Actors Who Refused Roles Marathon

most actors would probably love a chance to score a role in HBO's Game of Thrones and there have been plenty of A-list celebs who have tried to get on the hit series to no avail but there was a time when that wasn't the case whether it was because of the grueling overseas filming schedule gripes with the cast pay scale or sheer confusion over the George R.R Martin inspired story here's a look at some actors who refused Game of Thrones roles Tams and Merchants where Emilia Clarke gained International Fame as Daenerys Targaryen Tams and Merchant was originally cast as the mother of dragons for the show's original unaired pilot the first version of the pilot was according to showrunners D.B Weiss and David benioff a massive problem and 90 percent had to be redone we had this great opportunity when HBO decided to pick up the series despite all the problems with the pilot we got a chance to go back and rewrite it when HBO re-shot Merchant dropped out of the project for unknown reasons and moved on to Salem opening the door for Clark to take over Jennifer Ely Merchant wasn't the only original Game of Thrones star to walk away after its early problems Pride and Prejudice star Jennifer Ely was also in the original pilot playing Catelyn Stark but she too walked away after the first take spelled trouble due to unavailability for the reshoots she went on to star in films such as The King's Speech The Adjustment Bureau and Zero Dark Thirty she also nabbed a part in the television series A Gifted Man so her career hasn't really been heard by her decision to skip out on the role that ultimately went to Michelle Fairley Jamie Campbell Bower another actor featured in the original pilot who had to drop out was Jamie Campbell Bower the Twilight and Harry Potter actor was originally cast for the role of night's Watchman waymar Royce in a scrapped pilot but became unavailable once reshoots were scheduled around the same time the actor was starring in the small screen series Camelot and readying for a lead role in The Mortal Instruments so he was replaced by Rob OS Leary it might not have made much of a difference for his career anyway since Royce was killed in the show's opening scene maybe that was an omen Brian Cox given his impressive resume Scottish actor Brian Cox might seem like a good fit for one of the Seven Kingdoms and somebody on the show must have agreed he admitted he was once offered a role early on but turned it down over the lack of loot he told vodzilla quote stupidly I turned it down in the early days because they didn't pay enough money now they have more money and I was silly I was silly it was silly because I'm a complete addict now end quote Cox admitted that he regrets missing out on his chance especially since it's featured some of his old friends he hopes he hasn't closed the door on that opportunity for good quote I don't know what I could play maybe I could do I mean I just watched my friend Ian McShane and I thought ooh Ian's in it so I settled down to watch him and I thought Ian did that and immediately I thought God they must have paid him well because I know Ian I'm still waiting for the call for Game of Thrones and if they've got more decent money I'll be there end quote hopefully they listen because seriously no one wants to be on the receiving end of an angry Brian Cox and you my friend don't know crap about life and why the are you wasting my two precious hours with your movie Dominic West while it's not quite known Which Game of Thrones role Dominic West was originally courted for many suspect the affair star may have been asked to appear as Mance Raider the former Knights Watchman who became known as the king Beyond the Wall for his affiliation with the free folk whatever the role though West told Huffington Post in 2012 that he had to decline the lovely part because of family obligations quote I was offered something on Game of Thrones and unfortunately I hadn't seen it but my nephew and his father said gosh Game of Thrones is the only great show on and I felt terrible because I just turned them down it was a lovely part a good part I'm going to regret it my problem is I've got four kids and at the moment I'm reluctant to be away from home for a long time I can get a lot of work in London and still be at home end quote Jillian Anderson X-Files star Jillian Anderson also had to say no thanks to a chance at Game of Thrones due to her obligations as a parent she told stylus magazine in 2013 quote whether it's Game of Thrones or Downton Abbey my 18 year old cannot believe I've turned down things she loves but with a four and six-year-old I can't justify spending that kind of time away from home unless I'm working with Martin Scorsese end quote while Anderson didn't share which role she might have been offered many speculate that due to her famous red locks she may have been a match for Melisandre the Red Witch there is someone I work with I like his name is Jon Snow but I'm not really sure he's the right guy why not I'm pretty sure he's dead Jonathan price Game of Thrones fans will undoubtedly recognize Jonathan price as the actor who portrayed the duplicitous High Sparrow in Seasons five and six but believe it or not he was actually asked to join the show long before that and turned it down as he told BBC Radio 4 quote I'd said no to the very original series of Game of Thrones and all I did was flip through and look at the names look on these strange names strange dialogue and I thought oh it's not for me end quote what changed his mind he said was the high Sparrow's personality and presence quote hi Sparrow it's a great character he comes into the story everyone's well established the goodies and the baddies and they're all baddies in some shape or form and High Sparrow comes in as again quite relevant because of the present Pope who presents himself as a man of the people who will get down washing their feet and stuff yet he is this incredibly powerful figure who has the wherewithal to dispense Justice end quote her data weeks this one simply has to hurt the Tudors and Penny Dreadful actress perdita weeks was originally cast to Star as Rosalind Frey edmure Tully's wife but she backed out because her commitment to another series called the Heretics required her to be on location in Romania for six months one problem the Romanian government refused to let them film and the whole show got scrapped anyway weeks told the Daily Mail in 2012 quote I gave up a role on Game of Thrones to take the part and even rang the producers to beg for it back once I'd heard the news about Romania but it was too late end quote the role was ultimately played by Alexandra Doling although weeks might not have missed out on much the character has appeared in just one episode and was notably absent when her husband returned in season six Ray Stevenson Irish native Ray Stevenson was also given a chance to star in Game of Thrones in its earliest episodes but he told movies.com that he turned it down because he was simply not into the TV scene at the time and that he's not willing to join it now since it's already two developed at this point quote I was offered a role I also saw them before they even started very early on I would rather have been cast at the beginning I think it's wonderful but it's not something I would come into at this point I don't know if I would add anything to it at this stage I would rather have been involved in the growth of a show Even though everyone gets bumped off left right and Center I kept seeing all the people I knew from Rome in it but I can't man I can't end quote given that Stevenson joined both Dexter and Black Sails in progress though it's possible he could still change his mind Lily Allen according to singer Lily Allen she turned down the chance to star in Game of Thrones opposite her real-life brother Alfie Allen she would have been Yara gray joy to his Theon because of the ick Factor associated with the rules she wrote in a Reddit AMA in 2014 I've been asked to do a Game of Thrones Cameo they asked me if I'd be interested in playing theon's sister and I felt uncomfortable because it would have had to go on a horse and he would have touched me up and once they told me what was entailed I said no thanks then again she may have been pulling the internet's leg that time her brother himself later came forward to dispel her claim telling vulture that her words were true and that Gemma Whalen was always the original choice for the role Landing a role in a Marvel movie means potential stardom for up-and-coming actors renewed popularity for aging vets and a fat paycheck for anyone willing to Don a cool metal Spirit but despite Marvel's impact on the modern movie business not every actors came to put on a mask and do battle with alien armies here are a few actors who refused big Marvel roles Ross and Crowe these days Marvel movies are guaranteed to bring in big numbers at the box office but before the year 2000 that wasn't necessarily the case fortunately things started to change for Marvel when Brian singers X-Men first hit the big screen it's credited as the film that gave rise to the modern era of superhero movie and transformed Hugh Jackman from a stage performer into a Hollywood a-lister but according to the actor it was pure like he got the part in the first place at one point the filmmakers turned to Russ and Crow to play Wolverine who was fresh off the set of gladiator however Crow turns apart down for a reason that's well a little weird I've just done a character who's uh you know animal totem was the wolf that fellow Max and Gladiator to want to be connected to a wolf again of course Crow further clarified his reasoning and plus it's the cartoon it was a cartoon and I'm not really into those yeah but that didn't really stop him from appearing in Man of Steel luckily for superhero fans everywhere he did recommend that Brian Singer go with you Jackman food previously auditioned for the part Matt Damon as hard as we tried no one can forget 2003's dead up while the Ben Affleck flick did well financially critics tore it apart when asked about the film in 2016 Affleck responded there's a hated Daredevil so much you know what I mean I mean no you know I did okay don't feel bad for me turns out that Affleck could have been spared all that embarrassment if his best friend had accepted the role first Matt Damon was offered the part of Daredevil and it was a pretty tempting deal Jin's diamond and Affleck considered dead him to be their favorite superhero but when Damon was approached with the project reportedly he just wasn't impressed with the script both familiar enough with the director Affleck couldn't say no and has come to regret that decision but at least Daredevil's failure inspired him to get his next superhero movie right Joseph Gordon-Levitt over the years there have been a lot of whispers about Joseph Gordy Levitt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but jgl has denied them all from Doctor Strange to Ant-Man nevertheless according to deadline the actor was in the running for the role Peter Quill AKA starboard which he allegedly turned down to play the character of Johnny in Sin City a Dame to kill them which probably wasn't a great choice for Gordon Levitt but we're pretty happy with Chris Pratt Olivia Munn when Deadpool hit theaters in early 2016 Ruby goers went wild so the film's raunchy humor and bloody shootouts X-Men apocalypse on the other hand wasn't quite so successful limping away from theaters with a Rotten Tomato score of 48 but none of these numbers really mattered to Olivia Munn before signing up to play the role of psylocke in X-Men man was first offered the role of Vanessa Carlisle Deadpool's Scrappy girlfriend munt turned the part down in favor of playing the spandex clap button saying that she wasn't interested in playing the protagonist's eye candy instead she wanted to be a character with powerful abilities extreme fighting skills and a costume that's pretty much Underpants Mel Gibbs it was a crew of the Marvel's movies when Award winner Anthony Hopkins agreed to join the MCU as Odin Orr's father and king of Asgard while he seems like an obvious pick for the role he wasn't the only actor in the running for the all father in an interview with the guardian Mel Gibson explained that he was asked to play Odin but as he succinctly put it I didn't do it the first glance the action star seems like an odd pick to play the stately Norse God but with a solid background in Shakespearean theater Gibson probably would have felt comfortable with Odin's aristocratic dialogue of course with all the controversy surrounding the actor it was probably best to the MCU that Gibson turned down the part Jessica Chastain Iron Man 3 was the second highest grossing domestic movie of 2013 and its praise and Prophet is an undeserved audiences enjoyed witty dialogue a brilliant plot