Why Jamie Oliver Turned Down A Role In The Hobbit

Jamie Oliver, the popular celebrity chef, was asked to cook for The Hobbit director Peter Jackson’s 50th birthday. In exchange, he would get to be a hobbit in the film. Oliver described the situation as “the worst thing that happened to me,” because he couldn’t do it.

Oliver discussed the lost opportunity while talking to Kate Hudson on his show Jamie And Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast.

“The worst thing that happened to me was that I got phoned up by the exec producer and asked did I want to go and cook for Peter Jackson’s birthday, the big birthday. And if I did, they would fly me over and I could be a hobbit in the film. But I was working, I couldn’t get out of it.”

As reported by the Inquisitr, the final episode in the Hobbit movie series, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, has been a smash at the box office, earning $56.2 million its first weekend.

Currently, the movie is battling with Disney’s Into The Woods and the war-movie Unbroken in theaters. According to the BBC, The Hobbit was bumped down to third place in the box-office in its second weekend. Number one was Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken, a biopic about Louis Zamperini, former Olympic runner who was captured by the Japanese in World War 2. In second was Disney’s Into The Woods, a film adaptation from the popular Broadway show.

Coming in third, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies still made about $41 million for its second weekend. The last of the Hobbit films promises to be a worldwide success, much like the first two Hobbit films and the original Lord of the Rings series.

Oliver missed out on being part of that massive success and worldwide viewership, albeit as a part-time hobbit. As he goes on to explain, it’s a role he truly regrets not taking.

“I really wanted to do it, I would have got right into it as well, I would have taken the costume home and said ‘Jools, let’s make love!'”

Still, no doubt some lucky person filled in to become a background hobbit in the Shire, and Oliver’s work arrangements have worked out for him, including his latest show, Jamie And Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast.

According to the Daily Mail, Jamie And Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast is a six-part series, shot in a cafe on Southend pier in Essex with Jimmy Doherty, that will be screened on January 2.

[Image via MGM]