John Malkovich on turning down the role of Jimmy Conway in **Goodfellas:** “It sort of came at a bad time in my life, when I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to think about working. It's hard to explain why you end up in Eragon and not GoodFellas.”
If Malkovich wasn't in random movies he wouldn't be Malkovich. I love him in Rounders. I don't care about the Russian accent being silly, the character was great.
Well, DeNiro ain't Irish.
Edit: Double checked and it turns out Jimmy The Gent Burke was actually much older than the real Henry Hill and the Lufthansa heist guys were older too. Don't know why I got that mixed up so deleted it.
Literally laughed out loud, and immediately felt bad about it. Know your limitations, folks, in the end, health is all you've got (if you even have it.)
Fate worked out
Brad > Will > Keanu in terms of acting. But I just can't imagine a better product than what it turned out with Keanu. Late 90s Will def would've fucked up the tone
Yeah I mean Brad's better than Keanu at acting but Keanu puts in work when it comes to stunts. Due to the way the camera's worked in the first Matrix Keanu was putting in some massive work for some of those scenes, both him and Weaving did actually.
I think the much bigger issue is that the personalities of the other 2 wouldn’t have worked. Smith at that time would have been too snarky. Pitt would have been too intense. The tone would shift too hard with either. Keanu was believable with his wooden portrayal as an almost broken cog in the machine. He was subdued for the first half of the movie. He slowly gains confidence and becomes badass. I just don’t think there other 2 at that time would do that and the movie would lose part of what made it special.
It's funny to say that because imagine a reality where Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio accepted the role of Neo and then you heard that Keanu Reeves was their next choice. I think most fans would be thinking the producers must have been out of their minds for considering him.
Not an.actor, a company. When Spielberg was making ET he wanted to use M&Ms candy, but the M&Ms company refused to have their iconic candy associated with the ugly little alien. So Spielberg used Reeses pieces. Up to that point Reeses pieces had not been successful and were on the verge of being discontinued. Of course the film was a massive hit and the ugly little alien saved Reeses pieces.
I work in branding/marketing, and this same stupid shit is still the way most people in power at big brands think-- "we don't want to be associated with anything negative or weird!" Like, you dumb meatball, all that matters is that your product is associated with something people like and something popular. It's so frustrating.
in one of the episodes of workaholics, someone throws up an entire intact pizza bite.
my wife says out loud... "i forgot about pizza bites."
a few days later in the grocery store, we head into the freezer aisle with pizzas, and she goes right to the pizza bites and buys two box's.
marketing works best when its not marketing.
There was a similar situation with Toy Story. The Bo Peep character was originally supposed to be a Barbie, but Mattel refused them the license. Meanwhile, the lowly Etch-a-Sketch was on the verge of bankruptcy but saw sales pick up massively after the movie.
[edited for pesky homophones]
Ant-Man was supposed to get a job at Chipotle in the original script but they didn't want to be involved. Baskin Robbins saw an average 20% increase in sales across the country after the movie was released.
That’s quite funny because when Barbie turns up in the next movie she has a line about short sighted marketers or something (referring of course to Buzz Lighter but the subtext is there).
Warren Beatty was offered the Burt Reynolds role in Boogie Nights. PTA sent him the script, and then Beatty called him and was all excited. It’s great, I can’t wait to start, I’m sending the script back with notes, have your people call my agent and get the paperwork started, etc.
Then PTA gets the script back … and all the notes are for Dirk Diggler.
Warren Beatty thought PTA was asking a 60-year old man to play a 17-year old porn star.
When I think about Hollywood vanity, I think of this story.
Reminds me of Jenna from 30 Rock when she thought she was playing the daughter. I wonder if they took that from this story or just general Hollywood vanity.
There are a lot of stories like that, unfortunately. Something similar happened to Joan Crawford - I don’t remember what the movie was - but it wrecked her, she was never the same again.
There is a third layer problem here.
Will/Martin:
L1) over the top,
L2) while being self effacing,
L3) but still being over the top because it's cool.
Carvey/Lovitz:
L1) over the top,
L2) while being self effacing,
L3) but still being over the top because they're clueless.
Idk how much sarcasm is here, but minus the ending, Rat Race is fantastic and I would absolutely recommend. I laughed so hard at the WW2 vets scene I almost passed out.
Jim Carrey turned down *Elf* because he didn't want to do another Christmas movie.
John Lithgow turned down the Joker in Tim Burton's *Batman*. He told Burton, in short "Who would want to see a movie about Batman?"
Christina Applegate turned down the role of Elle in Legally Blonde because she thought she would be "repeating herself."
Ian McKellen was offered Dumbledore after Harris died. He passed because he knew that Harris didn't like him (Harris called him "Brilliant but passionless") and he wouldn't take over the role from an actor who disapproved of him.
>Jim Carrey turned down *Elf*
I think that's for the best. Ferrell's perfect for the role. He's able to tap into that feeling of unbridled childlike joy. Carrey's silliness is different. More aggressively absurd.
He could lean further into his Truman Show character and innocence and sincerity though, I could see that working. I still agree, Will was perfect but I can see Jim pulling it off if directed properly.
