We all have a favourite movie, or a handful of movies we grew up watching that hold a
very special place in our hearts.
Now, imagine someone else played the lead role in that movie, would it have been the
same?
Would it still have worked?
Do you wish someone else had taken on the role?
Well, today on Beyond The Screen, we’re going to be answering all these questions
with our list of the Top 10 Actors Who Refused Massive Hollywood Roles.
Lets jump in.
10.
Gwyneth Paltrow – Titanic A few years back, Gwyneth Paltrow gave a very
open and honest interview with Howard Stern, detailing some of the big Hollywood roles
she was offered but refused to accept.
Not only did she turn down Heather Graham’s role in Boogie Nights, but she also went on
to turn down the lead role in James Cameron’s 1997 epic, Titanic.
As we know, the honour went to Kate Winslet who did a stellar job playing Rose DeWitt
Bukater, the wealthy socialite and love interest of Leonardo DiCaprio.
Of course, as we know, the film to this day is still one of the highest grossing movies
of all time.
Paltrow stated to Howard Stern, I quote, “My mother will kill me that I’m talking about
turning down movie roles.
She says it’s not ladylike.” in an attempt to avoid the topic.
She successfully steered the conversation away from her mistakes by stating that she
can’t change the past, and her choices orchestrated something far greater.
Preach Gwyneth.
But still, you goofed.
9.
Christina Applegate – Legally Blonde Earlier this month, Christina Applegate appeared
on Watch What Happens Live with her Dead To Me co-star Linda Cardellini, where she was
asked if she had any regrets about turning down roles in the past, particularly the roles
that shot Reese Witherspoon into stardom, aka, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.
The actress stated, I quote, “The story’s been out there, but I wasn’t like actually
offered Legally Blonde.
The script came to me, but at that time I had just gotten off of Married with Children
and I felt like it was too close to what I had just been doing.
So, no, I don’t regret it because Reese did a much better job than I ever could, and
she has now way more money than I do and way more success.
And so why would I even regret that?”
Well, at least she has a sense of humour about it.
Linda Cardellini also chimed in by stating, “But you could have worked with me!” -- as
Cardellini of course played Chutney Windham in the 2001 comedy.
Applegate responded with, “Sh*t, but I would have just been like boooo!”
8.
Sarah Michelle Gellar – Clueless Have you ever wondered how drastically different
Clueless would have been without Alicia Silverstone playing the iconic role of Cher?
No?
Well, now you can wonder.
As we know, Sarah Michelle Gellar made history on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, catapulting her
into superstardom, however, her career could have turned out very differently if she hadn’t
turned down one major iconic role.
The Vampire Slayer was offered the role of Cher Horowitz in Clueless before Buffy even
existed, but she turned down the role, which of course went to Alicia Silverstone.
I’m sure she has some regrets considering the movie was a smash hit, setting the bar
high for all ‘90 high school movies that followed it.
7.
John Travolta – Forrest Gump Forrest Gump has a place in all of our hearts
-- a slow-witted but kind man, bumbling his way through life while embarking on some truly
wild adventures.
What’s not to love?
However, like our last number, can you possibly imagine what Forrest Gump would have been
like if Tom Hanks didn't take on the role?
Well, now you can, because it very nearly went to John Travolta.
Travolta was actually offered the role before Hanks came along, however, he turned it down
to appear in Quentin Tarantino’s classic Pulp Fiction.
Now, of course Forrest Gump went on to dominate the 67th Academy Awards, which I’m sure
left a sour taste in Travolta’s mouth, with him ultimately stating that he regretted turning
down the role of Gump.
However, would the film have worked with Travolta at its helm, that’s the question?
What do you guys think?
6.
Jennifer Lawrence – Hateful 8 Now, it’s common knowledge that Quentin
Tarantino often writes his characters with a particular character in mind -- hence why
a lot of the same actors pop up repeatedly throughout his films.
It’s very rare that when Tarantino writes a role for someone, that they turn it down.
However, that was the case for Jennifer Lawrence -- who was offered a role in The Hateful Eight
but ultimately turned it down.
Regarding the situation, the director stated, I quote, “She was just doing me a courtesy
to see me, I think.
She was doing Joy.
She had to do all this publicity on the Hunger Games movies.
There was just no f-ing way in the world that she was available.
Having said that, I’m glad I didn’t case somebody that young.
I think I absolutely positively made the right choice, as far as the ages of the characters.”
The role of Daisy Domergue ultimately went to Jennifer Jason Leigh who is 25 years Lawrence’s
senior.
So it was probably for the best that Jennifer wasn’t interested.
What do you guys think though?
5.
Sean Connery – Lord Of The Rings Gandalf has become an iconic character in
cinema, with Ian McKellan doing a stellar job taking on the role of the powerful wizard.
However, he wasn’t Peter Jackson’s first choice.
