Adrien Brody Talks About the Role He Most Regrets Turning Down

Adrien Brody has starred in many outstanding roles, including his Oscar-winning performance in the film The Pianist, as well as movies like King Kong, Hollywood Land, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, as well as series like Peaky Blinders and Chapelwaite. He is an established actor, but he has one role that he wishes he could reverse time and accept, and it was in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

In a recent interview with GQ, Brody explained:

"I, somehow, didn’t grasp it. I don’t know what part I would have been right for, but it was some Hobbit-like character. I was looking for something else. I remember going to see Lord of the Rings in the theater with an ex-girlfriend. And she turned to me and said, 'You passed on Lord of the Rings?!' I remember feeling so stupid. But I don’t think I would have gotten the role of Jack in Peter’s [King Kong]. I don’t think that would have translated.”

Brody of course went on to work with director Peter Jackson in King Kong in 2005, playing screenwriter Jack Driscoll alongside Jack Black, Naomi Watts, Colin Hanks, and Jamie Bell. While it’s certainly no LOTR, it sounds like Brody is happy with his experience making King Kong, and he got to work with Jackson after all.

Brody can next be seen on the big screen in The French Dispatch, in theaters this weekend, on October 22. He is also set to star in an untitled murder mystery with an all-star cast due out next year, as well as the untitled Lakers Project limited series, in which he will play Coach Pat Riley.