Cate Blanchett Says She Only Got Paid in 'Free Sandwiches' Filming $3 Billion “Lord of the Rings” Franchise

"And I got to keep my ears," Blanchett, who played Elven queen Galadriel, said on 'Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen'

Cate Blanchett is opening up about her paycheck (or rather, lack thereof) from The Lord of the Rings.

On Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen Wednesday, Aug. 7, the actress claimed she "never got paid anything" to star as Elven queen Galadriel in the popular fantasy franchise.

Asked by host Andy Cohen whether she at least got "a piece of the backend," Blanchett, 55, replied, "No! That was way before any of that. No, nothing."

"I wanted to work with the guy who made Braindead," she continued of director Peter Jackson. "I mean, I basically got free sandwiches. And I got to keep my ears."

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Cohen, 56, went on to ask Blanchett which movie she got the biggest paycheck for, but she noted that a larger payday doesn't happen "very often."

Added the two-time Academy Award winner, "Women don't get paid as much as you think they do."

The Lord of the Rings franchise spanned three films that went on to make almost $3 billion combined in theaters worldwide: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Blanchett also went on to reprise her role of Galadriel in Jackson's follow-up Hobbit prequel trilogy in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The latter series — also based on the book of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien — made an additional nearly $3 billion at the global box office.

Related: Lord of the Rings Author J.R.R. Tolkien's Book-to-Screen Adaptations Have Made $851M! See Who Else Has Topped $500M

Back in 2020, Blanchett spoke to PEOPLE about her role as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly on Mrs. America, which was a much different character and project than The Lord of the Rings.

An avid feminist, the actress said that she was oftentimes criticized for her left-leaning views while growing up. But today, she is proud of how far the feminist movement has come.

“Women are actually sharing their f--- ups and failures and fears, and actually kind of moving forward together and really relishing what we’re really good at,” Blanchett said at the time. “I do think that the women are really making the elbow room, not only for themselves, but for each other."

She added, “I think it’s really important to go back and witness how that happened within a system and what the system was like and how we can all together change the system to make it better for everybody.”

Blanchett's new film Borderlands is now in theaters.

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