'Lord of the Rings' made almost $3 billion, but Cate Blanchett said the actors got paid hardly anything: 'I basically got free sandwiches.'

• The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy made almost $3 billion worldwide.
• Cate Blanchett played the elf Galadriel in all three movies.
• The Australian actor said the cast was barely paid for the first film, "The Fellowship of the Ring."

Cate Blanchett said "no one got paid" for the first " The Lord of the Rings " movie. The trilogy went on to make almost $3 billion worldwide.

The Australian actor played the elf Galadriel in the franchise based on J.R.R. Tolkien 's beloved fantasy novels.

She starred alongside some of the best-known actors of the past few decades, including Ian McKellen , Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis, and Orlando Bloom.

But the Oscar winner told "Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen" that the star-studded cast didn't get paid much for " The Fellowship of the Ring " in 1999.

Cohen asked about her biggest paycheck, which he guessed was for "The Lord of the Rings."

She replied: "Are you kidding me? No, no one got paid anything to do that movie."

Cohen asked if she received a backend payment — a deal where actors receive some of a film's profits — but Blanchett said she didn't. She said the appeal of the project was working with its director, Peter Jackson .

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

When Cohen pressed her, she added: "Women don't get paid as much as you think they do."

According to Box Office Mojo, " The Fellowship of the Ring " earned $887 million, " The Two Towers " earned $937 million, and " The Return of the King " earned $1.15 billion, for a combined total of nearly $2.99 billion worldwide.

If Blanchett and the rest of the cast had signed a backend deal to share the profits, their salaries could've been much higher.

But as the trilogy became one of the most famous franchises of all time, the actors' careers undoubtedly benefited from their time in Middle-earth.

The franchise has also continued to grow, with the Welsh actor Morfydd Clark playing a younger version of Blanchett's character, Galadriel, in Amazon's " The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power " TV series, which is set thousands of years before the events of the movies.