Many of the greatest stories from Hollywood are those about actors who almost took on iconic roles that ended up going to another actor. Whether it is Tom Cruise potentially being considered as Iron Man, Russell Crowe as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings, or Al Pacino as Han Solo in Star Wars, there are an endless number of what-if scenarios out there. Another such case of what might have been had recently been discussed by the iconic star of the original The Addams Family TV series, John Astin, who opened up about his audition to play Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
John Astin, the father of Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin, played Gomez Addams in the classic 60s TV series, but the actor could have become famous to a whole new generation for another reason had he been cast in the role of Gandalf the Grey in Peter Jackson’s epic movies. While the part was eventually played with relish by Ian McKellen, Astin revealed that his audition was just not quite what Jackson was looking for. Speaking to AV Club, he said:
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
“I tested a few times for Gandalf. The last test I did, they gave me something out of the second book, and I studied it and came up with what I thought was a good interpretation of it, but it wasn’t at all what Peter and Fran wanted. I knew them well enough to say, “Hey, let me try to work on it and come back again,” They would’ve been receptive to that. But I thought about it, and Sean [Astin] was trying to get into the film, too, and I … well, to tell you the truth, I didn’t want to spend about a year and a half on a horse!”
The Addams Family and Lord of the Rings Have Big Things Coming This Year
Everything has its place in time, and while John Astin’s version of Gandalf will never be seen on screen, his portrayal of Gomez in The Addams Family has always been one of the benchmarks for the character when being performed by subsequent actors. With Netflix bringing a new take on The Addams Family to screens in the Tim Burton series Wednesday, it will be interesting to see how Luis Guzman’s interpretation of the head of the family compares to the likes of Astin, and of course, Raul Julia, who played the role in the 90s movies.
