emotional. I'm worried about crying too much," Corden told PEOPLE last month at the Mammals premiere in Hollywood. "But at the same time, I just got to take a breath and know that there's a lot to do between now and then."
"I think we have a hundred to go or something," he continued about his remaining episodes. "That's a lot of TV to-dos. A lot of stuff to put out."
As for what he's going to miss most about the CBS hit talk show — which has welcomed everyone from Harry Styles to Adele since Corden took over for Craig Ferguson in 2015 — Corden said it's all about the people he has met along the way.
"It's about soaking up the people and the friendships that I've made," he told PEOPLE. "That's the thing which I'll carry with me forever."
