Anytime Hollywood announces a new project starring an iconic character, the industry
and social media loses its collective minds, with folks speculating which actor will be
taking home the role.
Some are destined to steal the part, and it’s hard to imagine any other actor taking on
the role, however, some films have an incredibly long audition process with many famous faces
fighting against one another for the part.
So today on Top 10 Beyond The Screen, we’re going to be counting down our list of the
Top 10 Movie Roles Every Actor Wanted.
Lets jump in.
10 Katniss Everdeen - The Hunger Games Following the explosive and unexpected success
of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, it was inevitable that the film industry would
immediately jump onto a film adaptation.
And, of course, everyone wanted the role of Katniss Everdeen, the badass champion who
rallies against the tyrannical leader of the capital.
Almost every young, up and coming actress in Hollywood attempted to get their mitts
on Jennifer Lawrence’s part, with reports stating that Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin,
Shailene Woodley, Emily Browning, Emma Roberts, Saoirse Ronan, and Chloe Grace Moretz all
auditioned for the now iconic role.
But of course, the role ultimately went to Jennifer Lawrence who was just coming off
her first Oscar nomination for Winter’s Bone.
9 Amy Dunne - Gone Girl Building off successful books, Gone Girl by
Gillian Flynn was yet another book that found itself in the spotlight after Hollywood adapted
it into a film, directed by David Fincher of Fight Club and Social Network fame.
The book was an intense thriller and followed Nick Dunne during the disappearance of his
wife, Amy.
Now, while Fincher found that Ben Affleck was the perfect fit for the role of Nick,
the part of Amy was a little trickier to cast.
She’s a deeply complex character, with the majority of the film riding on her character
to deliver the performance it needs -- so, knowing that, they were pressured to find
the perfect match.
Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, as well as Olivia Wilde all sought out the part, and
while all these women would have been incredible, none would have done a better job than Rosamund
Pike, the British actress who eventually landed the role, and would go on to grab an Academy
Award nomination for it.
If you haven’t see Gone Girl, do it now!
8 Clarice Starling - Silence of the Lambs It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Jodie
Foster taking on the role of Clarice Starling, with the actress campaigning heavily to land
the part -- however, she wasn’t even on director Jonathan Demme’s shortlist.
Yikes.
Michelle Pfeiffer was the first choice for the detective, with Meg Ryan and Laura Dern
also shortlisted for the part.
Pfeiffer ultimately turned it down because she was too uncomfortable with the subject
matter, and Ryan was apparently offended that Demme even thought up the gruesome project.
According to reports, Laura Dern gave such an impressive audition Demme believe she was
the one, however, the studio was uncomfortable with casting, at the time, an unknown actress,
resulting in Jodie Foster nabbing it, and even winning an Oscar for her portrayal.
7 Batman - Tim Burton’s Batman Tim Burton’s Batman is legendary, whether
you like it or not, you have to say it was truly a fun film to watch, and Michael Keaton
did a stellar job taking on the role of the caped crusader.
However, in the ‘80’s when the film was in development, every leading man in Hollywood
was fighting for the role of Batman, and some truly surprising actors even stepped up to
take a jab at it.
Bill Murray being one of them.
Mel Gibson was also rumoured too as well as Charlie Sheen and Alec Baldwin.
Actors that I think we can all agree do not fit the Batman criteria.
Thank god, Keaton nabbed the role.
6 Christian and Satine - Moulin Rouge Ah, one of my favourite films of all time,
Moulin Rouge.
It’s a love story, it’s a musical, it’s incredible.
And it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman taking on
the roles of Christian and Satine, two ill-fated lovers in Baz Luhrmann’s movie musical.
However, the Aussie director apparently saw tons of actors during the lengthy audition
process, with Jake Gyllenhaal, who apparently has a tremendous voice, Heath Ledger, and
Courtney Love all auditioning for the iconic parts.According to Luhrmann he found Love
to be beguiling and though she wasn’t cast he did obtain the rights to her late husband
Kurt Cobain’s song “Smell Like Teen Spirit” for the movie.
You win some, you lose some, I guess.