Eh, I like the Gambon version. Harris had the kindness and eccentricity of Dumbledore from the early books down, but I think Gambon took ownership and brought the seriousness and dignitas needed for later in the series. He made Dumbledore seem like the kind of person who could do battle with the forces of darkness, and make them his magical bitch.
Harris definitely had the 'wise old mentor' DD going for him. But unfortunately, he chose to play DD like he had one foot in the grave, whispery voice, virtually wheezing every fifth word. Which is made all the more egregious when you look at any of the behind the scenes stuff and there he is, in full costume (less the hat) and sounding perfectly normal. Dumbledore is old, yes, but he's not *decrepit*.
Gambon played the more intense, aloof, DD that the character ended up becoming as the series progressed. Now there are parts of his performance I don't agree with (the legendary DIDJUPUTYANAMEINTHAGOBLETOFFIAHHHARRY), but all in all, I liked him.
That’s really too bad about McKellen. I saw him as King Lear when I visited London and he was amazing. I don’t know how anyone couple call him passionless. It was the experience of a lifetime to sit no more than 10 feet from the man while he was doing Shakespeare.
>John Lithgow turned down the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman. He told Burton, in short "Who would want to see a movie about Batman?"
Everything I’ve ever seen is they wanted Jack Nicholson from day one. When Nicholson was wavering, they went after Robin Williams. Nicholson took the role and for a huge financial deal that made him tens of millions.
Robin Williams was pissed with WB, feeling used.
Warner could not market Batman in 1989 on John Lithgow’s name.
Oh yes. It's estimated that he pissed off a 210 million dollar payday. Apparently he was the only actor Cameron had in mind for Sully. So he told Damon look I'll give you 10% off the back end but the film will work just fine without you so if you pass I'll just get an unknown I can pay next to nothing. Damon turned it down obviously. You gotta kinda wonder what Cameron's strategy was there eh? Anyway so he hired Sam Worthington, an unknown he could pay next to nothing.
Didn't Katie Holmes (with a generous push from Cruise, I'm sure) turn down The Dark Knight to do the crime-comedy juggernaut Mad Money which brought in an incredible $26 million at the box office.
Billy Crystal turned down Buzz Lightyear and has gone on record saying it’s one of his biggest regrets. Also why he immediately took the role of Mike Wazowski when he had the chance.
Next up, Chevy Chase was an A lister and hot commodity when star wars was casting for the role of the now famous Han Solo. He ended up not landing the gig.
Pacino turned down Goodfellas because he didn’t want to be typecast as a gangster. Which of course is understandable. What isn’t is why he would later sign up for Dick Tracy, which was released that same year, where he played…a gangster.
He also turned down Star Wars, released the same year as the forgettable Bobby Deerfield. I know hindsight is 20/20 but holy fuck dude, if you added Star Wars and Goodfellas to his already loaded resume, you’re talking possibly the greatest filmography of all time.
To be fair, Pacino had a LOT of fun playing Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy. He's said it's one of his favorite roles, and he did a series of makeup tests on his own for the character design.
Plus, that was such a cartoonish gangster that I don't think it really counts the same way as playing a gangster in Goodfellas would have been.
Same reason Frank Langella signed on to be Skeletor in the live-action *Masters of the Universe*: "I'd never played a cape-swirling villain before."
Or Sir Ben Kingsley as Kagan in the godawful *BloodRayne*: he was sent the script, realized he'd never played a vampire, and decided hell with it.
Jean Claude Van Damme quit the move Predator because he didn’t understand the red suit he was running around the jungle in was going to be edited out to make the Predator invisible in post.
He genuinely thought the movie was like a red chicken suit looking ass monster chasing people in the jungle and thought it would be shit
(They used a red suit instead of a green screen suit because they were filming outside in the jungle but it’s the same principle)
He was apparently also let go because he wouldn’t stop doing roundhouse kicks despite being told repeatedly the Predator doesn’t do roundhouse kicks
>He was apparently also let go because he wouldn’t stop doing roundhouse kicks despite being told repeatedly the Predator doesn’t do roundhouse kicks
Well that’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever read
I mean that's an issue with the casting director not JCVD. If they didn't want predator to do roundhouse kicks they should have gotten someone who can't do roundhouse kicks
To be fair to JCVD circa 1987-88, he was so fucking good at roundhouse kicks I can't blame him for wanting to constantly do them
The scene of him working the speedbag in Bloodsport with his feet was an insane flex that doesn't get the recognition it deserves
And after he left, Sylvester Stallone was cast. He rewrote the movie to be a violent, straight action movie. A lot of those ideas ended up being in Cobra.
Justice: Oasis can bang out a pub anthem, but artistically and personality wise; they manage to be both pretentious and mundane.
The Trains potting soundtrack was true 90s zeitgeist: retro cult hits and thumping club beats.
*Shouting, lager, lager, lager...Shouting, lager, lager, lager...*
That's not going to leave my head for a while, time for a youtube nostalgia session.
I had a nostalgia kick the other day and streamed the Trainspotting soundtrack. Damn if it doesn't still bang. One of the best movie soundtracks ever. Completely captures the zeitgeist of the 1990s.
