The audition process for an actor can be time consuming, and soul crushing, but casting
is ultimately dependent on a filmmaker’s vision.
Even after an actor is selected for a prime role in a major motion picture, there are
still no guarantees when it comes to the final product.
Here are 10 Famous Actors who were fired from their Movie production.
Anne Hathaway, Knocked Up Anne Hathaway has pushed herself in many ways
to achieve the success she has had as an actress.
She has filmed nude scenes in Havoc and Love and Other Drugs.
She committed to shaving her head and singing live for Les Miserable, which contributed
to her Academy Award win.
However, filming a graphic birthing scene in Knocked Up was the line she did not want
to cross.
Originally cast as Alison Scott opposite Seth Rogen in the 2007 comedy, Hathaway was on
board completely until director Judd Apatow explained his plans for a realistic birthing
scene.
Hathaway refused which led to Apatow replacing her with Katherine Heigl.
Ryan Gosling, The Lovely Bones Ryan Gosling is known for being a serious
actor who is dedicated to his craft.
Perhaps, his earlier roles as Young Hercules or his work on The New Mickey Mouse Club inspired
him to grow as a true thespian.
Gosling was originally cast as the grieving father in the film adaptation of Alice Sebold’s
best seller, The Lovely Bones.
After Peter Jackson fired him, rumors surfaced that he was let go simply because he was much
too young to realistically play a father of two teenagers.
However, it was later revealed that Jackson fired him because he arrived on the set 60
pounds heavier and sported a full bushy beard.
Gosling had his own idea concerning his character’s appearance and that idea did not jive with
Jackson’s vision.
Jackson replaced Gosling with the more easy-going and susceptible to advice, Mark Wahlberg.
Anthony Michael Hall, Full Metal Jacket After years of playing the nerd in films like
Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, Anthony Michael Hall was set to branch out by playing
Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket.
The war film was a departure from his typical teen fair and it was his chance to expand
as an actor with a more dramatic performance.
He was also going to be working with legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, who was not known
to be as soft and fuzzy as John Hughes.
After being cast, Hall took his sweet time finalizing his contract.
After eight months of negotiations, Kubrick decided that he was tired of waiting for Hall
and fired him instead.
The role went to Matthew Modine.
Apparently, Kubrick wasn’t willing to play childish games.
Richard Gere, Lords of Flatbush Lords of Flatbush is one of Sylvester Stallone’s
first films and features an ensemble of young actors playing street hoods.
Richard Gere was given one of his first roles for the film as well.
It should have been an ideal opportunity for two actors on the brink of fame to complement
each other with their performances.
When the cameras weren’t rolling, the two actors were constantly at odds.
Stallone found Gere to be more of a detriment than a necessity for the film.
The future Rocky Balboa let the director know that he was going to have to quit or they
were going to have to fire Gere.
Gere was let go from the production and there is no evidence that the two actors ever reconciled
their differences.
Megan Fox, Transformers: Dark of the Moon Megan Fox began her career playing the mean
girl to the likes of Lindsay Lohan and the Olsen Twins.
She also played a typical teenager on the sitcom Hope and Faith.
Though she was building a hefty resume’, it was not until she was cast as Shia LaBeouf’s
love interest in Transformers that her name was tossed around the media Hollywood’s
next “It girl”.
Most would assume that Fox would be grateful to Michael Bay for casting her as the sexy
female lead in a big budget spectacle.
If she was grateful, she had a strange way of showing it when she compared Bay to Adolph
Hitler during a press tour.
While Bay was willing to overlook the name-calling and accept it as a poorly worded joke on Fox’s
part, producer Steven Spielberg found the comments unforgivable.
He made the suggestion to fire Fox and replace her with another beautiful actress for the
third installment, Dark of the Moon, which is exactly what Bay did.
Sylvester Stallone, Beverly Hills Cop Beverly Hills Cop is a classic 80s comedy
that showcased Eddie Murphy’s hilarious comedic chops and gave a generation a new
prank involving a banana and a tailpipe.
Now imagine Sylvester Stallone as Axel Foley.
It seems hard to believe but Stallone was originally cast as the quick-talking cop.
Stallone apparently had a problem with the film, as he thought there was too much humor.
He took it upon himself to rewrite the script.
Director, Martin Brest accepted that Stallone had a completely different direction he wanted
to go with the film but once he suggested his own script, Brest decided to just get
rid of Stallone altogether.
Luckily for audiences, the jokes stayed intact and Beverly Hills Cop became what is arguably
Eddie Murphy’s best film.
Edward Norton, The Avengers Edward Norton may be a talented actor but
he certainly has a reputation for being difficult on set.
After Eric Bana was given tepid reviews for the depressing 2003 The Hulk, Bruce Banner
was recast for an entire revamp.
Norton’s The Incredible Hulk was well-received by critics and audiences but that was still
not enough for Joss Whedon to welcome Norton to play the role for The Avengers.
Writer and Director Whedon wanted a much more laid back atmosphere amongst the actors for
the film and knew that allowing Norton to continue the role would just be far too difficult.
Whedon went with the much more amiable Mark Ruffalo to play the scientist with the bad
temper.
Stuart Townsend, The Lord of the Rings Stuart Townsend may not be as famous as the
other actors on our list, but the Irish actor has been around the block for some time.
When he was cast in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, audiences
would certainly know his name.
Unfortunately, the actor was fired before that possibility was ever realized.
After two months of horse training and rehearsals with the other actors, Jackson decided that
Townsend was just too young to play the character of Aragorn.
Rather than aging Townsend, he decided to hand him his walking papers.
Viggo Mortensen, who is fourteen years older than Townsend took on the role instead.
While it may be hard to picture anyone else playing Aragorn, it is too bad Jackson did
not realize this before casting someone else first.
Eric Stoltz, Back to the Future Eric Stoltz is a prolific actor who has worked
in film, television, on stage, and behind the camera for over three decades.
He is known as a professional and agreeable person.
Even when an actor is incredibly talented and plays well with others, there is still
the possibility that a role is just not a good fit.
As was the case with Back to the Future.
Stoltz was cast as Marty McFly but was replaced by Michael J. Fox who was more adept at comedy
thanks to his role on the sitcom Family Ties.
Back to the Future producers, including Steven Spielberg, decided that Stoltz was just not
funny enough to play Marty.
Stoltz had already filmed half of the movie but he was still replaced.
Stoltz has no hard feelings about being let go.
In the end there was no one better who could play Marty Mcfly than Michael J. Fox.
Christian Bale, American Psycho American Psycho, the film based on Bret Easton
Ellis’s novel, would not be the same without the icy emotionless performance of Christian
Bale.
The homicidal Patrick Bateman was almost going to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio but that
was only after Bale was fired.
In 1998, the director and producers decided to cast Christian Bale.
Once they heard that Leonardo DiCaprio was interested in the role, Lionsgate announced
at the Cannes Film Festival that he would be playing the role of Bateman.
It was an unfortunate way for Bale to find out that he had been fired from production
in pursuance of a more popular actor.
As pre-production continued, DiCaprio decided that he didn’t like the script, or the plot,
or anything about American Psycho and walked away from the film in favor of a different
project.
Fortunately, the script fell back into the hands of the future Dark Knight.
What do you think of our list?
Which terminated actors did we forget?
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