A few days after it was revealed that late-night talk show host James Corden auditioned to play Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, another bit of ‘almost-Corden’ news has popped up.
At a recent screening of the Amazon series “Mammals,” Corden himself told Deadline reporter Pete Hammond that he not only auditioned but years ago he landed the lead role of Charlie in “The Whale”.
Corden scored the role in the film adaptation of the famed stage play back when iconic fashion designer turned acclaimed “A Single Man” and “Nocturnal Animals” filmmaker Tom Ford was set to direct the project.
Ford reportedly wanted more creative control than he was being given and so fell out of the project. At that point, Corden also dropped out as George Clooney was briefly interested and allegedly wanted to cast an actual 600 lbs. unknown.
Clooney’s interest reportedly waned quickly, and the film went on to be directed by Darren Aronofsky who was attached for years and eventually cast Brendan Fraser. Aronofsky then reportedly confirmed the story to Hammond, saying it was all true.
Whilst the overall film has received a mixed response from critics, Fraser’s performance has scored universal praise and audience poll numbers for the film are quite high.
Corden, meanwhile, has been hosting “The Late Late Show,” has not been short of film projects in recent years with the likes of “Cats,” “The Prom,” “Trolls” and “Yesterday,” and has the new “Mammals” series on the way.
Source: Vulture