twist and one of the greatest ending set pieces of Marvel movie history the only thing it really lacked was Jessica Chastain the studio wanted Chastain to play the part of Maya Hansen a scientist who may or may not be on Tony Stark's side unfortunately Chastain had to pass on the role because she was just too busy she said to her Facebook fans I know many of you want me to be involved and I'm sorry to disappoint you hopefully there will be another Marvel film in my future of course it isn't like Chastain's decision hurt her career after she turned down the role it went to Rebecca Hall originally Maya Hansen was supposed to be the ultimate villain of the film but someone up the chain of command ordered writer director Shane black to make the bad guy a nude because female action figures supposedly don't sell that well leaving Hall in a much less important role than anticipated Joaquin Phoenix when Marvel Studios Was preparing to introduce audiences to Dr Stephen Strange there were a few names at the top of their list they were allegedly interested in the likes of Jared Leto and Ryan Gosling but it seems Joaquin Phoenix came even closer to Landing the gig the oscar-nominated star ultimately decided the path in his sorcerer's Supreme because he didn't feel he would do well in his Studio full of green screens and the role went to Benedict Cumberbatch however there was a brief bit of time where it seemed Cumberbatch wouldn't be able to wear the cloak of levitation as he'd already signed up to play Hamlet in a London Stage production to accommodate cumberbatch's schedule the studio ended up pushing back Doctor Strange's release date Emily Blunt Marvel realized Emily Blunt's actions stopped attention long before the rest of his as Kevin feige and John Favreau prepared to shoot Iron Man 2. they offered the English actress one of the biggest roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Natasha Romanov AKA Black Widow unfortunately for blunt the timing just didn't work out she was busy with the Jack black comedy Gulliver's Travels and had to pass on playing the Russian super spy which was a pretty huge mistake Marvel still really wanted Glenn to join the MCU so when it came time to film Captain America the First Avenger execs asked if she'd be interested in playing Steve Rogers capable love interest Peggy Carter once again the timing was off and the part went to Haley Atwell in a 2012 interview with vulture one admitted that she still owe me to a superhero role as long as she gets to play a hero saying usually the female parts in a superhero film feel thankless she's the pill girlfriend while the guys are whizzing around saving the world Matthew McConaughey if you've seen Guardians of the Galaxy it's easy to see why people are incredibly psyched for its sci-fi Sequel and it seems like any actor in Hollywood would gladly sign up for a trip to Xander for example both Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell will appeal alongside Chris Pratt but despite all the excitement not every actor is willing to soar off into space with Star-Lord in an interview with Playboy Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey said she was offered a role in volume 2 but turned it down to appear in an adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower saying I like Guardians of the Galaxy but what I saw was it's successful and now we've got room to make a colorful part for another big name actor I'd feel like an amendment but konahay didn't say which party was offered in volume 2 though I most agree he would have played a villain still the guardian sequel should be plenty of fun even without McConaughey in the filmed though it would be a lot cooler if you signed up [Music] love him or hate him there's no denying Quentin Tarantino is one of the most influential directors of all time so it goes without saying that many actors would love to be in one of his movies these however are the stars who passed up that golden opportunity Michael Madsen and Tarantino first met when the actor auditioned for the role of Mr Pink in Reservoir Dogs according to Madsen after doing his best to land the gig Tarantino responded you're not Mr Pink you're Mr blonde and if you're not Mr blonde then you're not in the movie Madsen made the wise decision and forever scarred moviegoers with a straight razor and can of gasoline and he evidently impressed Tarantino since the auteur wanted Madsen to play Pulp Fiction's dancing Hitman Vincent Vega and you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese and what do they call it they call it Royale which unfortunately for Madsen he'd already signed up to play vigil Earp in Wyatt Earp a western starring Kevin Costner as the titular Lawman according to the Daily Beast it took a long time for Tarantino to forgive Madsen for turning down Vincent Vega Madsen probably regretted his choice as well since Pulp Fiction is widely hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time of course it was probably for the best after all in hindsight it's hard to imagine anyone other than John Travolta playing the smarmy Hitman plus if we'd seen Michael Madsen dancing again we probably would have suffered some pretty traumatizing flashbacks Warren Beatty is one of the most iconic members of the Tinseltown Elite and as one of the biggest actors of the 60s and 70s he's appeared in some truly memorable films for example there's Bonnie and Clyde Reds and McCabe and Mrs Miller but for all the great movies he's worked on Beatty has turned down a shocking number of Classics as you might have guessed Beatty also said no to Quentin Tarantino so what role did Tarantino offer Beatty well the director wanted him to play the titular antagonist and Kill Bill in fact he'd written the part with Beatty in mind only instead of creating the character as a Kung Fu killer he'd written a villain who was a bit more Suave and sophisticated whom according to Tarantino was quote much more of a James Bond type of character tragically for Tarantino Beatty wasn't interested in shooting scenes in China preferring to stay in the United States with his kids however Beatty does take credit for the casting of David Carradine claiming he suggested Tarantino picked the martial arts actor if so it was a genius recommended station and Tarantino rewrote the script so the character would be a better fit you're not a bad person you're a terrific person you're my favorite person people often forget that Sylvester Stallone is a great actor while the razzies are happy to hurl Awards his way Stallone has more than proved his acting shops in movies like Rocky First Blood Copland and Creed as he made missteps along the way more than a few but he's also the guy who reminded Roger Ebert of a young Marlon Brando in other words the man has genuine talent and a spotty track record which is the perfect type of actor to star in a Tarantino movie but life is cruel and we've never gotten the Stallone Tarantino pairing we deserve of course we shouldn't blame the director for this travesty in an interview with the Canadian magazine McLean's Stallone revealed he was offered not one but two roles in separate Tarantino films according to slide the director first asked if he wanted to play the part of Lewis The Quiet yet Psychopathic Thug in Jackie Brown Stallone turned him down for undisclosed reasons and the part of Gara ended up in Robert De Niro's more than capable hands undaunted Tarantino later off Stallone the Death Proof part of stuntman Mike McKay a serial killer who dispatches of young women with a specialized stunt car when Stallone learned about those gory details he told Tarantino he wasn't interested explain to McLean's I have two daughters and this fellow his hobby is putting teenagers in his car and smashing them into a wall that's not going to work instead the part went to Kurt Russell who after coming off movies like Miracle Sky High and dreamer was probably Overjoyed to Rika little Mayhem this car is 100 Death Proof imagine if you will a world where Leonardo DiCaprio played Colonel Hans Landa you can't can you it's practically impossible to see anyone other than Christoph Waltz portraying the Bingo loving monster but according to MTV Tarantino originally considered giving DiCaprio the part before choosing to go with someone who could speak German Tarantino also thought about giving the role of Bridget Von hammersmark to Nostalgia Kinski and he considered both Simon Pegg and Tim Roth as possibilities for the part of Lieutenant Archie Hickox however for one reason or another those actors all fell by the wayside and the roles went to Diane Kruger and Michael Fassbender respectively but here's the weirdest casting tidbit of all Once Upon a Time Tarantino wanted Adam Sandler for the role of Sergeant Dani donowitz at first glance the idea seems ridiculous but despite movies like Jack and Jill Sandler really is a skilled actor who can do good work if he puts his mind to it and if you've seen punch drunk love you know he can certainly smash a restroom helping Sandler would trade his tire iron for a baseball bat Tarantino made the character a Bostonian because as he explained to Howard Stern Sandler does a great Boston accent but alas Sandler dashed Tarantino's dreams when he signed on to do funny people instead the part went to Eli Roth who did a bang-up job if Adam Sandler can't beat up Bob Barker then he probably isn't ready for the Third Reich just yet I ain't you bad enough no [Music] now you've had enough you've probably heard that Will Smith opted to stay on the sidelines when the wachowskis offered him the part of Neo in The Matrix series but you might not have known that when Tarantino Came Calling he couldn't convince the actor to say yes either Tarantino wanted Smith to play the part of Django in a spaghetti western Django Unchained according to a 2015 Interview With The Hollywood Reporter Smith quote wanted to make that movie so badly but he turned it down because in his opinion it had to be a love story not a Vengeance story violence begets violence I just couldn't connect to violence being the answer love had to be the answer that certainly sounds nice and perhaps Tarantino's penchant for Bloodshed really did affect Smith's decision but if you go back to 2013 you'll see Smith gave a very different excuse for why he passed on Django Unchained according to an interview with Entertainment Weekly he turned down the role because it wasn't big enough he felt Kristoff waltz's Dr King Schultz was actually the main character especially since it's Schultz who shoots the film's big bad guy this didn't sit well with Smith who tried to convince Tarantino to change things up as Smith put it quote I was like no Quentin please I need to kill the bad guy sounds a little different than violence begets violence eh [Music] [Music] Will Smith wasn't the only major star to turn down Django Unchained it seems like every actor in Hollywood was offered a part only to pass at the last second for example Joseph Gordon-Levitt was originally going to play a small supporting role but left to work on his directorial debut Don John similarly Rizza of the Wu-Tang Clan was meant to play a small part but had to leave to edit his martial arts movie The Man with the Iron Fists according to Indy wire So many actors were forced to jump ship because filming on Django Unchained went massively over schedule in fact the movie took so long to make that Tarantino was forced to scrap an entire character originally the film was supposed to feature a young man named Scotty Harmony a gambler who takes possession of Broom-Hilda jango's wife only to lose her to the villainous Calvin candy in a card game the role was originally meant to be played by Jonah Hill but just like Rizza and Gordon Levitt he was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts only to return in a minor role for one of the funniest scenes in Tarantino's whole filmography fee anybody bring any extra bags no nobody brought an extra bag I'm just asking ultimately Tarantino decided to go with Sasha Baron Cohen as Harmony which obviously meant the character needed a bit of a rewrite originally Harmony was supposed to be quote sexually inexperienced and naive and Baron Cohen doesn't exactly fit that bill but scheduling conflicts struck yet again when the actor had to leave to promote his upcoming film The Dictator forced with setback after setback Tarantino cut Harmony out of the film completely and unfortunately that wasn't the only character who didn't make the final draft in the original screenplay for Django Unchained Ace Woody worked directly under Calvin candy as the guy who taught slaves how to fight to the death if Woody had made it to the Silver Screen there's no doubt we would have witnessed some brutal acts of violence as the screenplay has him tortured Django but just like Scotty Harmony the part of Ace Woody wasn't meant to be all because