'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 $2.988 billion worldwide.
• Cate Blanchett played the elf, Galadriel, in all three movies.
• But the Australian actor said the actors were 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 last 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" that the star-studded cast didn't get paid much for "The Fellowship of the Ring" in 1999.

Host Andy 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. For her, 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 [prosthetic] 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 milion, "The Two Towers" earned $937 million, and "The Return of the King" earned $1.151 billion worldwide, for a combined total of $2.988 billion.

If Blanchett and the rest of the cast had signed a backend deal to share the profits, it sounds like their salaries would have been much higher.

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

The franchise has also continued to grow, with 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.