Sure, it's nice to see actors starring in roles they were almost destined to play; Robert
Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. Arnold Schwarzenegger as
the Terminator. Sylvester Stallone as Rocky. But sometimes, an actor only has a shot at
an iconic role after someone else turns it down. Although everything worked out 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!"
Thomas Jane as Don Draper
When we think of Mad Men, we think of the dashing and duplicitous Jon Hamm. But Hamm
told Marc Maron on the WTF Podcast back in 2011 that the role which gave him his break
almost went to someone else.
"They went to Thomas Jane 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.
Matthew Broderick and John Cusack as Walter White
After earning sitcom fame in Malcolm in the Middle, Bryan Cranston made a huge career
leap 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
to take on the lead role. Luckily for Cranston, both babyfaced actors passed, and after execs
saw Cranston’s dramatic work in The X-Files, everyone was on board.
Or else.
Emily Blunt as Black Widow
Scarlett Johansson totally and literally kills as the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of
Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. 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 to ScreenRant, "I didn't
do it at the time because it wasn't the right time and I was contracted to do something
else. But Scarlett has done such a phenomenal job – she's it!"
Annette Bening as Catwoman
For many, Michelle Pfeiffer is the only Catwoman, having stolen the show in Tim Burton's Batman
Returns. But, as Blastr points out, the role was originally intended for Annette Bening,
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.
Will Smith as Neo
It's true: Will Smith turned down the iconic sci-fi action flick The Matrix. Everything's
turned out just fine for the Fresh Prince since then, but he explained his decision
to Wired in 2004: "The Matrix is a difficult concept to pitch. In the pitch, I just didn't
see it. I watched Keanu'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 Wild Wild West.
Dougray Scott as Wolverine
Originally, Dougray Scott was tapped to play Wolverine in the original 2000 film X-Men.
But after scheduling conflicts with his role in Mission: Impossible II, the gig went to
Hugh Jackman, now one of the biggest stars in the world. No hard feelings, though. Scott
told the Daily Record: "I like Hugh, 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 Jackman...
Hugh Jackman as James Bond
With Dougray 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 Jackman was considered for 007 back when he was filming the second
X-Men film. Jackman would have replaced Pierce Brosnan 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.
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, Crowe said Hanks passed because he
didn't like the film's romantic subplot between Maguire and Renee Zellweger's Dorothy Boyd.
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 Weekly reported
that Gillian Anderson was the one who revealed Fox's original choice for the character. "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 Gillian's intelligent-but-skeptical demeanor helped provide a great contrast to
David Duchovny's Mulder, leading the show to 62 Emmy nominations.
And finally...
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 the 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 7-foot-tall height made him tower over his co-stars, and was
only slightly more intimidating than Hall’s other most notable role.
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