The role was originally offered to James Bond star Sean Connery who ultimately turned it
down, losing out on nearly $450 million dollars.
To add insult to injury, Connery was offered a 15% stake in the film franchises’s box
office profits if he accepted the role, meaning the actor lost out on a potential multi-million
payday.
According to sources, Connery turned down the role because he didn’t understand the
part.
I quote, “Even a veteran star like Sean can make a mistake so big that it ultimately
causes him to lose out on a mind-blowing amount of money.”
Sean Connery has refused to comment on his refusal of the part, but has previously stated,
“I read the book.
I read the script.
I saw the movie.
I still don’t understand it.
Ian McKellan, I believe, is marvellous in it.”
Sean, seriously?
What’s not to understand?
4.
Emma Watson – La La Land Did you know, both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling
were not the first choices to star in the Oscar nominated musical La La Land.
Former Harry Potter star, Emma Watson was originally set to appear in the film alongside
Miles Teller -- however, Watson while speaking with ITV’s Lorraine, stated that she pulled
out of the film due to schedule conflicts with Beauty and the Beast.
I quote, “With a movie like Beauty and the Beast, it’s like three months prep, it’s
like three or four months shooting, it’s in the UK.
I had to be there to do that and, as I was saying before, you can’t half-arse a project
like this -- you’re in or you’re out.
And I was like, I’ve kinda got to be all in, and so this was really where my heart
was and I knew I had to fully commit and make sure that I did this.”
Now, of course, Beauty and the Beast did fantastic at the box office, however, you can’t help
but think Watson must be a little bitter that Emma Stone went on to win Best Actress at
the Oscars for a role she could have played.
3.
Will Smith – The Matrix In February of this year, Will Smith uploaded
a video to his YouTube channel titled, “Why I turned down The Matrix”, in which he told
fans, I quote, “All right this one of them stories I’m not proud of but it’s the
truth.
I did turn down Neo in The Matrix”.
Back in 1998, Smith was coming off the success of Men in Black and was in high demand in
Hollywood.
The Matrix writer and directors approach Smith and pitched him the film, I quote, “They
came in and it was like they’d only done one movie, I think it was called Bound.
And they came in and they made a pitch for The Matrix.
As it turns out they’re geniuses.
But there’s a fine line between genius and what I experienced in the meeting.”
So, you’re probably wondering what exactly went down in the pitch meeting?
Well, don’t worry, Will Smith explained that too.
According to Smith, they pitched it as, I quote, “So, dude, we’re thinking like,
imagine you’re in a fight and then you, like, jump.
Imagine if you could stop jumping in the middle of the jump.
But then, people could see around you…”
Yeah, I probably would turn down the role too.
2.
Hugh Jackman – James Bond Way back when the Bond franchise was searching
for a new 007 to replace Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig was surprisingly not the first choice.
At the time, Hugh Jackman was playing Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men and was becoming one of
the biggest names in Hollywood -- so, he was of course among the actors being considered
for the role of Bond, however, he ultimately turned it down.
I quote, “ I was about to do X-Men 2 and a call came from my agent asking if I’d
be interested in Bond.
I just felt at the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and crazy, and I felt
like they needed to become grittier and real.”
Not only were the scripts a problem for Jackman, he also wanted the time to take on other roles
too.
Stating, “I was also worried that between Bond and X-Men, I’d never have time to do
different things.
I always tried to do different things.
But there was a time between X-Men 3 and the first Wolverine movie when I could see the
roles getting smaller.
People wanted me to play that kind of hero part exclusively.
It felt a little bit claustrophobic.”
Now, it was probably for the best, with Jackman going on to land roles in The Prestige, The
Fountain, Les Miserables, and The Greatest Showman.
1.
Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio – Brokeback Mountain
Now, I’m slightly cheating with this number by listing three actors, but it was for the
same movie so cut me some slack.
I’m the host, I can do what I want.
As we know, Brokeback Mountain won three Oscars in 2006 with its two young stars Heath Ledger
and Jake Gyllenhaal also receiving nominations.
However, before Ang Lee took on the role of director, Gus Van Sant had the job, and struggled
to pull the film together.
Van Sant told IndieWire that the project stalled because he couldn’t cast the major A-list
actors that he wanted, such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.
I quote, “Nobody wanted to do it.
I was working on it, and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast.
That wasn’t working out.
I asked the usual suspects, they all said no.”
Now, it’s no surprise, because even at the time starring in a gay love story was a scary
move for some big name actors, but thankfully Ledge and Gyllenhaal stepped up, with the
two doing an incredible job portraying the closeted cowboys.
Well, there we have it!
Do you guys agree with our list?
Were there any actors that we missed?
And, who do you wish would’ve accepted a role?
Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below and perhaps we can
do a part 2.
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And until next time, see ya later.