Tarantino couldn't keep an actor around long enough to play the part at first Woody was supposed to be played by Kevin Costner while he's been in a handful of westerns Dances with Wolves Silverado open range it's not all that often Costner plays a villain too bad he never got the chance to go toe-to-toe with Jamie Foxx because scheduling got in the way again possibly due to projects like Hatfields and McCoys as a result the part of Woody was given to Kurt Russell but the star evidently got sick of how long it was taking for Tarantino to get anything done allegedly Russell left the project in frustration once again Tarantino was forced to erase one of his characters but since he had a lot of good dialogue lying around he decided to give those extra lines to Billy Crash the villain played by Walton Goggins and while kosner and Russell would have been great as Ace Woody we really can't complain the more Goggins the better while Viggo Mortensen has committed his fair share of on-screen Bloodshed be it against Orcs and Lord of the Rings or mobsters and Eastern Promises somehow the actor and Tarantino have never gotten together though it's not for lack of trying in an interview with Grantland Mortensen revealed he actually auditioned for two parts in Reservoir Dogs and while he doesn't remember which roles he tried out for he did try to play one as Hispanic Tarantino decided to pass on the actor but a few years later the situation was reversed this time the director was interested in having Mortensen play quote a ruthless gang leader in the hateful eight as there's only one gang leader in the film it's safe to assume Tarantino wanted Mortensen to play the ruthless Jodi domergue unfortunately Mortensen had to skip on the French lessons as he was busy promoting two smaller films he'd recently made hauha and far from Men Mortenson told Grant land I knew as a producer and an actor that I needed to do that for those movies to have a chance to be seen Tarantino wanted to start shooting at the end of the year and do rehearsal before that I just couldn't do that schedule-wise the role eventually went to Channing Tatum and the actor pulled it off with psychotic charm despair if you was a cat what just happened here when it comes one of your nine lives when writing the screenplay for the hateful eight Tarantino had an actor in mind for every single character except two he wasn't sure who would play Bob though the role went to Demi and vichir and he didn't know who was going to play the female lead Daisy domergue while pondering his predicament Tarantino considered Jennifer Lawrence for the part and he even met with the actress to discuss the possibility of her squaring off against Samuel L Jackson however as Tarantino explained Lawrence was working on Joy and promoting The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part Two in other words she was swamped and couldn't spare anytime while he was probably disappointed at first Tarantino eventually decided Lawrence probably wasn't right for the part he told Entertainment Weekly I'm glad I didn't cast somebody that young I think I absolutely positively made the right choice as far as the ages of the characters instead the director went with an older actress 53 year old Jennifer Jason Lee who earned an Oscar nod for her Sinister performance as the calculating outlaw the Lord of the Rings trilogy has become so ingrained in popular culture that it's difficult to imagine how it might have looked with a different cast but several notable actors turned down big roles here are some of the names who could have resided in Middle Earth according to reports Sean Connery was offered the role of Gandalf before it went to Ian McKellen Peter Jackson was apparently so keen on Landing the former Bond actor that he convinced new line to offer Connery a 15 slice of the box office takings plus a 30 million dollar pay packet the Lord of the Rings trilogy made just shy of three billion worldwide so it was a pretty costly decision especially when you consider the fact that Connery went on to star in the career ending the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen instead so why did the iconic Scot turn down the chance to play tolkien's most famous wizard ah I'll take swords for 400. in 2012 a retired Connery admitted that he said no to the Lord of the Rings because he just couldn't get his head around the sprawling Story the actor said I read the book I read the script I saw the movie I still don't understand it Ian McKellen I believe is marvelous in it when McClellan was asked about Jackson's pursuit of Connery during an interview with total film he joked that the films would have been quote very different had Connery chosen to take on the role saying Gandalf would have come from Scotland for a start you shall not pass doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it stay back if you value your life Christopher Plummer grew up reading the Lord of the Rings and has admitted to being a huge fan of tolkien's world but he still chose to turn down the opportunity to play Gandalf when Peter Jackson Came Calling years later the actor revealed that he had an issue with the level of commitment required for Plummer spending three years in New Zealand at his age just wasn't an option he explained to Conan O'Brien I thought there are other countries I'd also like to visit before I quote he added did that the quote absolutely marvelous Ian McKellen brought a warmth to the wizard that he himself may not have been able to produce I might have been a little cold and imperious plumber has still done some memorable work since passing on rings not that he had anything left to prove after carving out his illustrious career he was nominated for a prime time Emmy for playing Cardinal Bernard law in the Catholic Church abuse drama our fathers in 2005 and in 2012 he scooped up his first Academy Award triumphing in the best supporting actor category for beginners his win made him the oldest actor to take home a competitive Oscar Plummer almost beat his own record in 2018 when he was nominated for all the money in the world a role he famously took over for a scandal hit Kevin Spacey at the last minute but he was beaten by Sam Rockwell for three Billboards outside ebbing Missouri Peter Jackson is said to have attempted to convince Daniel Day-Lewis to take on the role of Aragon on numerous occasions supposedly the three-time best actor winner repeatedly spurned his advances according to the One Ring which had the inside track on all things the Lord of the Rings back when the trilogy was still in development in October 1999 A source told the Tolkien fan site that producers had made one final push to get Day Lewis on board stating ddl has been offered the Aragorn role again he has been offered the Middle Earth to take the role The Producers think he'll say no again but they don't want to miss the chance to try him Jay Lewis addressed the long-running Aragorn rumors over a decade later confirming that he was indeed offered the part speaking to MTV's Josh Horowitz in 2009 the notoriously picky method actor said that he rejected the role because big franchise films just aren't his bag he explained they can be fantastically entertaining for the people who love to see them but it's not for me if I found myself working on a film and during the course of that work I was bored because I didn't really know what the hell I was involved in I would find that infinitely demoralizing and it might well make me decide to pack my bags Day Lewis retired from acting in 2017. the idea of Nicholas Cage playing Aragorn might sound like nightmare fuel but believe it or not this almost came to pass cage was a headliner at the time Fresh Off starring roles in Conair Face-Off and snake eyes no yes no come on this is not fair man come on taking the lead in a big budget epic like the Lord of the Rings would have been the next logical step for him but he was forced to turn down Peter Jackson's offer because he had quote family obligations that he couldn't ignore it wasn't the only huge role he passed on either cage also said no to the Matrix the actor said both are great movies but they both shop for great quantities of time I mean years Australia was The Matrix and New Zealand was The Lord of the Rings cage expanded on his explanation during a 2015 interview with Newsweek where he said of The Lord of the Rings 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 he has absolutely no regrets however saying I get to enjoy the movies as an audience member because I don't watch my own movies had his schedule been different perhaps the state of his career today would be different too For Better or Worse cage was unable to take the part and we're left wondering what bizarre accent he might have given the future king of Gondor by the time New Zealand native Russell Crowe was approached about the Aragorn vacancy the Lord of the Rings budget was starting to look a little stretched they didn't have enough cash to give Crow a suitable upfront fee so producers offered him a percentage of the takings instead it wasn't enough to tempt him though years later Crow conceded that it would have been a risk well worth taking in 2011 the actor delivered a lecture about his career in the business to film students at England's Durham University according to the telegraph Crow talked about turning down the Aragorn role joking that he wouldn't have needed to do paid appearances had he agreed to newline's offer of 10 of The Lord of the Rings prophets so why didn't he Crow didn't reveal the reasoning behind his costly decision until 2019 when Howard Stern decided to probe him about it I didn't think Peter Jackson actually wanted me on the film because I think he was forced into talking to me because there was a moment in time when any everybody wanted me and everything Crow knew that something wasn't right when he spoke to Jackson over the phone about the part though he said he had an instinct Jackson wanted someone else for the part Viggo Mortensen Kate Winslet started getting linked with a possible appearance in The Lord of the Rings as soon as new line announced that Peter Jackson was going to spearhead its ambitious three movie Project the director gave the British Starlet her big break when he cast her in 1994's Heavenly Creatures a psychological drama based on a famous New Zealand case involving two teenage killers by the time Jackson started casting for the Lord of the Rings Winslet was a huge star having been nominated for Academy Awards in the best supporting actress and best leading actress categories for 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 1997's Titanic respectively she had her pick of projects at the time and the Lord of the Rings just wasn't appealing enough Winslet was reportedly offered the role of Rohan shield made in eowin but she had some commitment issues according to an email allegedly written by former New Line Cinema president of production Michael DeLuca the supposed email which was forwarded to the Lord of the Rings fan site for one ring by an inside source read Winslet's unavailable I'm afraid I think she passed on the project due to the length of time it takes some people might view that as a gross error of judgment on Winslet's part but her career didn't suffer as a result she's been nominated for another four Oscars in the years since winning one Uma Thurman certainly has a high fantasy look about her it's easy to imagine the actress as Galadriel but that's not the part that Peter Jackson had in mind for her the director wanted Thurman to play aowin the same character that Kate Winslet was approached about Thurman also turned the part down though unlike Winslet it wasn't just a Time issue she and her then husband Ethan Hawke had just welcomed their first daughter Maya when the offer was made presenting the new mother with a difficult choice in the end Thurman decided to put Family First and reject Jackson's overtures though she later admitted that the decision still haunts her she confirmed to MTV in 2008. yeah I was asked it just caught me at the wrong moment I wish I had done it oh I truly wish I could have been able to take that plunge and maybe I should have but I just couldn't at the time when she appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert almost a decade later the Kill Bill star admitted that rejecting the Lord of the Rings was quote one of the worst decisions of her entire career I just had my first child and I just I don't know I was a little housebound at one stage husband and wife team Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke looked set to appear in The Lord of the Rings together with the latter confirming his planned involvement at the Toronto Film Festival Hawke not only revealed that he would be playing boromia's younger brother faramir a role that eventually went to Australian actor David Wenham he also