Cate Blanchett landed Hobbit role with 'jokey email'

Cate Blanchett landed a cameo role in 'The Hobbit' by sending a "jokey email" to director Peter Jackson.

The 55-year-old actress played Galadriel in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy and she has confessed she got excited when she heard Jackson was returning to the same fantasy world to bring the prequel to the big screen but Cate told GQ she thought "there wasn’t a snowflake’s chance in Hell of me reprising my role."

However, she decided to take a chance and send Jackson a message. She explained: "I sent kind of a jokey email to Pete, saying, ‘You know, if you want to put Galadriel in, I’m free. I’ll come over'."

Cate was amazed when the director agreed and she was given a small role alongside Sir Ian McKellen - who returned as Gandalf the Grey - in 2012's 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'.

She spent just three days on set in New Zealand, but insists it was worth the effort. Cate added: "I was [in New Zealand] for three weeks on ‘the Lord of the Rings,’ and I think I might have been on ‘The Hobbit’ for only three days, but it was really special nonetheless."

It comes after the screen star admitted she didn't get paid for her role in the first film - 2001's 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' - and only took the role because she was a fan of Jackson's work.

During an appearance on 'Watch What Happens Live', it was suggested that the role was her "biggest" paycheque to date and Cate told host Andy Cohen: "Are you kidding me? No, no one got paid anything to do that movie."

Andy then asked the Oscar-winning star if she received a piece of the back-end - a term meaning that actors receive a percentage of box office profits upon the film's release - and she insisted

replied: "No, that was way before any of that … no, nothing.I wanted to work with the guy who made 'Braindead' [Jackson]. I mean, I basically got free sandwiches and I got to keep my [prosthetic] ears. No, no one got paid anything!"