5 Rey - The Force Awakens When a new Star Wars film was announced with
The Force Awakens, generations of fans were giddy with excitement, to see who would be
returning and what newcomers would be added to the already stacked roster.
So, of course when it was announced the Lucasfilm was hunting for a new leading lady, actresses
came out of the proverbial woodwork to try and land the career-making part.
It was reported that around 2,500 different actresses auditioned for the role, but the
most notable of the bunch being Elizabeth Olsen, Saoirse Ronan and Shailene Woodley.
However, in keeping with Star Wars tradition, JJ Abrams opted to go for a new face, and
cast British newcomer, Daisy Ridley.
4 Young Lara Croft - Tomb Raider As we know, Hollywood loves an origin story,
and none was as popular as the reboot of Tomb Raider, nearly 15 years after Angelina Jolie
took on the iconic role of this video game heroine.
Not long after it was announced that a new Tomb Raider was in the works, the hottest
Hollywood talent lined up for the part, including Saoirse Ronan, Emilia Clarke and even Daisy
Ridley who was supposedly in serious talk at one point.
However, the part ultimately went to Oscar winner Alicia Vikander who signed on in March
of 2018.
However, the film didn’t hit the heights it was expected to so imagine the actresses
are happy they dodged that bullet.
3 James Bond - Casino Royale Betting on the next James Bond has been a
favourite pastime for bookies in the UK -- and after Pierce Brosnan stepped down as 007,
rumours were abuzz about who would be next to take on the iconic role of the world’s
most famous spy.
Throughout the years names like Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth and
Clive Owen were all rumoured to have auditioned for the highly sought after role -- with current
Bond Daniel Craig ultimately winning out.
However, as we know Craig won’t be returning so, rumours are once again flying high as
to who will be the next agent, with possible successors being, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston,
Tom Hardy, Damie Lewis, and even X-Files star Gillian Anderson.
That’s right, Gillian Anderson.
Personally, I would absolutely love to see a female Bond, what do you guys think though?
2 Wonder Woman As we know, Hollywood for years as tried and
failed to bring Wonder Woman to the big screens.
But when it finally came time to get the ball rolling on one of the biggest superhero movies
of all time, many actresses tried to get their hands on the role of this badass DC hero.
The biggest stars that expressed interest in the role ranged from, Sandra Bullock, to
Christina Hendricks, and even Katie Holmes.
However, when Warner Bros finally cast Wonder Woman for Batman v Superman the casting description
read: “tall, brunette, athletic, and exotic” -- all characteristics that don’t quite
align with our previous mentions.
Ultimately Gal Gadot nabbed the role of the Amazonian Warrior Princess, and it’s quite
hard to imagine anyone else playing the part.
1 Scarlett O’hara - Gone With the Wind Now, you may be surprised to see this movie
all the way at our number one spot, but it is known that Gone With the Wind had one of
the most famous casting searches of all time.
Hollywood was building the anticipation for the 1939 big screen adaptation of Margaret
Mitchell’s novel by making their hunt for heroine Scarlett O’Hara a national obsession
by putting out a nationwide casting call for the part, which resulted in the studio seeing
approximately 1,400 actresses and auditioning some of the biggest names in the industry
-- including: Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Tallulah Bankhead, and every
other big name you can imagine at the time.
It took almost two years to conclude the search and the eventual winner was unknown British
up-and-comer Vivien Leigh, and was cast just days before principal photography was set
to begin on the film.
Talk about melodramatic.
Well, there we have it!
Do you guys agree with our list?
Were there any movie roles that we missed?
Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below and perhaps we can
do a part 2.
Before I go though, I just want to respond to a few comments from one of our last videos,
Top 10 Horror Movies You Need To Pray Before Watching.
Alex Barron said “Perfect person for this video.
All hail the queen of horror, Lucy.
“ -- Bless up, I’m glad you enjoyed.
Ichiban2point0 said “The Witch was boring as hell!”
-- It’s ok to be wrong.
Nelson Chris said “Everytime before watching Lucy host the show, I pray.”
-- As you should.
I’m known to possess the non-believers.
And on that note, if you haven’t already, be sure to give this video a big thumbs up,
subscribe, and turn on notifications so you never miss another Beyond the Screen vid.
And until next time, see ya later.