Cate Blanchett Reveals What Project Paid Barely ‘Anything’: ‘I Basically Got Free Sandwiches’

The Lord of the Rings franchise raked in some $2 billion — but Cate Blanchett didn’t see much of it! The 55-year-old, who played the elf Galadriel, was recently asked by Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen which of her many movies delivered her biggest paycheck. After he speculated that the Middle Earth–set trilogy had brought her big bank, she was shocked. “Are you kidding me? No, nobody got paid anything to do that movie.”

The Aussie actress, currently in Borderlands, brought up the gender gap in Hollywood pay, telling Andy, “Women don’t get paid as much as you think they do.” Still, she was happy to get the opportunity to work with director Peter Jackson. “I wanted to work with the guy who made Braindead,” she admitted. “I mean, I basically got [paid in] free sandwiches, and I got to keep my [elf] ears!”

She stayed mum on how much cash she received, but one report revealed that fellow elf Orlando Bloom took home $175,000, Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee, earned $250,000 and Elijah Wood (a.k.a. Frodo) jumped from $250,000 for the first film to a cool $1 million for the third!