let slip that tolkien's enigmatic supporting character Tom Bombadil had been cut from the screenplay the actor went on to gush over the author's work claiming he had been a fan of the Tolkien series since childhood despite his obvious excitement Hawk pulled out of the pitcher perhaps leaving his wife at home to care for their newborn daughter after she had turned down a part in the same movie wasn't an option for the actor who takes Parenthood so seriously that he was inspired to write a book about it his now ex-wife has admitted that she regrets rejecting the Lord of the Rings but does Hawk feel the same he didn't explicitly say that he wished he had taken the faramir role but when he sat down with Variety in 2018 he revealed that he was still waiting for his big Blockbuster moment saying before I die I would really like to give a meaningful performance inside a really commercial film Lucy Lawless is best known for starring in the much-loved Xena Warrior Princess the New Zealander seemed to be the perfect fit she had plenty of fantasy experience and the kind of flawless features that Galadriel is known for in the novels but it wasn't meant to be sometimes people do things that they regret Lawless was pregnant when Jackson approached her about the role and the director clearly failed to sell the Lord of the Rings to her because she forgot to turn up for the audition in a 2003 interview with hot celebs magazine Lawless revealed that she also turned down a chance to appear in Fox's franchise opener X-Men at the time despite knowing that she probably wouldn't get another shot at the big leagues she said you know what might happen by the time I'm ready and want to do a multi-year contract they won't want me but what can I do I've turned down great things it's not worth it if your children are miserable her prediction came true and although Lawless is still working today having starred in the Australian crime series my life is murder in 2019 and voiced an alien queen in two 2020 episodes of Star Wars resistance her career could have been a whole lot different if she had agreed to portray tolkien's telepathic elf sure it's nice to see actors starring in roles they were almost destined to play Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator Sylvester Stallone is Rocky but sometimes an actor only has a shot and an iconic role after someone else turns it down although everything worked out in the way it was supposed to in the end we still can't help wondering what could have been if these actors didn't say no no no no number one Thomas Jane as Don Draper when we think of Mad Men We Think Of The Dashing and duplicitous Jon Hamm but ham told Mark Maron on the WTF podcast back in 2011 that the role which gave him his break almost went to someone else and they went to Thomas Jane uh for it and they were told that Thomas Jane does not do television whether or not that's true Jane later did take a regular television role starring on HBO's hung for three seasons number two Matthew Broderick and John Cusack as Walter White after earning sitcom Fame and Malcolm in the Middle Brian Cranston made a huge career Elite when he was cast as science teacher turned meth Kingpin Walter White on Breaking Bad while Show creator Vince Gilligan always wanted Cranston The Hollywood Reporter revealed that AMC wasn't interested instead the network wanted Matthew Broderick or John Cusack and take on the lead role luckily for Cranston both baby-faced actors passed and after exec saw cranston's dramatic work in The X-Files everyone was on board or else number three Emily Blunt as Black Widow Scarlett Johansson totally and literally kills as the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Natasha Romanov AKA The Black Widow but the role was almost given to Emily Blunt who had to back out she's fine with it though as she explained the Screen Rant quote I didn't do it at the time because it wasn't the right time and it was contracted to do something else but Scarlett has done such a phenomenal job she's it number four Annette Benning as Catwoman for many Michelle Pfeiffer is the only Catwoman having stolen the show in Tim Burton's Batman Returns but as Blaster points out the role was originally intended for Annette Benning who dropped out when she became pregnant with her first child right before shooting started Pfeiffer had been gunning for the role from the moment she'd read the script so she slipped right in number 5. Will Smith as Neo it's true Will Smith turned down the iconic Sci-Fi Action Fleck The Matrix everything's turned out just fine with the Fresh Prince since then but he explained his decision to wired in 2004 quote The Matrix is a difficult concept to pitch in the pitch I just didn't see it I watched Kiana's performance and very rarely do I say this but I would have messed it up I would have absolutely messed up the Matrix instead he saved that honor for the Wild Wild West number six duggery Scott as Wolverine originally Douglas Scott was tapped to play Wolverine in the original 2000 film X-Men but after scheduling conflicts with his role in Mission Impossible 2 the gig went to Hugh Jackman now one of the biggest stars in the world no hard feelings though Scott told the Daily Record quote I like you he's a really lovely guy it wasn't as if he stole it off me basically my movie ran over and I had to pull out speaking of Japan number 7 Hugh Jackman as James Bond with Duggar Scott we had someone passing on Wolverine to take on the role of a spy here we have Wolverine passing on the role of the most iconic spy in the world Entertainment Weekly reports that Japan was considered for 007 back when he was filming the second X-Men film Jackman would have replaced Pierce broston after Die Another Day but Jackman didn't feel that it was the right time still he remarked that it was a very hard role to pass up comic Geeks kept their Wolverine and the rest of the world got Daniel Craig number eight Tom Hanks as Jerry Maguire writer and director Cameron Crowe originally wrote Jerry Maguire with Tom Hanks in mind unfortunately Hanks was a little too old to play the young upbeat sports agent that Tom Cruise made famous Hanks declined the project after reading an early draft of the script speaking with Empire magazine in April of 1997 Crow said Hank's past because he didn't like the film's Romantic subplot between Maguire and Renee Zellweger's Dorothy Boyd number nine Pamela Anderson as Dana Scully before agents Mulder and Scully started searching for aliens in The X-Files Fox approached Baywatch star Pamela Anderson to play the female FBI agent entertainment Wheatley reported that Jillian Anderson was the one who revealed Fox's original choice for the character quote she was someone who was more familiar to them in terms of what was on TV at the time they were looking for someone bustier taller leggier than me luckily Pam passed on the role and Jillian's intelligent but skeptical demeanor helped provide a great contrast to David duchovny's Mulder leading the show to 62 Emmy nominations and finally number 10 Jean-Claude Van Damme as the predator believe it or not the muscles from Brussels was originally supposed to play the alien hunter in the 1987 classic Predator Jean-Claude Van Damme arrived on set thinking that he was going to use his martial arts skills to fight a bunch of soldiers it wasn't too long after that when he found out he'd be wearing a giant silly monster suit instead Van Damme ran around in a red rubber suit for a while but he hated the role after all it was a hot suit and the movie was filmed in a Mexican jungle and he thought he'd be playing a human eventually Van Damme volunteered to body double for Arnold Schwarzenegger in a few of the movie's explosive stunts Instead The Predator suit was later redesigned for Kevin Peter Hall whose near seven foot tall height made him Tower over his co-stars and was only slightly more intimidating than Hall's other most notable role from an NBA star to the King of Pop these famous figures turned down the chance to work with the one and only Adam Sandler the 1995 comedy Billy Madison tells the story of dim-witted Billy a privileged deadbeat poised to inherit a chain of hotels from his father Brian despite Billy having graduated high school Brian reveals that he had bribed Philly's school to let him pass his classes now Billy must prove himself capable of running the business by going back to school and passing all 12 grades within six months if he fails the business will belong to the hotel's evil vice president Eric Gordon you're going to give the company to Eric he is a bad bad man initially Sandler wanted Bob Odenkirk to be cast as the villainous Eric as the two had gotten along during their time on SNL but Odenkirk far from the household name he is today was vetoed by Studio Executives after an extensive series of auditions Sandler fell in love with the performance of an up-and-coming actor named Philip Seymour Hoffman but Executives were reluctant to hire him Sandler was able to convince them to hire Hoffman but a new problem quickly arose Hoffman ended up turning down the roll in fly on the wall a podcast hosted by David Spade and Dana Carvey Sandler detailed how he called up Hoffman personally to see what was going on he recalled I go hey I saw your tape you're so great buddy and they said you don't want to do it so do you want to do it and he goes oh I can't I just don't want to the role ended up being delightfully filled by The West Wing Star Bradley Whitford fortunately Hoffman and Sandler would eventually get the chance to work together in Paul Thomas Anderson's romantic dramedy Punch Drunk Love shut up will you shut up shut up shut shut shut up following the highly successful Billy Madison was Adam Sandler's classic 1996 Sports comedy Happy Gilmore the film Chronicles the Journey of the titular failed ice hockey player Happy who soon discovers his talents transfer better to the world of professional golf his more rambunctious style rankles his uptight competitor Shooter McGavin played by Christopher McDonald who resorts to nefarious means to get Gilmore off the course McDonald's portrayal of shooter is truly iconic but it almost didn't happen in an interview with Alex Withrow for end so it begins McDonald confirmed that he had turned down the role twice explaining I was tired I wanted to see more of my family fortunately McDonald changed his mind after winning a particularly competitive game of golf he continued that high was something else so with my golf shoes still on I went in the locker room called my agent and said is that golf movie still available because I just won this tournament and I'm feeling a little bit well shooter-ish I've worked hard my whole life paid my dues and now it's Shooter's turn and Shooter's not about to let his Reign at the top be spoiled by some freak Sideshow clown McDonald was cast and movie Magic was made McDonald enjoyed the freedom he was given to improvise making sure his character didn't just play all of the cliched bad guy tropes though he initially declined the role he now looks back on the film as a blessing saying we really had fun with that one and the fact that that movie is still on people's minds is great after Christopher McDonald initially turned down the role of Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore Studio Executives began looking for a possible replacement deciding to take a big swing the studio reached out to Kevin Costner legendary star of sports films like Field of Dreams American flyers and Bull Durham casting Costner as a golf player sounds like a perfect fit and Costner himself agreed but he still didn't agree to the role of shooter instead he was busy making his own golf movie 10 cup 10 cup earned Costner a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Roy McAvoy so it was probably worth it for him to swing away from Happy Gilmore either more Sports films followed for Costner including Sam Ramey's For the Love of the Game the football movie Draft Day and Disney's McFarland USA but for a brief Shining Moment the world was nearly graced with Kevin Costner as one of the funniest Sports film villains ever after finding success with Happy Gilmore Adam Sandler again returned to Sports for the 1998 football comedy The Waterboy Sandler stars as the titular Waterboy Bobby Boucher who lives with his overbearing mother played by Kathy Bates when Bobby winds up playing football instead of just handing out drinks he begins to make his way out from under his mother's thumb and into the real world Mama something bad happened today somebody hurt you my boy who hurt you you tell mama who hurt you the academy award-winning Bates almost didn't play the iconic role of Mama Boucher as her agent didn't like the script Bates told SB Nation they made an offer so legally she had to send me the script and I read the first 12 pages and it was about football and