Stephen Colbert took Hollywood by surprise last month when news broke of his first big post-“Late Show” move: writing a new “Lord of the Rings” movie for Peter Jackson.
And while it’s no secret that Colbert is a super fan of the franchise, he might never have pursued the passion project were it not for an unlikely source of inspiration: Bill Hader.
Sitting with “Smartless” for the podcast’s 300th episode (which dropped Monday but recorded back on March 18), Colbert was pressed by hosts Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes on his professional plans for life after CBS’ “The Late Show.” While he didn’t reveal his deal with “Lord of the Rings” helmer Jackson (that news wouldn’t break until March 24), Colbert did cryptically nod to another comedian who he thought navigated a similar transition right.
“I’ll tell you, the person who did the thing I most admire — I mean, not most admire, but the thing that really struck me is, you know what Hader did when he left ‘SNL’? He went and wrote for ‘South Park’ for a season,” Colbert said.
“I remember I saw him, I was still doing the first show [‘The Colbert Report’], and when he did that, I was sitting behind him at the Emmys, and I said, ‘Man, that’s the perfect thing to do.’ Just go serve something that you love already. See, can I be of service to people who I really, whose work I really admire? I thought that’s a great thing to do,” Colbert continued. “Don’t even worry about your status of your previous gig. Just go do something you love.”
Hader memorably returned to “South Park,” where he previously worked as a creative consultant, producer and voice actor for Season 12, as a staff writer on Season 17 after he exited “Saturday Night Live” in 2013.
Listen to Colbert’s full “Smartless” interview below:
Colbert then finally teased that he had plans up his sleeve for what’s next, but he “would never tell” the “Smartless” hosts. “Because then you would go do them. I know what Hollywood is like.”
A week later, Colbert and Jackson announced their upcoming “Lord of the Rings” feature, “The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.”
The official synopsis of the projects reads: “Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo – Sam, Merry and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”
“Shadow of the Past” will be written by Philippa Boyens, Colbert and his son Peter McGee and produced by WingNut Films in association with Spartina Industries. Colbert will be collaborating with Jackson, Fran Walsh and Boyens on the new movie.
Later in his “Smartless” interview Monday, Bateman admitted he’d never seen “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and asked Colbert to sell him on them. The comedian and soon-to-be-former late night host stepped up to the plate.
“‘The Lord of the Rings,’ that trilogy is generally considered, among the cognoscenti in this world, to be the perfect trilogy,” he said. “It’s perfectly executed.”
Colbert’s final episode of “The Late Show” is coming up fast next month after 13 years on CBS. The network announced Monday that the 11:35 p.m. hour will be filled by “Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen” beginning May 22.
