Entertainment Movies Cate Blanchett Loved Making Lord of the Rings 'So Much,' She Asked to Play a Second Role Cate Blanchett had a small role in the Lord of the Rings franchise — but she wanted to stick around longer By Ale Russian Ale Russian Ale Russian is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2023. Her work has appeared in Women's World, First For Women, Biography.com and the Chicago Sun-Times. People Editorial Guidelines Published on May 14, 2020 03:25PM EDT Photo: Moviestore/Shutterstock Cate Blanchett really wanted to stick around on the Lord of the Rings set. The actress played the royal elf Galadriel in the franchise, but while her role was memorable, it only required a relatively small amount of filming. On the most recent episode of Marc Maron's WTF podcast, the Oscar winner revealed she actually tried to take on another part to stay on set longer. “For me it was super quick,” Blanchett, 51, said of her time on set. “There’s not too many chicks in the Tolkien universe. I loved it so much and I did say to [director Peter Jackson and producer and writer Fran Walsh], they were doing a banquet scene with a whole lot of dwarves. I always wanted to play the bearded lady, so I asked them, ‘Could I be your hairy wife woman when you pan across the banquet table of dwarves?’ Of course I couldn’t because the timing shifted. But it takes them forever. For me, Galadriel it was just three weeks.” WATCH: Orlando Bloom Tells Cate Blanchett He Had the 'Biggest Crush' on Her During Lord of the Rings Blanchett loved her role in the fantasy franchise so much that she even took home some props — including one that wasn't hers. The actress showed off part of her collection while recently appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from her home in the U.K. “I’ve been looking for my ears, for my elf ears, and I couldn’t find them. I know the kids have hobbit feet somewhere, and I thought I’d love to show them to you. Couldn’t find them, but I did find Tauriel’s fighting blades,” Blanchett explained, holding up the golden blades to the camera as Colbert, a Lord of the Rings superfan, let out a huge gasp. Orlando, Viggo or Elijah? Cate Blanchett Plays Shag, Marry or Kill on Her Lord of the Rings Costars But he did have just one question, since Blanchett didn’t play Tauriel in the movie. “Wait, you have Tauriel’s fighting blades?” he asked. “Why do you have Tauriel’s fighting blades? Why doesn’t Evangeline Lilly have them?” “Well, I don’t know,” Blanchett said before slyly hiding the blades out of camera. “Actually, you did not see those. Don’t speak to Evangeline Lilly anytime soon.”