I LOVED Will Smith in The Matrix!

I always enjoy hearing about an actor/actress turning down a famous role. Sometimes they didn't turn it down it just didn't work out due to family, another film ect...it's just fun trying to picture Robert DeNiro playing Tom Hanks role in "Big."

One of my favorite movies was The Departed, originally Brad Pitt was supposed to have Leo's role. How the hell would that have worked? I also thought George Clooney would have been a much, much better Robert Langdon in The DaVinci Code. No disrespect to the great Tom Hanks but his hair annoyed the crap out of me the entire movie.

FOCUS: What actor's turned down famous roles? What actor would you have preferred in a famous role?

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*** No matter how bad KR is I can't see anyone else playing NEO.***********

 

Sean Connery was originally offered the role of Gandalf in the LOTR trilogy. Not only that, he was also reportedly offered fifteen percent of the movies' grosses. He turned it down because he didn't "get" the story and in the process cost himself somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million dollars.

Apologies if he was already listed but I couldn't see page one.

 

I remember reading Sylvester Stallone was supposed to be the star of Beverly Hills Cop and it wasn't going to be a comedy. I'm not sure why he dropped out. They changed the tone of the movie when they got Eddie Murphy on board.

 

The first movie that came to mind when I read this was Shrek. Originally, Chris Farley was supposed to play Shrek, but when he passed away Mike Myers took on the role. I imagine if he had the chance to do the roll, Shrek would be a lot less Scottish and a lot more Matt Foley.

 

Farley had supposedly recorded half of Shrek's dialogue before he died, too.

 

Eric Stoltz filmed half of Back to The Future before director Robert Zemeckis replaced him with Michael J Fox.

Eric who?

 

Tom Selleck turned down the Indiana Jones role for Raiders. Oops.

 

That's because he was already committed to the show Magnum P.I. which was a hit anyways and made him a bankable star and filthy rich compared to the rest of us. I mean, it was a bummer in that he could have been an even more rich, even more famous actor/sex symbol. That's a mistake I would make any day.

 

Lance Henriksen was supposed to be the T800 terminator in "Terminator." At the last minuted, Schwarzenegger talked James Cameron into recasting.
Seriously, could you imagine anyone else but Ahnold in that role?

Jean-Claude VanDamme was supposed to be the original Predator, but was nixed in favor of a taller actor.

 

Some of these original choices weren't so bad, and dare I say it, would have improved the film. Brandon Lee might well have been better than Keanu Reeves, and Daryl Hannah, especially in 1990, would have been vastly superior to Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman", if only because she wasn't ugly.

Focus-

Steve McQueen turned down a bunch of roles in films that would become major classics, but two most readily come to mind;

Dirty Harry- Hard to imagine anyone else other than Eastwood as the badass, brutal cop Harry Callahan, and McQueen would have played him completely differently. Probably more as a cool customer who doesn't give a shit what his bosses say than an intense cop who sees criminals as a blot upon society.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid- Him and Paul Newman couldn't agree on who would be higher billed, so it went to Robert Redford instead. There is a chance the film might have sucked with McQueen, but maybe it would have been just as awesome.

 

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Chris Farley was supposed to voice Shrek.

 

C'mon Chater you can trust us! Did you know originally Rick Moranis was cast as Malcolm X? They couldn't agree on salary though...........

I would love to have seen Natalie Portman cast as Halle Berry's character in Moster's Ball. I also would have liked to see NP play Sharon Stone's role in Basic Instinct. In conclusion I would like to see Portman in any hardcore nude scene.

 

You mean when she was 10 years old? Wow.

 

Not quite.

The "original Predator" in the movie was a stupid looking thing made out red rubber that VanDamme was to use.
When this Predator suit was delivered and they opened it , the director etc immediately knew they were in trouble.

Filming was stopped for a number of weeks and a new Predator (the one we see in the movie) was made and a suitably tall actor (and African-American mime artist) was hired to be in the suit.

During the stop in filming , the director also had time to go back over the footage and fix any problems etc he thought he had with the footage shot up until that point.

Hence the final result was a great film.

I saw "The Making of Predator" some time ago on YouTube where all this was covered along with some really funny interviews with the assorted actors. Last time I checked on YouTube it had been taken down.

 

Maybe I'm misreading you here, but the 'original Predator' was only red because it was the easiest colour to pick out against the mainly green back drop of the jungle, which made it easier for the FX crew to do their job. I don't think there was ever the intention of having a big red rubber monster be the star of the show.

 

Harrison Ford turned down the lead role in "Schindler's List". He thought his stardom would get in the way of the importance of the story.

 

I keep forgetting to post how much I hate Hayden Christenson. He ruined all the new star wars movies (I know Jar-Jar Binx helped) but he was absolutely awful.

That jumper movie would have even been decent if he wasn't in it. Him and K. Reeves are the worst actors in hollywood.

His role would have been better if it was filled by Andre3000.

 

With all due respect, there was MUCH more that ruined the new star wars movies than either Hayden Christenson or Jar-Jar Binx. In fact, I would probably compare their roles in that ruination with two rain drops falling in an ocean.

I.E. Those movies were FUCKED.