Peter Jackson humiliated Oscar-nominated actor, Jake Gyllenhaal after a bad audition.

Peter Jackson became one of the highest-grossing directors in Hollywood with his The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. While the ensemble cast for the films was a dream team, there were many actors who missed out on various roles. Notably, one actor particularly managed to irk Jackson with his audition. It was none other than a young Jake Gyllenhaal, who later went on to earn an Oscar nomination.

Peter Jackson
It was not Gyllenhaal’s lucky day when he auditioned for the role of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The Spider-Man: Far From Home actor revealed that Jackson called him the worst actor he had ever seen and even suggested he fire his agents.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Audition Left Peter Jackson Upset

Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal appeared in an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he shared some of his less-than-stellar audition experiences. The standout story was his audition for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Gyllenhaal revealed that nearly 14 of his agents called him at once to inform him that the role of Frodo Baggins, the Hobbit, could be a career-changing one for the actor.

The Prisoners actor even jokingly mimicked the excitement of his agents when they told him about the opportunity. However, the audition was one of the forgettable moments for the Nightcrawler actor, as he miserably failed to impress director Peter Jackson. The scene given to him was Frodo finding the One Ring. Gyllenhaal described how once he finished acting out the scene, Jackson was facepalming himself in sheer disappointment.

The director called him one of the worst actors and asked him whether he was aware that he needed a British accent. In all their excitement for Gyllenhaal’s success, the agents had failed to mention perhaps the most important requirement for the role. When he said he didn’t know, the King Kong director suggested that Gyllenhaal fire his agents. The Source Code actor told Jimmy Fallon:
“He literally turned to me and said, ‘You are the worst actor that I have ever seen.’ He said, ‘Did anyone tell you you were supposed to have an accent?’ I was like, ‘No!’ and he said, ‘Well, fire your agents’”.
It was an honest mistake on the part of the Zodiac actor, as he eventually proved to be far from a bad actor. Gyllenhaal received an Academy Award nomination in 2006 for his role in the Ang Lee film, Brokeback Mountain.