Cate Blanchett Says She Was Paid in Sandwiches for 'Lord of the Rings'

Cate Blanchett's star-making role in "Lord of the Rings" wasn't as glamorous as one would imagine ... as the actress admits she was paid practically nothing for the fantasy flick.

The A-lister made the confession during her appearance on "Watch What Happens Live" Wednesday, where she left host Andy Cohen shocked when she hinted at her minimal paycheck for the 'LOTR' franchise.

Cate confessed she and her castmates weren't "paid anything" to appear in Peter Jackson's trilogy back in the early '00s.

As Cate put it ... she simply wanted to work with the man who made "Braindead," Peter's 1992 horror-comedy ... which is why she settled on peanuts to play Elven ruler Galadriel.

We literally mean peanuts, because Cate said, "I mean, I basically got free sandwiches and I got to keep my ears."

The first 'Lord of the Rings' movie raked in more than $800 million. And then, there were follow-up flicks, 'The Two Towers' and 'Return of the King,' each bringing in around $1 billion.

According to Cate, she didn't even get a piece of the back end ... so yeah, she literally and figuratively worked for peanuts!

CB insinuated Hollywood hasn't gotten much better ... she says actresses still don't get paid as much as their male counterparts.

Cate isn't the first 'LOTR' star to speak out about the abysmal pay for the franchise. Orlando Bloom, who played Elven Prince Legolas, said on "The Howard Stern Show" last year that he made only $175k for his work in the trilogy.