it was kind of silly so I tossed it in the trash next to my bed fortunately Bates niece saw the script and recognized Adam Sandler's name she convinced Bates to give the script another chance a decision that Bates now knows was the right one to make she reminisced there's many experiences I've had that have been more difficult or unpleasant or didn't turn out the way I had wanted them to turn out this was one of the happy experiences that I've had in 2010 grown-ups became Sandler's highest grossing film to date raking in over 270 million dollars worldwide the movie did so well that Sandler generously gifted brand new Maseratis to his co-stars Chris Rock Kevin James and David Spade as well as a Tesla Roadster to Rob Schneider after the Smashing success of the first film a sequel followed in 2013 with one major difference Rob Schneider was absent replaced by comedian Nick Swardson as Schneider's character's brother when questioned about his absence in a radio interview Schneider initially made it sound like there was bad blood between him and Sandler because of pay disputes he said they're doing grown-ups too without me mistake they should have paid me a lot of money however Schneider also added while truthfully I wasn't sure if I'd have my TV series so it was an availability thing but at the end of the day they should have said what money does Rob need If there really was a falling out behind the scenes the two seemed to have made up Schneider has gone on to appear in more recent Sandler films including the ridiculous 6 Sandy Wexler and Huey Halloween the 2015 action comedy pixels sees Adam Sandler as Sam Brenner a former arcade Champion recruited by the government to stop aliens that are taking the form of classic arcade games like Pac-Man centipede and Donkey Kong in addition to the gaming icons the aliens take on the appearances of famous 80s faces like Ronald Reagan and Max Headroom to deliver their messages to mankind according to a report from Showbiz 411 the infamous 2014 Sony email leak revealed that the studio reached out to the estate of Michael Jackson for a potential cameo in pixels while the estate didn't exactly turn them down outright they did request a fee that surpassed their budget by quite a large amount although Sandler really wanted the King of Pop to appear in the Sci-Fi Adventure the Michael Jackson alien did not moonwalk its way into the Final Cut Adam Sandler's first of many Netflix films was the Western parody the ridiculous 6. the film star Sandler as a man raised by Native Americans who learns he has a handful of eccentric half-brothers played by Terry Crews Jorge Garcia Taylor Lautner Rob Schneider and Luke Wilson the brothers team up to rescue their Newfound recently kidnapped father by stealing enough money to pay his Ransom any of you handsome Brothers ready to go steal a big hunk of gold I'm ready I'm hungry I'm drunk I'm low feet despite its eclectic cast critics and audiences alike were less than pleased with the movie many criticized the film as racially insensitive with loads of unfunny jokes that relied on terrible stereotypes but it wasn't just the audience saying so this criticism also came from some of the movie's own cast members as reported by Indian country today many of the Native American extras were upset at the lowbrow jokes and inaccurate costumes this led to about a dozen actors and crew members including actor Lauren Anthony and the Native American Cultural advisor to leave the set in protest Netflix responded to the controversy by telling Venture the movie has ridiculous in the title for a reason because it is ridiculous it is a broad satire of western movies and the stereotypes they popularized featuring a diverse cast that is not only part of but in on the joke perhaps the film's low approval rating proves that Sandlers should have listened to what his co-workers had to say the 2022 Netflix Sports drama hustle Stars Adam Sandler as down on his luck NBA Scout Stanley Sugarman when he sent to Spain to recruit a rising star Sugarman stumbles across an even better player named Beau Cruz played by juancho Hernan Gomez unable to convince his boss of Cruz's Talent Sugarman quits and focuses on preparing Crews for the NBA draft Hernan Gomez is an NBA star who's previously played for a number of teams currently for the Toronto Raptors hustle was his acting debut but he was initially reluctant to take the role in an interview with pop culture Hernan Gomez stated I told him no I mean I didn't want to do it I mean I don't want to waste time in something like this it's not my dream eventually Hernan Gomez was convinced by his sister to take the role which he later described as a great experience saying I was really surprised how hard they work for making a movie I just enjoy the journey so much I mean I embrace it and I enjoy it Hernan Gomez had a blast working with Sandler feeling an instant connection with the comedy Legend on set he continued we enjoy it so much every single day we spent two months together we didn't have any bad days I feel like that that's the reason Beau and Stanley have that good chemistry because in real life we got a great feeling while Adam Sandler has acted in several dramatic films none have quite the same impact as his portrayal of the gambling addicted jewelry salesman Howard Ratner in 2019's uncut gems critics heaped Praise on his performance and many believed the film would earn Sandler his first Academy Award nomination while the Oscar evaded the Sandman he still managed to NAB best actor wins from the Independent Spirit Awards and the national board of review this is my way this is how I win alright of course he almost didn't take the role at all filmmakers Josh and Benny safdi initially reached out to Sandler's Management in 2015 but were told he was unavailable the brothers made attempts with other actors including Borat comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and 21 Jump Street star Jonah Hill after struggling to de-age the character Hill eventually left to work on other projects with more projects now under their belt including the critically acclaimed Robert pattinson-led Thriller good time the safd brothers decided to reach out to Sandler One Last Time luckily this time he agreed to the role ushering in a whole new era of critical respect and acclaim for the famously goofy actor the animated Hotel Transylvania franchise has made over a billion dollars worldwide Adam Sandler lent his voice to the first three movies as none other than Count Dracula who owns the titular hotel for Monsters and struggles to be a good father to his daughter Mavis the films also feature a number of Sandler's frequent live-action collaborators including Andy Samberg Kevin James Steve Buscemi and David Spade when the fourth film Hotel Transylvania transform Mania premiered in 2022 on Amazon Prime most of the actors reprise their monstrous roles with two major exceptions first off Frankenstein was no longer played by Kevin James but instead by voice actor Brad Abril more surprisingly though the lead role of Dracula was now occupied by Adam Sandler impressionist Brian Hull director Derek dryman spoke of the casting change telling Screen Rant the fact that he turns into a human was a good opportunity to do things a little differently he could be a little different than he was in the movies and it would be natural so it kind of was the perfect movie to have a person come in and fill those shoes though there is no official reason behind Sandler's lack of involvement on the project some have theorized that it had to do with this Netflix contract and another animated film he was developing with the competing streaming service Disney is one of the biggest film studios on the planet and it's no secret that a role in one of their family-friendly Blockbusters can make an actor's career however not everyone's eager to work with the mouse house and there are a number of stars who have actually refused major roles in big Disney movies and shows Anne Hathaway although she did end up in the movie Anne Hathaway actually had the opportunity to take the lead role in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland the actress turned it down because she felt she had already played a very similar princess in a dress type role in The Princess Diaries however Hathaway told the studio should be willing to play the White Queen instead and that's what she did it ended up being a good decision as Hathaway took home some awards for her turn as the White Queen and it opened up the door for newcomer Mia bashikovska to take on the role of Alice Warren Beatty Gilbert Gottfried ziago provided the comic relief in Disney's Aladdin always chiming in with a squawk or a screech to lighten the mood during some of the film's more intense moments oh Jafar you're too kind I'm embarrassed however according to the actor he almost didn't get the chance to play the iconic role Gottfried revealed in his Memoir that in order to lands the part he had to be told Joe Pesci and Danny DeVito apparently the role was actually offered to the star of the 2017 Oscar's best picture mixer Warren Beatty Beatty reportedly turned down the role because playing a parrot in the desert felt too similar to his role from Ishtar just imagine how different the film would have been without Gottfried's iconic squawk I'm witch Aiden Crystal Toy Story is one of the most iconic films of all time with a hundred percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes while Tim Allen's work as Buzz Lightyear as classic it turns out that the character was nearly brought to life by a different actor Billy Crystal who would become famous with Disney Pixar fans for voicing Mike Wazowski in Monsters Inc was offered the part in the early planning stages of the film apparently Pixar was so eager to get him to sign on that's the studio actually animated an early version of Buzz Lightyear with some dialogue from When Harry Met Sally the result is interesting happy everyone is in love and that's wonderful but you gotta know that someday believe it or not you'll go 15 rounds over who's going to get this coffee table as we all know now Crystal turned it down and Tim Allen got the part while Crystal has had a great career he told ABC News in 2001 that passing on birds is actually something he regrets interestingly the Pixar movie Crystal did appear in almost had a totally different co-star too Bill Murray in 2001 Monsters Inc became an instant classic for Disney and Pixar fans the film won an Oscar and earned further accolades for each of its two main leads Billy Crystal and John Goodman but Goodman who famously voiced Sully almost didn't get the part director Pete's doctor's Top Choice for the part was actually legendary comedian Bill Murray the actor screen tested for the part and impressed doctor but when he called to offer him the parts he couldn't get Murray to pick up the phone the director of another Murray movie Saint Vincent explained just how difficult it is to track the guy down just to offer him work the job of Bill Murray is really finding Bill Murray which everyone knows once you find Bill Murray and the job kind of goes downhill Murray is notoriously hard to reach so it's still unclear if this was his way of saying he wasn't interested or it was just a miscommunication either way you won't hear any complaints about it from John Goodman Leonardo DiCaprio Hocus Pocus may not have been the biggest Disney film of all time but the movie has a huge cult following and is still the subject of many a Halloween movie marathon the filmmakers were especially picky about searching for their star and they eventually narrowed it down to the then up and comer Leonardo DiCaprio to play Max despite being offered some serious coin the Caprio turned down the path because he wanted to wait and see if it land the role in What's Eating Gilbert Grape though it was likely terrifying at the time DiCaprio has said that this was the best and the toughest decision he has ever made it definitely worked out for him as Leo earned his first Academy Award nomination for What's Eating Gilbert Grape and has been an a-lister ever since Omri cats who eventually took the role of Max and Hocus Pocus stopped acting in 2002. Lily Tomlin while it's hard to imagine anything different in the Pixar classic The Incredibles one of the film's signature characters was almost voiced by someone else Edina mode the superhero stylist who really really hates capes was voiced by director Brad Bird in the final product knock it however that's not what he had intended apparently when bird recorded the voice for Edna he was just filling in for actress Lily Tomlin who was set to play the part however when she heard Bird's take on the character she decided that it wasn't something she could improve on you know you've made it in Show Business when you can pass on a Disney movie Paycheck and not bath and I