Ethan Hawke was rumoured to be Peter Jackson's top choice to play the role of Faramir in The Lord Of The Rings, and became attached to the project when it was still in pre-production, with reports also indicating that his then-wife Uma Thurman was also under consideration for one of the major female parts (more on that later). The story first broke in July 1999 when New Line Cinema executive Mike De Luca not-so-cryptically hinted that a husband and wife team were in negotiations, before confirming the next month that it was indeed Hawke and Thurman. The actor would state in a radio interview in October that he was about to embark on a three-movie project (a one year shoot is nothing to the Boyhood star) before quickly dropping out of the running.