I’ve read that Ronald Reagan was considered first for the role of Rick in Casablanca, and I will be forever grateful to whatever gods oversee the movie business that Bogart got the role instead.
Shirley Temple was the first considered for the role of Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz and W.C. Fields for the role of the Wizard. I really don’t think it would ever have been the classic it became if that casting had been used.
What about Bette Davis as Scarlett O’Hara? UGH!
What are some of your favorite "glad it didn’t happen"s?
I’m glad Zaphod Beeblebrox won’t be played by Jim Carrey. And I’m not sad that Stuart Townsend got ditched in favor of Viggo Mortensen for the role of Aragorn.
Vivien Liegh was considered for the nameless heroine of Rebecca, as a match-up with her then-lover Laurence Olivier. It sounds like an interesting idea, but if her screen test with Olivier on the Criterion DVD of Rebecca is any indication, I don’t think it would have worked. She’s too confident, too poised, and too flirty for that painfully shy and awkward girl. There’s a bit too much of Scarlett O’Hara in her performance. From the screen test, I can easily believe that the artful little minx deliberately broke the china cupid–probably by flinging it across the room.
I just learned that Bruce Willis was originally offered the Patrick Swayze role in Ghost. That would’ve sucked most mightily.
The Goldie Hawn/Madonna/Kathy Bates trio could never have taken Chicago to the heights that Catherine Zeta-Jones/Renee Zellweger/Queen Latifah did. It would’ve been a nightmare. Similarly, Catherine Zeta-Jones could not have carried Nicole Kidman’s role in Moulin Rouge.
Lastly, I just read that amongst others, Robert Duvall’s name was bandied about for the role of Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects and I simply cannot fathom it.
Slightly off topic, I once saw an interview where Rod Steiger said he regretted not accepting the part of the Godfather. I thought Stieger would have done a pretty good - but different job.
Doris Day was considered for the part of Mrs. Robinson, in The Graduate. Robert Redford was up for Dustin Hoffman’s role of Benjamin, in the same movie. Sheesh, talk about custard at room temperature, and blinding blondness, to boot.
I have heard that Michael Jackson was considered for the “Goblin King” role played by David Bowie in Labyrinth. That movie is creepy enough without seeing Jacko abduct a little boy and spirit him away to a magical fantasy land…
Russell Crowe turning down the role of Wolverine in Xmen.
Michael Madsen turning down the role of Vincent Vega. Although I still think Travolta did a great job, but would of been interesting to see how Madsen would of done it.
Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Ryan ONeal, and Robert De Niro all auditioned for the role of Micheal Corleone in the Godfather. Can’t see anyone else working as well as Pacino.
Mark Wahlberg turning down the role of Linus in the Oceans 11 remake. Mainly because I can’t stand Matt Damon.
I recall reading an interview with John Denver many years ago where he talked about movie roles he was offered and rejected. They included the lead in An Officer and a Gentleman as well as other major roles I can’t recall. He said that he had no idea how to interpret scripts and was too stupid to hire someone who could. When he saw An Officer and a Gentleman on screen he couldn’t believe it was the same script he’d read and rushed home to reread it.
much as Hopkins was perfect as Lecter, a Gene Hackman version would have been interesting, Glad that Meg Ryan passed up the role of Clarice tho,
also glad that Aidan Quinn was NOT Jesus in the Last Temptation. Apparently also tho David Carradine in the late 1970s & Robert DeNiro in the 80s were considered- those would have been interesting. Barbara Hersey was ALWAYS gonna be Magdalene tho. At the time of Quinn, Sting was cast as Pilate which would have been OK but not as cool as David Bowie.
Molly Ringwald was sent a script of Blue Velvet, but her mother read it first, and vetoed it because “it’s all about S&M and bugs!”. I doubt David Lynch would have cast her anyway, and honestly, I can’t picture anyone except Laura Dern as Sandy, but I’m sure La Ringwald would have been totally wrong.
In fact, I think that’s the whole thing that went wrong with MR’s career arc: she should have focused on quirky roles, instead of being John Hughes’ virgin princess.
Anyway. I still think all the talk about Nicolas Cage playing Superman was someone’s idea of a joke. “Put…the kryptonite…back…in…the box!” GMAFB. He’s good at what he does do, but he is no Kal-El. I don’t think Godfather III would have fared any better with Winona Rider as Mary, and furthermore, I don’t think Sofia Coppola was as bad as she’s purported to have been. And as I’ve said before, I’m glad Haley Osment didn’t get a callback for Phantom Menace: he wasn’t right for Anakin, and if he’d been cast, he would have missed out on Sixth Sense. And, this is an obscure one, and I’m not sure it’s 100% accurate, but some American studio told Vittorio de Sica that they’d finance The Bicycle Thief if Cary Grant played the lead. :eek: In any event, he cast unknowns, and AFAIC, that was a good choice.
Ooh, that reminds me! On the strength of Secret Agent, or whatever his pre-Prisoner show was, Patrick McGoohan was also given the offer to take over from Connery. Wouldn’t have worked: Bond is supposed to be cool, not an iceberg.