After getting his start in the “splatter” subgenre of horror cinema, Peter Jackson became one of the most acclaimed blockbuster directors in Hollywood with his groundbreaking Lord of the Rings trilogy and his surprisingly satisfying big-budget remake of King Kong. Now, every time Jackson has a new movie coming out, fans get excited.
Jackson has cast the perfect actors to play such roles as Gollum, Smaug, Tintin, and Carl Denham, but they weren’t always the first choice for the part. Aragorn almost wasn’t played by Viggo Mortensen.
Aragorn In The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Perfectly Cast: Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen plays The Lord of the Rings trilogy’s Aragorn as both a badass warrior and a lovable guy. He’s a bonafide action hero, but Mortensen gives a serious dramatic turn in the role.
This blend of charisma and pathos would go on to define Mortensen’s career. Director David Cronenberg dug deeper into it in his dark Mortensen-starring thrillers A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.
Almost Cast: Stuart Townsend
According to CinemaBlend, Mortensen wasn’t supposed to play Aragorn. Stuart Townsend was cast in the role, but was fired and replaced the day before filming began.
Mortensen has since opened up about what it felt like to replace another actor in the role: “When I was told that I would be replacing someone, I felt awkward about it. I wondered if I would meet the actor, but he was gone when I got there. I was just thrown into it and had to do the best I could. That’s all I know. And I did run across Stuart after we finished – I think it was in Los Angeles – and said, ‘Hi.’ I hear he’s a nice guy and I am sorry that happened.”
Carl Denham In King Kong
Perfectly Cast: Jack Black
Comedy legend Jack Black gives an uncharacteristically dramatic performance in Jackson’s King Kong remake. He plays against type as Carl Denham, the director of the film shoot taking place on Skull Island. Denham isn’t a goofy slacker like Black’s usual roles; he’s a cunning egotist who wants to exploit Kong for his own financial gain.
Black relishes the opportunity to play such a dramatic, morally ambiguous role, but also has a lot of B-movie fun when he’s trapped in a chasm with giant insects.
Almost Cast: Robert De Niro
According to the book Peter Jackson: From Gore to Mordor, Black wasn’t the first choice to play Denham. In fact, Jackson had very different actors in mind for the lead roles when he first began developing a remake of King Kong (years before the film actually made it to screens).
When Jackson first started working on the movie, he wanted to cast Robert De Niro as Denham and George Clooney as the romantic male lead, Jack Driscoll, a part that ended up being played by Adrien Brody.
Smaug In The Hobbit Trilogy
Perfectly Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch
For most actors, the role of Smaug would be a cakewalk. They’d come into a recording booth for an afternoon, record all their lines, and collect their paycheck. But Benedict Cumberbatch went a step further than that.
Cumberbatch didn’t just nail the voice; he did the performance capture for the character, too. He had as much fun with the role as an actor playing a dragon should.
Almost Cast: Bill Nighy
According to WhatCulture, before Martin Freeman’s Sherlock co-star was cast to play the malicious dragon opposite his plucky Bilbo Baggins, his Cornetto trilogy co-star Bill Nighy was considered for the role.
While Cumberbatch ended up being the perfect casting choice to bring this dragon to life, Nighy’s rich, deep voice could’ve been great for the part.
Tintin In The Adventures Of Tintin
Perfectly Cast: Jamie Bell
Technically, The Adventures of Tintin isn’t a Peter Jackson movie. Steven Spielberg directed it while Jackson produced. But the two collaborated very closely on the movie and Jackson is set to direct the as-yet-unproduced sequel.
Jamie Bell was the ideal actor to bring Tintin’s boyish naivety and unwavering spirit to the big screen. He played Tintin with the same conviction as his breakout role, Billy Elliot.
Almost Cast: Thomas Brodie-Sangster
According to The Guardian, Bell wasn’t the original casting choice for Tintin. Thomas Brodie-Sangster was originally cast in the role, but ended up dropping out before filming.
Brodie-Sangster is best known for his roles in Game of Thrones, The Queen’s Gambit, and the Maze Runner movies. Replacing him with Bell was seemingly an easy decision, as Jackson had previously worked with Bell on King Kong.
Gollum In The Middle-Earth Movies
Perfectly Cast: Andy Serkis
Andy Serkis pioneered motion-capture acting with his performance as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The technology was relatively new, but Serkis took that technology and ran with it, deftly bringing the character’s haunting duality and dangerous obsession to life.
Serkis has since become the go-to guy for performance-capture roles. He’s since utilized the technology to play the titular giant ape in Jackson’s King Kong remake, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes prequel trilogy, and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequels.
Almost Cast: John Lennon
With producer Denis O’Dell pressuring them to come up with the next film project they were contracted to do, the Beatles once considered adapting The Lord of the Rings for the screen. According to Nerdist, O’Dell planned out the cast: Paul McCartney as Frodo, Ringo Starr as Sam, George Harrison as Gandalf, and John Lennon as Gollum.
The Fab Four approached Stanley Kubrick to direct, but he didn’t think Tolkien’s book was adaptable to film. The whole project fell apart when Tolkien’s estate refused to allow a rock band to adapt his masterpiece.