Michael Douglas in 2013 Frozen became a commercial and critical success bringing in over 1.3 billion dollars and winning two Academy Awards the voice acting in the movie was great but the casting might have turned out differently Michael Douglas told James Corden that he turned down a part in the film but couldn't remember exactly which role no you want to play Elsa I don't remember although we don't know for sure our best guess is that Douglas was offered either the Duke of wesselton Hans or Kristoff although it would be funny it's probably doubtful that Douglas was ever in line to voice Olaf Selena Gomez it's no secret that for many years Selena Gomez was one of the queens of the Disney Channel network what's surprising though is that Gomez actually ended up turning down the lead role of Michi in Camp Rock because she wanted to do more conventional and serious acting before ultimately transitioning into a more music-focused career Gomez also reportedly turned down an undisclosed part in High School Musical 3 senior Year for similar reasons these days Selena is one of the most successful pop stars around but we have to wonder just how much her serious acting role in Spring Breakers really helped her cause Jack Nicholson Hercules is an animated Disney classic and that's in large part thanks to James Wood's smooth talking Hades ladies my fate is in your lovely hands however the part was apparently written with Jack Nicholson specifically in mind and the studio tried their best to land him for the role Well Jack likes the creative side of the deal he and Disney were unable to agree on the business end of things so he ended up walking away from the roll after testing actors like Robert Evans and John Lithgow the filmmakers landed on woods and the rest is history could it be his great Hercules performance that prompted Seth McFarlane's strange obsession with James Woods James Woods has you and I have changed words too it may seem like everyone wants to be a superhero these days but a few stars have still tried to steer clear of the world of comic book movies here are a few of the actors who said no when DC Came Calling Leonardo DiCaprio has spent the vast majority of his life in Hollywood but before he achieved Global Fame in James Cameron's 1997 epic Titanic Warner Brothers approached him to starring Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever seeing how things turned out it's probably fair to say that turning them down was the right choice the studio wanted DiCaprio for the part of Dick Grayson also known as Robin but DiCaprio just wasn't feeling it contrary to rumors DiCaprio has said he never screen tested for the role though he did talk to Schumacher he told shortlist I had a meeting with Joel Schumacher it was just one meeting and no I didn't end up doing it despite meeting with the director DiCaprio said he never even wanted the role he explained as I recall I took the meeting but didn't want to play the role Joel Schumacher is a very talented director but I don't think I was ready for anything like that the role ended up going to Chris O'Donnell but interestingly Robin wasn't the only superhero role Hollywood offered to Cabrio Sony Pictures approached him to play Spider-Man for director Sam Raimi but as as with Robin he said he just wasn't ready to put on a suit at this juncture in his oscar-winning career it seems unlikely he's in any rush to change his mind Warner Brothers have been trying to get a Green Lantern film off the ground for well over a decade before Martin Campbell directed the character's first live-action outing in 2011. the studio approached Kevin Smith in 1997 to write a script for the film but he turned down the offer feeling he wasn't the right fit for the job then renowned director Quentin Tarantino received an offer to home the project but he also turned it down feeling it outgrown his adoration for comic books when the studio finally settled on a director and screenwriter they began their search for Hal Jordan while Ryan Reynolds ultimately got the part he wasn't always a top Contender Warner Brothers approached Bradley Cooper Chris Pine Justin Timberlake and Sam Worthington who all either turned the roll down or were rejected by the studio another one-time Contender was madman star Jon Hamm he recalled to GQ they came after me pretty hard for Green Lantern but I was like meh that's not what I want to do Never Say Never but these aren't the kind of movies I'd like to go and see they don't make the kind of movies I'd like to see anymore nostalgia it's delicate but potent Pierce Brosnan has had a hugely prolific career but his tenure as the Slick MI6 spy James Bond will undoubtedly remain its highlight at one point however Brosnan had the opportunity to star in a comic book movie that probably would have not only dashed his chances to be Bond but also changed the landscape of the superhero genre altogether just imagine for a second that Brosnan not Michael Keaton played Batman in Tim Burton's 1989 film sounds crazy but there was a chance of it happening in a Reddit AMA Brosnan admitted to meeting Burton for the role he wrote yes I did I went and met with Tim Burton for the role of Batman but I just couldn't really take it seriously any man who wears his underpants outside his pants just cannot be taken seriously that was my foolish take on it it was a joke I thought but how wrong was I Brosnan stressed the fact that he doesn't hate Batman he just couldn't see himself playing the character in a movie he wrote don't get me wrong because I love Batman and I grew up on Batman as a kid in Ireland we used to get our raincoats and tie them around our neck and swing through the bicycle shed however it appears that Brosnan's hesitation with Batman led him to James Bond and thus gave him the defining role of his career so it's not all bad there aren't many actors more highly regarded than Anthony Hopkins known to many as Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs in its sequels Hopkins was also up for a few early roles in the world of comic book movies but declined to take them before Michael Caine boarded Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins as Bruce Wayne's Butler Alfred pennyworth Nolan reportedly offered Hopkins the role he turned it down however for reasons unknown interestingly despite reportedly being turned down for the role of Mr Freeze and Joel Schumacher's Batman and Robin Hopkins maintained his interest in DC movies not long after turning down the role of Alfred pennyworth in Batman Begins he finally joined the DC universe's jorel and JJ Abrams and Brett ratner's Superman flyby things didn't work out though and the project mutated into Brian singer's Superman Returns he told MTV News I was going to do the movie with Brett and I don't know what happened there was some political movement I think Brett was out of line with something and they said thank you very much I never heard from Brett since then but I was all set do it Hopkins finally found his comic book home in 2011 when he took the role of Odin in Thor a role he has returned to many times since Jude Law may be an excellent actor but he's not really a huge movie star after the disastrous critical and box office performance of Sky Captain in the World of Tomorrow law was probably nervous about headlining another action franchise especially when the character in question was the greatest superhero of them all on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert law revealed that director Brian Singer offered him the role of the Man of Steel for 2006's Superman Returns I have this picture about of me in that costume you know on posters all around the world and I was like no way law turned down the role which went to the relatively unknown Brandon Ralph after Superman Returns lukewarm reception the series was rebooted with Law's fellow Brits Henry Cavill taking the lead I'm an Englishman and I've felt like you know I don't know I just didn't seem to fit and and I was always worried about the unit of the outfit and I I just didn't fancy it La presumably had no such qualms about the Wardrobe attached to the character of yon Rog the cree Warrior he played in 2019's MCU Blockbuster Captain Marvel movie stars don't come much bigger than Will Smith and this was especially true in the mid-2000s so it seemed natural that he'd end up taking apart in a superhero movie and according to Smith himself he wasn't just offered any superhero role but the mightiest of them all Superman apparently Brian Singer asked Smith to play the Big Blue Boy Scout and Superman Returns but Smith didn't even need to see the suit he rejected the part because he didn't want to repeat what was then his biggest career mistake Smith told MTV there is no way I'm playing Superman because I had already done Jim West in Wild Wild West and you can't be messing up white people's heroes in Hollywood you mess up white people's heroes in Hollywood you'll never work in this town again Smith would go on to play his own superhero in Hancock and would later join the DC expanded universe as dead shots imagine living in an alternate universe where Heath Ledger played Batman and Christian Bale played The Joker well it's not really that far-fetched in 2005 Ledger was Hollywood's Gravely voiced king of cool while Bale was most known for playing the maniacal murdering psychopath Patrick Bateman an American Psycho and according to the Dark Knight trilogies director Christopher Nolan it was almost Ledger not Bale who donned the cape and Cal in an interview with the Daily Star Nolan revealed that he offered the part of Batman to Ledger but was turned down Nolan said he was quite gracious about it but he said I would never take apart in a superhero film thankfully Ledger eventually changed his mind presumably after he saw Batman Begins and realized Nolan was going for a grittier more realistic take on the character fortunately there were no hard feelings on Nolan's end as he clearly was a great admirer of Ledger's work The Dark Knight would go on to be one of the highest grossing movies of the decade being the first film to earn over 500 million dollars domestically since Titanic largely due to Ledger's performance as the clown Prince of Crime Ledger tragically died before the film's release but his work won him his first and only Oscar it seems like everybody was considered for the part of Wonder Woman at some time or another though it's doubtful many of the actresses considered were ever formally approached for the role one actress who was approached and turned it down was Kate Beckinsale with her lead role as vampire death dealer Celine in the successful Underworld franchise Beckinsale would have been a perfect fit for the Amazonian warrior in the mid-2000s alas the most recent female superheroes on film during that time were Halle Berry and Catwoman Jennifer Garner and Elektra and Charlize Theron in Eon flux not the best track record and it sounds like this proposed Wonder Woman vehicle wasn't going to be much better speaking in reference to 2017's Wonder Woman Beckinsale later told Yahoo movies the incarnations that I was seeing were they weren't this one but even if the script had been better it sounds like Beckinsale would have been hung up by the same thing which is always worried actors playing superheroes Beckinsale explained I don't know if I was desperate to be in a leotard now I'd already done the rubber trousers you have to take in that you have a child at some point and how much could you possibly embarrass them Charlize Theron wasn't up for the part of Wonder Woman in the 2017 film but she did turn down a major role as Wonder Woman's mother hippolyta in an interview with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live Theron explained she ended up in talks for a part in the movie while it was still in development but it wasn't the one she expected and I was like just I'm not I'm not familiar with it I don't really know what it like I mean what does Wonder Woman do and my this person said no it's for Wonder Woman's mom Theron of course is only 10 years older than Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot despite Wonder Woman being directed by Patty Jenkins who directed Charlize Theron's oscar-winning turn in 2003's Monster Theron declined the part which went to Connie Nielsen who was about 19 years older than gduts director Zack Snyder apparently felt slighted when Kristen Stewart rejected the role of Lois Lane in 2013's Man of Steel according to sources close to the director he and his wife producing partner Deborah met with Stewart about playing the iconic reporter while Snyder was interested in Stuart however he apparently never formally offered her the part but Stuart made clear that she was not interested evidently surprising Snyder Stewart herself had been caught off guard by the Blockbuster success of the Twilight films and the spotlight it put on