Nicolas Cage admits he turned down lead role in LOTR

Actor Nicolas Cage, who is usually choosy about his roles, has admitted that he turned down a role in Peter Jackson's iconic "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

The "Left Behind" actor revealed that he was offered the role of Aragorn in the trilogy, but he ended up turning it down, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"There were different things going on in my life at the time that precluded me from being able to travel and be away from home for three years," Cage was quoted as saying by newsweek.com.

He didn't mention specifically what those "different things" were, but it seemed like the veteran actor didn't want to leave his family so long to shoot the movies back-to-back for three years in New Zealand.

He was very grateful that he could enjoy the movies without being distracted by himself.

"But the thing is about those movies, I can watch them. I can enjoy them as an audience member. I don't really watch my own movies. And so I genuinely do have the joy of watching these - especially with 'Lord of the Rings'," he said.

Cage didn't even regret passing on the role although it might have been one of the biggest roles of his career.

"I don't really have any regrets. I think regret is a waste of time. I try to always move forward as opposed to dwelling on the past or the movies that might have happened," he said.