11 Actors Who Turned Down Famous Roles: One of the downsides of being an actor is
that you’re not going to be able to take every role you’re presented with.
Unless you’re Christopher Walken, who seemingly does take every role he’s offered.
As a result we’ve seen a lot of instances where actors could have played certain roles,
some of them iconic, but for one reason or another turned them down.
Imagine Tom Cruise as Iron Man or Nicholas Cage as Superman.
Was their refusal a mistake?
Here are 10 Famous Actors Who Turned Down Famous Roles:
Josh Brolin - Batman (BvS) Josh Brolin would make for a ideal Batman.
He’s an imposing man in his forties, with a gruff edge around him that hides a softer,
fatherly side.
It would seem that Zack Snyder thought that he would make for a perfect Batman too, as
he was at the front of the list to play the Bat and had been all but confirmed.
This was casting that would have been a match made in heaven.
Brolin has a reputation for being a great actor after turning in stand out performances
in No Country for Old Men and Milk (where he received an Oscar nomination for best supporting
actor) but not one with a presence so overwhelming that you see the actor instead of the character.
He can carry himself in a fight scene and above all else he was the perfect sort of
age for the more grizzled Batman that the DCEU is trying to portray.
Unfortunately due to creative differences, amongst other problems, Josh Brolin eventually
dropped out of the project, making us all pretty sad about what Batman V Superman could
have been.
Leonardo DiCaprio & Paul Walker - Anakin Skywalker Despite Leonardo DiCaprio being considered
to be one of the finest actors around today, there was a time when he was often typecast
as the shallow pretty boy lead who would try to get the girl in movies like Romeo + Juliet
and Titanic rather than the character actor he truly wanted to become.
Perhaps one of his biggest mistakes then, was that he was unable to shake that image
sooner when Leo not only turned down Spider-Man, but also Anakin Skywalker.
Given that the Star Wars prequels proved to be a bit less than promised, in hindsight
now maybe it wasn’t such a mistake, but at the time Leo was facing super stardom from
being in the biggest film franchise ever but chose to focus on his acting chops by collaborating
with directors like Marting Scorcese in the Aviator and Gangs of New York.
Leo wasn’t the only person to turn down the role before it finally went to Hayden
Christenson.
Star of the Fast and Furious movies, the late Paul Walker was also offered the role early
in his career but also turned it down.
Chris Pratt - Starlord We know what you’re thinking.
Silly CBR!
Chris Pratt did play Starlord… and you’re right, he did.
What you might not have known though is that Chris Pratt rejected the role at first.
He had been invited to audition after getting in shape, however Chris was still a little
upset over how he embarrassed himself by turning up for a G.I.
Joe audition.
After turning it down, Marvel considered both Joseph Gordon Levitt and Eddie Redmayne, who
could have both been interesting choices, but would have lacked the relaxed comedic
timing that Pratt brought to the role With the role of Peter Quillin in the Marvel
movies being so drastically different from the comics, it’s now pretty hard to imagine
anyone other than Chris Pratt in the role.
Emma Watson - 50 Shades of Grey As soon as 50 Shades of Grey was announced
rumours were circulating that Emma Watson would play the lead role.
Probably because she’s a successful actress… who a lot of people wanted to see nude who
roughly fit the description of Anastasia Steele (which is still the worst name ever).
While it’s not known if she was ever approached in any official capacity to play the role,
we do know that Emma Watson burned all bridges to ensure that it wouldn’t happen.
Not only did she deny that she would take the role if it was offered to her, but also
seemed offended at the notion that she would ever be in the film.
We’re not exactly surprised that Watson feels this way, after all why would you want
to get naked on camera for all those…
millions… and millions of dollars in royalties.
Well maybe we would do it… but after Harry Potter, Emma Watson is probably already rich
enough Jennifer Lawrence - Hateful Eight
Jennifer Lawrence has been one of the most in demand actors for years, especially after
the Hunger Games franchise and winning the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook . Her “girl
next door” approachability and indie clout is in stark contrast to the inaccessible Hollywood
of years past.
Being she has been in very high demand for movies, it stands to reason she has had to
turn numerous roles down.
The most high profile of these roles was that of Daisy in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful
Eight.
Despite Tarantino really wanting her to appear in the movie, at the time Lawrence was busy
not only making the movie Joy but also travelling around promoting the film.
