'Lord Of The Rings' Star Dominic Monaghan Says David Bowie Auditioned For Gandalf Role

It's hard to deny that director Peter Jackson did an excellent job when he cast all the right actors for The Lord of The Rings. At this point it is impossible to imagine anybody else but Ian McKellen playing Gandalf, but Lost star Dominic Monaghan believes that there was somebody else who could have made an excellent Grey Wizard: the late David Bowie.

Monaghan recently spoke with The Huffington Post, where he revealed that he actually saw Bowie go in to audition for a part in LOTR.

"As I was reading a magazine waiting, David Bowie came in and signed his little list and went in," he said before sharing which role the Thin White Duke may have auditioned for.

"I'm assuming he read for Gandalf," Monaghan said. "I can't think of anything else he would've read for."

Gandalf might be the most coveted role in the Lord of the Rings film series. The late Christopher Lee had famously told Jackson that he wanted to play the wizard and was initially dismayed to be offered the part of the wicked Saruman.

Monaghan was quick to clarify that he didn't know for sure whether Bowie auditioned for Gandalf, but he also admitted that he was utterly starstruck when he saw the Labyrinth actor.

"He may have read for something else, but I'm a huge David Bowie fan, and I was lucky enough to know his son now so just seeing him in person was pretty special to me," he said.

There are speculations that Bowie had auditioned for the part of Elrond, and although it would be a more suitable character for him to take on, the role eventually went to Matrix star Hugo Weaving. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see how Bowie would play Lord Elrond, especially in this particular scene:

Bowie passed away from liver cancer on January 10, just two days after his 69^th birthday.