What do NYC’s Balthazar and the Fellowship of the Ring have in common? At one point in time, James Corden was not allowed in. As it turns out, the late-night host hoped early in his career to become one of the actors making the long commute to Mordor as part of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. Corden said in a recent interview that he joined “every single person in London†in auditioning for the fantasy adventure franchise based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. He was called back twice for the role of hobbit Samwise Gamgee, but despite his best attempt at an accent, he didn’t end up getting the part. When asked how his audition went, Corden simply said, “Not good.†Ultimately, the role went to Sean Astin. Now this could be confirmation bias talking, but we find it difficult to imagine anyone other than Astin playing Frodo’s loyal gardener friend. To paraphrase Samwise slightly, there’s some good casting in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.