her personal life especially her relationship with co-star Robert Pattinson Stewart was still working on the Twilight series at the time and wanted to focus on smaller more independent films which Man of Steel most definitely was not Snyder wasn't upset for long however and soon hired a-lister Amy Adams for the role but Adams may have wished she'd turned down the part 2. Stewart's focus on smaller films gave her career A Renewed Vigor while Snyder's DC films started with poor feedback and continued on a downward slide maybe Stewart on a Warner X before he puts on that cow as the new Batman due to a combination of Savvy marketing a powerful International draw and not taking itself too seriously The Fast and Furious franchise has become a veritable money printing machine but not everyone wants to be a part of it here are some actors who turned down roles in the fast Saga Denzel Washington would have been a massive get for the Fast and Furious franchise the series has boasted its fair share of Big Time actors but Denzel is on another level not only has he been incredibly successful at the box office but he's also taken home two Oscars for his roles in glory and Training Day hey I know you got Secrets everybody got secrets didn't know you like to get wet though deadline writes that Universal approached Denzel to appear at the end of the sixth film which would seg into him playing the role of the main villain in Furious 7. he apparently was not interested however and turned down the opportunity ultimately the role went to Jason Statham Statham is obviously a big star in his own right but not quite on the same level as the two-time Oscar winner you may be unfamiliar with the name Deepika Padukone unless you're a big fan of Bollywood however the model actress is hugely popular in Indian Cinema and that makes her star in the largest film producing industry in the world the Fast and Furious franchise owes much of its success to the international market so it makes sense that they'd want to recruit worldwide Stars into the fold they tried to do just that with Padukone and Furious 7 but she had to turn down the offer at the time Padukone had never appeared in an American Film as she told India today she had already committed to a domestic film and didn't feel right backing out but she also said she would love to do a Hollywood film in the future she got her wish just a few years later and in a role alongside Vin Diesel as well paducon appeared in XXX return of Xander cage in 2017 and has reportedly been cast in xxx4 when the Fast and Furious franchise began in 2001 Ja Rule was one of the biggest rappers in the world he was in the process of making the transition to acting and appeared in a very small role in The Fast and the Furious as a character named Edwin who went up against Paul Walker and Vin Diesel's characters in a street race he did not win oh my God interestingly Ja Rule could have gone on to be one of the faces of the franchise if he'd been interested in an interview with Grantland John Singleton the director of Too Fast Too Furious recalled jaw got too big for himself he turned it down he turned down a half a million dollars to be in the sequel Singleton said he repeatedly tried to get jaw rule to the table but eventually decided to swap his character out for one played by a different rapper Ludacris who has since appeared in more than half of the Fast and Furious films apparently Ludacris wasn't the first potential replacement for Ja Rule originally rapper Redman was eyed to take on the role at the time Reggie Redman Noble had found success as both a solo rapper and part of the Wu-Tang Clan and he had started to move into the world of acting once Ja Rule dropped out of Too Fast Too Furious red man was apparently geared up to replace him he apparently had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts the TV series method in red came out around the same time as did a few other projects instead the role went to Ludacris just like Ja Rule Redman's acting career has been fairly stagnant since this role passed him by it would have been interesting to see how the franchise might have evolved if either one of them had been cast instead of ludicrous even though the Fast and Furious franchise has become a blockbuster series over the years it took a few films for it to find its footing and figure out what it wanted to be most of the main players have stuck with it over the Long Haul but the core group didn't come together overnight in fact in 2017 a producer revealed that Timothy Oliphant was initially targeted to star in the first film apparently when the Fast and the Furious was originally pitched to Universal the studio agreed to produce the film as long as elephant was cast as the lead role of Dom Toretto Oliphant turned the world down which brought the filmmakers to their backup Vin Diesel diesel took the reins of the franchise and has appeared in almost every film since The Fast and Furious franchise sure loves its European baddies in recent films we've seen Luke Evans Jason Statham and Idris Elba all show up as Central antagonists an impressive roster that also almost included David Tennant yes we reportedly almost saw the one-time Doctor Who tangling with Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson so what went wrong well I don't know I can't worry about everything according to Latino Review tenant was in talks with director Justin Lin about taking on a major role in Fast and Furious 6. we don't know which part he was being considered for but it seems likely that it would have been one of the Shaw Brothers roles that eventually went to Evans and Statham whatever ultimately went down during negotiations tenant wound up moving on to other projects tenant has proven he can do over-the-top felony very well his performance in Jessica Jones as the Despicable kilgrave gave audiences one of the best Marvel villains to date we certainly wouldn't mind seeing him get behind the wheel in the Fast and Furious franchise another rapper who was targeted for the franchise but had to turn it down Eminem was actually approached twice to be a part of The Fast and Furious films both times prior commitments kept him from coming on board and both roles he turned down would go on to be major parts in the films Eminem was actually offered a very big role in the first film he was approached to take on the role of Brian O'Connor which eventually went to Paul Walker when Eminem was approached to take the role he was currently in development of his own film Eight Mile and had to remain available for it just think Eminem could have been one of the faces of the franchise according to fuse Eminem was later approached to do a song for the soundtrack of furious 7. he again turned it down due to a different film he was already heavily involved with the movie Southpaw and he did not want to have multiple songs competing with one another Eliza deshku was extremely in demand when the Fast and the Furious was in development apparently the role of Mia Toretto was not only offered to Dushku but was reportedly written specifically with her in mind dashku turned the world down for unknown reasons but she was extremely busy at the time with both television and film projects so it isn't hard to imagine why many different stars were reportedly attached after Dushku passed Jessica Biel Kirsten Dunst Sarah Michelle Geller Bijou Phillips and Natalie Portman are all rumored to have auditioned for the role before it went to Jordana Brewster Vin Diesel returned to the franchise fold later but he did refuse an opera to appear in Too Fast Too Furious and the reason is fascinating diesel was offered 25 million dollars to star in Too Fast Too Furious but didn't like the script or the direction the series was headed he viewed the first film as a classic and said I was an idealist and to me the script wasn't continuing the story they were capitalizing on the brand and milking the success of it as long as they could of course since diesel full-time return to the franchise with the fourth installment The Fast and Furious movies have morphed from a story about cops out to infiltrate a street racing gang into a wildly over-the-top Saga fueled by Globe trotting action Espionage and an increasingly casual relationship with the loss of nature the ground's coming fast continuing the story will only take you so far this one is a bit of a cheat because as far as we can tell Guardians of the Galaxy Star Dave Batista has never actually been offered a role in the franchise that said his refusal of a fan pitch was enough of an adamant refusal that we had to include it once the news broke that John Cena would be appearing in F9 a fan tagged Batista on Twitter with this pitch The Rock and John Cena will get a fast and furious spin-off also and Dave Batista will be the villain Batista responded with two nauseated emojis and the words thank you for your consideration hashtag I'd rather do good films now we love Batista but that's a pretty bold response from a man who has starred and not one but two Escape Plan sequels besides those two missteps however Batista has been fairly choosy with most of his roles Never Say Never but that big time dunk on Vin Diesel's franchise will probably keep the animal out of Fast and Furious films for a while it's almost impossible to think of roles like James Bond or Han Solo in the hands of different actors but these are just two roles that could have been totally unlike their present form imagine how differently these Classics would be if casting went the way the filmmakers originally planned Jurassic Park is such a well-crafted movie it's hard to imagine anything changing the effects hold up surprisingly well decades later the pacing is tight Jeff Goldblum is still impossibly sexy it's a great film however the lead role of Dr Alan Grant who's played in the movie by Sam Neal was originally offered to Harrison Ford for reasons that are obvious if you think about it Grant was a Gruff Rowdy scientist paleontologist rather than archaeologist in his case who could effectively manage jungle territory while pursued by a deadly enemy he even had a cool floppy hat as effectively as Sam Neil brought the character to life we all know we'd throw money at a film about Indiana Jones versus dinosaurs unfortunately Ford saw it differently he compared the idea to putting Indiana Jones on Mars an idea that evidently made more sense to him a decade and a half later when they actually had Indiana Jones meeting Spacemen you jumped in a refrigerator to escape an atomic bomb Ford you couldn't punch a dinosaur speaking of Harrison Ford he almost never had a chance to perform either of his most closely identified characters the roles of Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark and Han Solo in the first Star Wars film were originally offered to Tom Selleck who turned them both down this actually made sense at the time believe it or not the original draft of Star Wars A New Hope imagined Han Solo as much older than Luke Skywalker like a kind of Black Sheep Uncle figure which honestly could have been confusing with all the other themes of familial Connection in the film by the time Raiders of the Lost Ark was being filmed Ford had been in three of George Lucas's films American Graffiti and the first two Star Wars movies and Lucas worried about becoming known for reusing certain actors he gave Selleck another shot but it didn't work out as selek was already committed to his series Magnum PI and the network wouldn't let him take the film losing out on Raiders was a particularly bitter pill for Selleck who ended up cooling his heels in Hawaii during an actor strike while Indiana Jones and Company were also on the island Selleck explained with some regret I go to Hawaii to start Magnum the actors go on strike and I had given my deposit to a landlady and I couldn't afford a security deposit so I start working as a handyman in Hawaii with no job and guess who comes to Hawaii to finish their movie Raiders of the Lost Ark so I could have done them both Matt Damon has turned down a lot of major movie roles one of the most surprising he almost played conflicted paraplegic former Marine Jake Scully and James Cameron's sprawling Sci-Fi Action film Avatar the decision was tough on Damon not only because he was a huge fan of Cameron's but also because he figured the star potential of the film could encourage the actor who took his place in this case Sam Worthington to potentially take jobs from him in the future unfortunately scheduling conflicts got in the way leaving us to imagine what could have been what it is possibly that's true I I there's I have no defense for other than that there was an actual scheduling conflict While most of the Kill Bill movies action follows the ultraviolent exploits and tribulations of the vengeful bride the character Bill looms large over both films come on his name's