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Wormtongue: who was first up to play him?

posted 8 years ago by NotASpeckOfCereal
4 replies | jump to latest

From this interview with Brad Dourif:

http://www.avclub.com/article/brad-dourif-possessed-dolls-david-lynch-and-playin-243978

I auditioned, god, five times, and then didn’t get it and was going through my thing where I give myself usually about five days to feel bad. Then, all of a sudden, they call me up and say the guy who they cast doesn’t want to do it, obviously because they didn’t pay him enough, so I took it. They didn’t pay me that much, either, though.

Who was that first actor -- does anyone know?

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[–] magpie930 8 years ago

From the research I've done, it might have been Jeffrey Combs.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/1999/07/14/22226-wormtongue-casting/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/1999/07/14/22225-is-anyone-up-for-any-role/
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/1999/07/20/22216-moriarty-rants-on-aicn/

btw, I read that same story this morning and wondered the same thing. I was on my phone and didn't check my research and hadn't remembered that fact.

and... fwiw, this was just research conducted at TheOneRing.net who was one of the very early websites covering LOTR movie rumors.

I just did a general search and others have mentioned this over the years and I think someone commented on it in the av article you linked to (it shows up on google but I think you'll have to keep clicking 'more' in the comments to find it).

Additionally, Combs was in The Frighteners also by Jackson.

[–] NotASpeckOfCereal 8 years ago

Interesting, thanks for the links.

Not being much for the horror genre, I'm not familiar with Combs.

As usual, after living a long time with Dourif's performance, I can't imagine anyone else playing the role.

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[–] magpie930 8 years ago

He (Combs) played a variety of characters in Star Trek Deep Space 9, Voyager, and Enterprise.

Have you seen Dourif in any of the other roles mentioned in that avclub article?

I saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in first release and I was very impressed with his work in Deadwood (which I count as one of the best tv shows I've ever seen).

I'm not a big fan of Lynch's Dune. In fact, I was a pretty big fan of the book (mostly the first one) and pretty much hated Lynch's take on it. I could probably rewatch it at some point to evaluate Dourif in it. I probably won't.

[–] NotASpeckOfCereal 8 years ago

Yes, I've seen Dourif in a lot of stuff, Deadwood, Dune, Alien Resurrection, Star Trek Voyager and Babylon 5, X-Files and Millennium, and of course One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I've probably seen him in a lot of other stuff -- his filmography is pretty long and broad.

I also enjoyed him in the video game Myst III: Exile.

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