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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Josh Luckhurst

James Corden admits he auditioned for a major Lord of the Rings role earlier in career

James Corden has revealed that he auditioned for a major part for the The Lord of the Ring franchise but it did not go to plan for the talk show host.

James has been the hot seat of his popular CBS talk show The Late Late Show with James Corden in Los Angeles since 2015 and is sadly coming to an end early next year after deciding he wants to return to the UK.

The 44-year-old has won nine Primetime Emmy Awards during his career stateside following his success back at home with Gavin & Stacey, which he co-wrote with Welsh actress Ruth Jones.

He has featured in hit films such as Gulliver's Travels, Peter Rabbit and Trolls as well as movie adaptations of musicals Cats and Cinderella, but he path to stardom could have changed had the outcome of his audition for Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring had been different.

The comedian has been hosting The Late Late Show with James Corden in the US since 2015 (CBS via Getty Images)

Speaking to actor Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, James opened up about how the role was one of his first auditions as an actor.

"Not good," the comedian replied to Josh when asked how it went, before going into more detail. "Every single person in London auditioned for Lord of The Rings, everybody, and I auditioned for Samwise. I was doing the accent and everything... Mr. Frodo!

"Two of my other friends went in. And then we all got called back the next day, and then we got called back the next day, and then none of us got called back after that."

James auditioned for the role of Samwise Gamgee in Lord of the Rings (Instagram)
James has had a successful career in films and Broadway since the setback (Getty Images)

The dad-of-three admitted he "very much enjoyed" the three films despite not being cast as Frodo's sidekick, who was played by American actor Sean Astin. Elijah Wood portrayed Frodo Baggins for the Peter Jackson directed trilogy which has racked in over $2.99 billion (£2.48bn) at the box office.

One of the highlights of his seven-year stint as the host of The Late Late Show has been his wildly successful show segment Carpool Karaoke.

Celebrities Harry Styles, Adele, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears , Justin Bieber and Michelle Obama have all featured on Carpool Karaoke, with James admitting he has been blown away by its popularity.

Sean Astin was cast as the role of Samwise in the film trilogy (Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock)

He also revealed how he was 'kidnapped' by a group of Carpool Karaoke fans when crossing the street in London. James claims he was "forced" into a car full of teenagers - around the ages of 18 and 19 - who wanted him to join them in singing along to the radio.

Speaking to The Wrap last month, he said: "I was crossing the street in London and there were these four kids. They were like 18, 19.

"They sort of forced me to get in the car. They all had their camera phones out and we were just singing along to the radio. I was like, 'Am I being kidnapped?'"

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