Despite all of this Tarantino now says in hindsight that he is glad that he didn’t
cast her as he felt she would have been too young to play Daisy Domergue.
The role instead when to Jennifer Jason Leigh, an older and more experienced actress who
knocked it out of the park.
Hugh Jackman - James Bond Many actors have played James Bond over the
years: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and
Daniel Craig.
Even more interesting than the actors who have played 007, are those who have been considered:
Idris Elba and Gillian Anderson to name a few.
It’s also worth mentioning that all of those actors are from the British Isles.
Which is why it might surprise you to know that Australian actor of film and stage Hugh
Jackman was at one point approached to play the 007.
The idea of an Australian James Bond is strange, but needless to say it was an idea that was
never realised on screen as Jackman shot the offer down.
Hugh Jackman is not the first person to reject the role, with Dalton rejecting the role twice
before finally taking it on years later.
Hugh Jackman’s reasoning was that he didn’t want to become best known for doing action
movies…
Awkward.
(Show Wolverine clip)
Margot Robbie - A Bigger Splash Despite being all the rage right now, Margot
Robbie is fairly new to Hollywood and hasn’t appeared in that many films.
With her movie career really getting getting started in 2013, what makes Margot stand out
is her willingness to appear in smaller movies like Z is for Zachariah, films that don’t
attract as much mainstream attention such as Suicide Squad and Wolf is Wall Street.
Despite this she turned down the multinational comedy ‘A Bigger Splash’.
Instead of Margot Robbie, the role of Penelope Lanier went to Dakota Johnson, now famous
for Fifty Shades of Grey and Black Mass.
At this point in her career, Margot hasn’t had the time to turn down any major roles
that she might possibly regret.
So we’re going to morbidly hope that she does make some major career mistakes so that
we can talk about them in the future.
But until that day comes, Margot, keep on acting.
Michael Jackson - Jar Jar Binks As if Michael Jackson needed more bad press,
the King of Pop at one point had wanted to play Jar Jar Binks.
Now while at first it may be tempting to think that George was some sweet angel of mercy
in stopping this from ever happening, it turns out that the reason Michael Jackson never
played the weird space duck might make you angry.
Michael Jackson, a long time advocate of practical effects known and known for very elaborate
costumes and prosthetics in his music videos like Thriller, wanted to portray Jar Jar without
the use of CGI.
This idea faced staunch opposition from George Lucas who at the time was of the opinion that
everything ever should be CGI.
This coupled with Michael Jackson being bigger than the movie, meant that the role of Jar
Jar went to Ahmed Best… and the rest is history.
Michael Jackson died in 2009, ironically leaving us with a musical legacy, and a few thoughts
of what may have been.
Robert Downey Jr.
– Gravity Alfonso Cauron, one of the three amigos of
Mexican cinema, is one hell of an auteur when it comes to making movies.
So it’s not surprising that despite his relatively short resume, everyone wants to
be in his movies.
Both Robert Downey Jr and Angelina Jolie were originally up for the lead roles in his most
recent movie Gravity.
Angelina Jolie dropped out early and Robert Downey Jr. - despite being in talks for longer,
ultimately turned down Gravity as well.
The reason given was that Gravity was a relatively stripped back film and no one was really sure
if Robert Downey Jr. could perform well in a movie with that tone.
While Robert Downey Jr. he often benefits greatly from a larger cast to bounce off of,
this was something that Gravity just doesn’t have.
As result the role ended up going to George Clooney, who used the move to expand his list
of endlessly likeable performances.
Jason Momoa - Drax (Guardians of the Galaxy) When you’re a big man in Hollywood it can
be a double edged sword.
On one hand having significant muscle mass will make it easier for you to get work, but
on the other hand it takes so much intense work and physical conditioning to maintain
that size and it can also result in you getting typecast.
Jason Momoa was asked to play Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy but turned it down because he
was tired of playing shirtless warriors, saying that he wanted his children to be able to
see their father happy.
As a result the role went to WWE superstar-turned-actor, Batista.
While it could be argued that Momoa went against this in taking the role of Aquaman, we can’t
help but feel that it was the right choice as Aquaman fits the kind of cunning warrior
that Momoa tends to play far more than a comic relief character like the MCU’s Drax.
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