Gandalf
Nicholas Cage wasn’t the only actor who passed on an iconic Middle Earth role in arguably one of the greatest trilogies in cinematic history, that of Gandalf the Grey. And while legendary English actor Sir Ian McKellen portrays the titular wizard, it could have been another Knight of the Realm that shouted ‘You shall not pass!!!’ at the Balrog, as it seems he was the one that passed on a role that could have netted him nearly $450million dollars!!!
That other Sir lives north of the border in Scotland and is more famously goes by the name Sean….. Sean Connery. The late Scottish legend turned down the role of Gandalf in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy as he “never understood the script”, adding: “I read the book. I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don’t understand it.” If the $6 million per picture wasn’t tempting enough, they even tried to offer him a 15% stake in the film franchise’s box office profits, hence why he ended up losing those big bucks.
