10 Crazy Castings That Almost Happened
We’ve seen it time and time again, we’re promised an actor in a role and then just
before filming, they pull out.
Or we hear about an actor who was considering playing a role they’d be just perfect for,
and then for whatever reason it doesn’t happen.
Or, there are rumours of bizarre castings that never would have made any sense.
Whether it’s Michael Keaton rejecting Batman Forever, or Sean Connery rejecting the role
of Gandalf or Nicolas Cage as Superman- Here are our 10 Crazy Castings That Almost Happened
(with a bonus).
Chloe Grace Moretz – The Little Mermaid Chloe Grace Moretz was initially linked to
play Ariel in the live action Disney remake of The Little Mermaid.
It makes sense for a young, pretty girl with masses upon masses of hair to play the titular
mermaid, as she fits very nicely into the role.
But Moretz has already proven to be an actor more likely to take riskier fare.
Unfortunately for Disney, Moretz, who is already well known for taking dark and disturbing
roles dropped out of The Little Mermaid in order to appear in the remake of Dario Argento’s
classic 1977 horror movie, Suspiria.
While the idea of Moretz as a Disney princess no doubt sprung dollar signs into the eyes
of producers, it seems that you just can’t keep Chloe Grace Moretz away from the dark
and gritty.
Since her dropping out, Disney have decided to re-imagine the little mermaid in a more
modern setting similar to what they’ve done with Pete’s Dragon and have managed to get
William Mosely attached to the move.., although he is not the mermaid.
David Boreanaz – Batman (Batman Begins) With Bones in its final week of shooting and
the series looking to come to a climactic end after years on the television, everyone
is talking about David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel right now.
With David Boreanaz best known for his role as Angel in the Buffyverse franchise, it should
come as no surprise that the man who played a Vampire private detective was offered the
role as Batman in Batman Begins.
David Boreanaz was too busy working on the Bones at the time to take the role, and turned
it down.
Something that we’re sure both he and the fans regret.
While he was perfect casting for the role, he has later made the claim that it was a
rumour made up by his agent in order to keep his name in the papers… because after all,
why would you want to be known as the guy that turned down Batman.
While we may never see him as the caped crusader, this year we shall finally see Bones put to
rest.
Arnold Schwarzenegger – King Koopa (Super Mario Brothers)
While he was once hands down the biggest action star, both physically and in terms of star
power, of all time, the great Austrian death machine almost played King Koopa in the Super
Mario Brothers movie.
While this does confirm our suspicions that the producers didn’t give a crap about the
game franchise, it’s near impossible to imagine how Arnold could have ever been Koopa.
Dennis Hopper actually played Koopa and we couldn’t imagine it.
We’re not sure if we’re relieved or sad this didn’t happen, but at the very least
we can still watch all of Arnie’s other classics.
Felicity Jones – 50 Shades of Grey A lot of actors have turned down 50 Shades
of Grey, including stars like Emma Watson, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlie Hunman and Alex
Pettyfer.
Another one of those actors to turn down the role is Felicity Jones.
While initially saying that she’d be happy to be in the movie adaptation, she later turned
it down as she was unwilling to perform full frontal nudity, despite initially claiming
she would be happy to do it.
While Dakota Johnson took her place, Felicity Jones picked up a huge payday instead with
Rogue One: A Star Wars story and the hit Drama, A Monster Calls.
While we’re sure that Star Wars fans everywhere are currently lamenting the fact that Jones
didn’t take the role, it doesn’t seem like she missed out in the long run.
Tom Hardy – Rick Flag When Suicide Squad was first announced it
was Tom Hardy, rather than Joel Kinnamon in the role of Rick Flag.
Needless to say this raised a lot of eyebrows.
It seemed strange that Tom Hardy, a huge A-Lister who had not long ago played Bane in The Dark
Knight Rises, would play a DC character that no one had really heard of.
Apparently Tom Hardy felt the same way, as he pulled out of the role not long after being
announced to be in the film, just days after the announcement.
Citing scheduling conflicts, some have speculated that Hardy was unhappy that the screen time
of Will Smith and Jared Leto were upped, and his downed.