right there in the title his particular cruelties obsessions and motivations trickle through his assassin minions and even the bride herself all of which is to explain why when Warren Beatty turned down the titular role Quentin Tarantino was forced to do a complete rewrite to compensate Tarantino explained the Warren Beatty thing is interesting because once I cast David Carradine I did a lot of little rewrites actually shifting that character into David's sphere and it was really interesting reading that first draft because that's the Warren Beatty version he's more of a James Bond type character it's honestly hard to imagine how that film would have turned out it certainly would have been a far cry from the gritty Suburban Samurai film we wound up seeing once the James Bond producers dumped Pierce Brosnan a few curious shoulders were tapped looking to shake things up and impressed with his Sharp Dressed killer performance in American Psycho producer Barbara Brockley had a meeting with bale to offer him the role as double 07. however Bale a British actor himself was loathed to take on a role that embodied what he considered the worst British stereotypes all bundled together he was reportedly cordial in his refusal but at one point quipped quote I've already played a serial killer clearly he's not a fan Nicholas Cage has turned down almost as many memorable roles as he's taken is how should we put this nicely curiously varied career has led him all over the map even when he wasn't searching for national treasure among the many interesting oddities on his resume he turned down two roles that went to Keanu Reeves Neo in The Matrix and the title character in Constantine according to cage he turned down the Matrix because he wasn't interested in flying to Australia to film it while he was initially more enthusiastic about Constantine he ended up departing the project after original director tarsum Singh dropped out sparking a pair of lawsuits between Singh and the studio by the time the dust settled Reeves was on board another actor considered for the role of Neo in The Matrix was Will Smith and although it ended up launching a blockbuster Trilogy Smith seems really at peace with turning down a massive once in a lifetime role speaking to wired he admitted that a project like the Matrix is really difficult to sell in a pitch and that when the movie was first described to him quote he didn't see it after watching the film later Smith also felt Reeves was a better fit saying I would have absolutely messed up the Matrix at that point I wasn't smart enough of an actor to let the movie be whereas Keanu was smart enough to let it be just let the movie and the director tell the story and don't try to perform every moment however he doesn't quite have that level of zen-like Peace about wild wild west the film he accepted instead of the Matrix although the movie was a financial success critics tore it to pieces and in hindsight he admits his performance was a cash grab and led him to vow never to take on a project again just for the money he presumably made his vow while reclining on a pile of cash oh [Applause] Al Pacino is possibly one of the greatest actors that ever lived with a career bringing to life some of the most memorable characters in modern Cinema which makes it even more incredible to consider what might have been for any number of roles naturally every director wanted a piece of Pacino at his Peak unfortunately he couldn't be everywhere at once at various times he had the potential to be Han Solo in Star Wars Willard in Apocalypse Now Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop John McLean from die hard and even freaking Rambo instead of being on a couple posters in your college dorm room he could potentially have been on all of them through the 90s and into the early 2000s the name Bruce Willis was synonymous with Action Hero that's almost entirely due to his role as John McLean a wisecracking regular cop thrust into extraordinary life or death situations in a string of Die Hard films when the original die hard hit theaters in 1988 Willis was seen as an unconventional if not risky choice to headline a Full Throttle action movie at the time Willis was known almost entirely for his emmy-nominated role as cheeky private detective David Addison on the TV rom-com Moonlighting according to screenwriter Stephen E de Souza in Die Hard in oral history filmmakers hired Willis quote in desperation every big Action Hero and tough guy actor of the 80s passed on Die Hard including Arnold Schwarzenegger Sylvester Stallone James Khan Burt Reynolds and Richard Gere Deadpool marked a major comeback from Ryan Reynolds whose once promising career had been knocked off course by a few bombs Chief among them the 2010 DC Comics movie Green Lantern the superhero adventure was both a critical and Commercial failure earning back about half its 200 million dollar budget at the American box office Reynolds explained to variety after Green Lantern I was pretty much unhirable but while his star was falling another guise was Rising Jon Hamm the annually Emmy nominated star of the AMC 1960s period piece Mad Men seems to have dodged a big green bullet as DC aggressively pursued him to be a big screen superhero ham told GQ they came after me pretty hard for Green Lantern but I was like meh that's not what I want to do in the 1990s Leonardo DiCaprio was the Boy Wonder of Hollywood finding fame fortune and Teen Idol status with roles like troubled teen Luke on Growing Pains Jack Dawson and Titanic and Romeo and bass lerman's Romeo and Juliet it only makes sense that the fresh-faced box office draw would be given the chance to play actual Boy Wonder Robin AKA Dick Grayson in Warner Brothers ongoing Batman franchise in 2015 he told shortlist that he was under consideration for the part which would have started with 1995's Batman Forever saying I never screen tested I had a meeting with Joel Schumacher it was just one meeting and no I didn't end up doing it as I recall I took the meeting but didn't want to play the role DiCaprio mentioned two other parts in big movies that he met with filmmakers about before taking himself out of contention Anakin Skywalker and the Star Wars prequels and Spider-Man in Spider-Man in 1996 and 1997 Will Smith starred in the back-to-back summer Blockbuster's Independence Day and Men in Black the movies marked His official transition from sitcom star to Hollywood a-lister with the Fresh Prince of Bel Air having ended its run just weeks before Independence Day hit theaters I make this look good Smith wasn't the first choice to play rookie Agent J in Men In Black however another actor known primarily for one huge TV role was offered at first David Schwimmer known to Millions as lovelorn paleontologist Ross on Friends while he was shooting the comedy the pallbearer for Miramax the studio was so confident the future box office bomb would be a hit that it wanted to sign Schwimmer to a three-movie deal Schwimmer agreed to it if they let him also direct since you've been gone and cast everyone from his Chicago Theater Company the film went into production and Schwimmer gave all of his friends roles he explained on the awards chatter podcast about a month before production I get the call about Men In Black which was a direct conflict with directing that film I just said I can't these are my closest friends in the world this is their first shot at a movie my first shot at directing nor could he delay filming the movie in favor of Men In Black because he'd be due back at friends MIB producers had to move on and they picked Smith the Harry Potter films were perfectly cast but it's still fun to look at what might have been especially when it comes to actors who decided to pass on the chance to participate in such a huge Blockbuster here are some actors who decided that appearing in The Wizarding franchise just wasn't for them Ian McKellen is a legendary actor so it makes sense that his name came up to replace Richard Harris as Dumbledore in the wake of Harris tragic death following the second film however McKellen turned down the role because he thought it would have been inappropriate as he explained people say to me don't you wish you'd played Dumbledore I say no I played Gandalf the original there was a question as to whether I might take over from Richard Harris but seeing as one of the last things he did publicly was say what a dreadful actor he thought I was it would not have been appropriate for me to take over his part it would have been unfair he played Dumbledore of course the wizard I played the real wizard although Michael Gambon eventually took over the role for the rest of the series McClellan still gets confused for the character he told the telegraph in 2013. the other day there were 100 people outside the theater who wanted autographs just as I did the last one a woman grasped my hand and said it's so wonderful to meet Dumbledore in person I blew her a kiss and got into my car Tilda Swinton was set to take on the part of batty Professor Sybil treilani but she ended up turning down the role at the time it was reported that she couldn't fit the film into her busy schedule however some comments she's made since then imply that she may have actually had a much weirder reason in a 2016 interview with Scott's magazine Swinton condemned boarding schools Hogwarts included she called her own experience at West Heath boarding school in London a quote very lonely and isolating environment she further explained that's why I dislike films like Harry Potter which tend to romanticize such places I think they are a very cruel setting in which to grow up and I don't feel children benefit from that type of education children need their parents and the love parents can provide Emma Thompson ended up with the part and Swinton avoided having to relive any bad memories Hugh Grant was reportedly so prepared to play the role of pompous defense against the dark arts Professor gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that he went ahead and dyed his hair blonde however he ended up backing out to star in the romantic comedy two weeks notice however Chamber of Secrets director Christopher Columbus contested these reports claiming that he had never spoken to the actor about doing the film regardless of what Grant was or wasn't offered the part ended up going to Kenneth Branagh who brought his standard level of Gusto to the performance Pulp Fiction actor Tim Roth was forced to decide between Tim Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes remake and the part of Severus Snape in Harry Potter according to Roth he was offered the role before Alan Rickman was but he decided to turn it down so that he could focus on Apes as he told MTV News in 2007 I was going to do both films we rigged it so that I could fly back and forth they figured out the schedule but it just got to be overwhelming in my mind my kids really liked the books they were really into me doing it but the idea of being an ape with Tim was too good while Rickman was ultimately incredible in the role Roth might have been closer to how the books originally described Snape Rickman was old for the part at 55 when the first film was released while Roth was only 38 based on the book Snape should have been 31 when Harry started at Hogwarts according to Roth he would have played Snape very differently but he ultimately believed Rickman was the right man for the role I didn't want my life to be franchised Helen mcrory didn't miss out on the Harry Potter films entirely but she was kept from playing a much bigger part than what she ended up with mcrory ultimately played Narcissa Malfoy though she was originally cast as narcissus sister Bellatrix Lestrange that role eventually went to Helena Bonham Carter when mcrory got pregnant just a boy As mcrory Told parade in 2011 I got pregnant with my first child and insurance wouldn't cover pregnant witches it was lovely that they invited me back and wanted me to be a part of it somehow this begs the question what are the maternity leave policies at Hogwarts and the rest of the Wizarding World fans started pushing for author J.K Rowling to appear in the Harry Potter films as soon as they were announced but the writer says she's better off behind the camera Rowling told the Sunday mail that producers offered her the chance to play Harry's mom Lily but she ultimately turned him down as she put it I really am not cut out to be an actress even one who just has to stand and wave I would have messed it up somehow while Geraldine Somerville did a great job as Lily we're sure fans would have loved rolling in the part too even if she did mess it up it would have been a thrill to see a beloved author do a cameo foreign

Channel: Looper

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Length: 100min 30sec (6030 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 26 2023