Sean Connery was offered the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy along with a massive 15% stake in the box office profits, but he turned it down simply because he didn't understand the script.

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Sean Connery was offered the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy along with a massive 15% stake in the box office profits, but he turned it down simply because he didn't understand the script. By rejecting the part of the iconic wizard, he missed out on an estimated $400 million, making it one of the most expensive misunderstandings in Hollywood history. The studio was so desperate they threw absurd amounts of money at him, but apparently, reading about hobbits and magical rings was just too much for the former James Bond to process. He later doubled down on his terrible choices by starring in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a film he also didn't understand but did anyway, which effectively forced him into retirement out of sheer embarrassment