Or it was to hold out for a more recognisable role in the DCEU or the Marvel Cinematic Universe
in the near future.
Jake Gyllenhaal – Spider-Man 2 While we know that Leonardo DiCaprio was considered
for the role of Spider-Man, what a lot of people don’t know is that Jake Gyllenhaal
almost replaced Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 2.
Due to arguments within the studio based around Maguire’s unusual behaviour and negotiation
tactics, Sam Raimi considered replacing him with Jake Gyllenhaal.
While it would now be unthinkable to recast a main character in a superhero movie without
rebooting the whole franchise, back then it was far more do-able.
Thankfully or unfortunately, depending on if you’re a fan, Tobey Maguire eventually
did get on-board the project properly and went on to make one of the greatest superhero
movies of all time.
Amy Adams – Janis Joplin Amy Adams has been a star on the rise for
many years, gaining accolades for her work in Julie and Julia, Doubt and Arrival.
Most of her roles stretch her acting ability and put story and character first, which is
clearly something that Amy Adams excels at working with, which is why the idea of her
in a biopic makes sense What is crazy though is that she was in talks to play Janis Joplin
in a movie based on the rock stars life.
Despite a decade older (although looking a decade younger)than Joplin, this the movie
has been in talks for some time, however due to lawsuits the production of the movie has
been halted.
Emma Roberts – Harley Quinn (Suicide Squad) Often the source of controversy, Emma Roberts
is best known nowadays for her roles in Scream Queens and American Horror Story.
Dealing with the macabre on the regular, studios initially considered her for the role of Harley
Quinn.
In fact she even auditioned and got the part, before turning it down for Scream Queens.
Other actors considered included Amanda Seyfried and Rooney Mara, but eventually after more
auditions the role eventually went to Margot Robbie.
Which we’re glad about, as Margot looks and sounds far more like the character.
While Roberts was certainly good enough to get the part, it was Margot Robbie who is
now iconic in the role.
Vin Diesel – Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings) While it’s impossible to imagine him in
the role, Vin Diesel was one of many actors to audition for the role of badass ranger
and eventual king, Aragorn in “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”.
Vin Diesel is an actor who’s largely known for his big brutish roles such as the lethal
and calculating Riddick in Pitch Dark, and Dominic Toretto in The Fast and Furious franchise.
So the idea of him playing Aragorn who is by far a much smaller man is a little odd.
Thankfully missing this big role early didn’t hurt his career at all, as he’s now one
of the highest paid actors in Hollywood and the star of not one, but two blockbuster franchises
in the form of The Fast and Furious and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson - Johnny Bravo Right now the Rock is the highest paid, but
not highest grossing, actor in Hollywood, earning $64.5 million in 2015.
It’s not just that he’s lucky either, this guy for whatever reason is movie magic
and any movie he appears in is always a financial success.
While he is typically known for playing tough guys such as Luke Hobbs in The Fast and Furious
and goddamn Hercules, it’s not uncommon for Dwayne Johnson to play cuddlier roles
in family friendly films such as the Tooth Fairy, the voice of Maui in Disney’s moana,
or comedies such as Central Intelligence.
That being said we’re still surprised that not only was a live action Johnny Bravo movie
almost made, but it nearly starred the Rock.
Which means that we almost lived in a world in which that not only could have happened,
but we also would have seen the Rock with an almighty blonde quiff.
Margot Robbie – Fantastic Four Although very hard to find, there are a few
roles that Margot Robbie has turned down.
While she did turn down some smaller indie roles such as “A Bigger Splash”, she’s
turned down one big role that we know of.
That being the role of Sue Storm in the new Fantastic Four movie.
While she would have undoubtedly been a better pick for the role than the actress the movie
actually got, Margot Robbie just didn’t like what she saw.
She claimed that she didn’t resonate with the script, despite getting on with the director
Josh Trank, and to this day still hasn’t seen the movie and has no idea how well it
turned out.
Thankfully this turned out for the best as we were given a pitch perfect Harley Quinn
instead of a better Sue Storm, in a dreadful movie.
Did we miss anything?
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