James Corden Says He Almost Played Brendan Fraser's Role In The Whale
Brendan Fraser is currently earning the best reviews of his career in the buzzy drama The Whale.
James Corden says he narrowly missed out on playing the lead role in the Oscar-tipped film The Whale.
The Late Late Show host, 44, told Deadline he was this close to starring in The Whale when another director was attached to it.
Corden said: “I was going to play that part, and Tom Ford was going to direct.”
The project eventually ended up on Darren Aronofsky's desk, with Brendan Fraser playing the title character of Charlie, the tormented wheelchair-bound obese teacher.
It was a good thing Corden didn't get the part because he admitted he may have been "too young" to do the part justice.
Fraser has earned widespread acclaim for his performance and is tipped to land an Oscar nomination.
Corden added George Clooney was once attached to the project, with Deadline reporting Aronofsky had confirmed the late-night TV talk show host's claims.
Deadline added Clooney only wanted to be involved if a real-life 600-pound (272kg) man “unknown” in the acting world was cast as Charlie.
Charlie isn't the only coveted role Corden missed out on. He recently revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he auditioned for Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
“Not good," he said of the experience. "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.”
The part eventually went to Sean Astin.
Meanwhile, Corden is preparing to exit The Late Late Show this year to return to Britain with his family and is said to be eyeing up more acting roles after starring in Amazon Prime Video’s Mammals.
Listen Corden's Happy Sad Confused interview here:
Photos: TPG News/Click Photos
Watch exclusive 8 DAYS interviews on meWATCH and Mediacorp YouTube Channel.