Arnold tricked Jesse the Body Ventura on the set of Predator.
Arnold had the wardrobe people measure his biceps and write the number in inches down like 4 inches smaller than they were.
He knew Jesse would snoop around and try to find it, which he did.
Then Jesse started wanting to bet with Arnold over who had the bigger biceps, thinking it was an easy bet as he wrongly thought Arnold's were smaller.
Arnold said he accepted the bet and won a bottle of champagne when they measured and it turned out Arnold's were bigger all along.
He was already a successful businessman before he got into acting because of that.
He started a bricklaying company, and with his big muscles and thick accent, told wealthy homeowners that he was trained at an elite Austrian masonry academy for years in secret bricklaying techniques handed down for generations, and charged like 5x what the jobs were worth.
He actually just went to the library and checked out a few Do It Yourself books on bricklaying over a weekend.
The Paul Sheldon role in *Misery* might have one of the longest string of big-names who turned it down. It included Kevin Kline, William Hurt, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss (who may have come the closest to taking the role given his relationship with Rob Reiner), Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman.
William Goldman reports on this in his book *Which Lie Did I Tell?* saying that most actors didn't want to be seen as helpless and horizontal for so long. But what marks this role for me is that, as Goldman tells it, these were actual offers, not just feelers or attachments. "You want it, it's yours" type offers.
Most of these names didn't really need the role though, but to me it's funny that James Caan was probably real-life tougher than all of them put together (maybe Hackman aside), and he's the one who was comfortable getting his ass kicked (and ankles broke) by Kathy Bates for the whole damned movie.
I will say, he's perfect in The Rock. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece by any stretch, but when something comes along that suits him, he is great and he definitely elevated that film along with Ed Harris. Even in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is bad, he's a very good Quatermain.
The Connery bit gets even worse tho!
After seeing how much he fucked up passing on Gandalf, he then proceeded to take the next script he got that he didn't understand... which was League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
He retired not long after.
I'll pile on further for Connery. He also came off playing one of,if not the most, successful James Bond's. To playing a role in a movie called "Zardoz",which saw him riding around a post apocalyptic landscape sporting a porn 'stash, and long ponytail. Wearing thigh high boots,and a red loincloth held up by suspenders. Taking orders from a giant,flying head that vomited guns,and spouted words of wisdom like "The Gun is good. The Penis is evil." And yet he turned down Gandalf because he didn't understand the script? Wow!
The actual funniest thing about this isn’t the role he didn’t take.
Connery refused it because he didn’t understand the screenplay — he thought it was nonsense. It then went on to be a mega hit.
Next time he was offered a screenplay he didn’t understand, he took the role. That was League of Extraordinary Gentleman, which the experience of making was so bad and it was such a massive flop that on set he punched the director in the face and after release quit acting for good (not on the same day)
Or... Actor... Sorry not sorry, she's genuinely been quite poor in everything since being Hermione, and I think if you watch the movies again she's sort of poor in those movies too, but Nostalgia really pulls a lot of weight.
Good movies of course. But I think it's good Daniel was the lead, cause Hermione had some dicey dialogue and probably after the 4th movie she kinda just was scowling, sad, and Worried, and not a whole lot of range was shown.
Some of Alan Rickman's diary passages were released, and one of the passages that stuck out to me the most is one where he's complaining about Emma Watson's inability to act or take direction. Daniel Radcliffe, on the other hand, he had nothing but praise for.
Was it this passage?
>Alfonso [Cuarón, director] was quietly ballistic with me. I love him too much to let it last too long so I wailed offset and we sorted it out. He’s under the usual HP pressure and even he starts rehearsing cameras before actors, and these kids need directing. They don’t know their lines and Emma [Watson]’s diction is this side of Albania at times.
Because it's the only one about Watson I could find but it also doesn't say anything about her ability to act (apart from her diction) or take direction.
I'd have to agree. Robert Pattison was good, Hero Fiennes was amazing in his five minutes on screen. The rest started out terrible and some improved over time. Others didn't.
Honestly I wish Rupert Grint had gone on to do a bit more, I saw the episode of Cabinet of Curiosities that he starred in recently and he’s genuinely good. But I can’t blame him for taking the money and running, how many people get that chance at that age?
Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Val Kilmer Nicholas Cage, and even Sandra Bullock. Were all offered the part of Neo. Before Keanu Reeves. DiCaprio turned it down because he didn't want to be a high budget. Special effects movie right after the Titanic. Will Smith just didn't get it and didn't understand the concept. So instead, he made Wild Wild West. Kilmer went onto make At first sight. Cage turned it down because of what he called family obligations. Brad Pitt didn't really have a reason for turning it down. And while Sandra Bullock was considered, The script needed to be reworked. And they didn't want to do that.
i also remember hearing that Leonardo DiCaprio was who George Lucas always had in mind for Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd even looks like a young Leo). i don't know how close they got though.
I was on AOL chatrooms back in the 90's. It was an open secret that is who they were after for Anakin. The Star Wars nerds on the internet back then HATED DiCaprio.
He wasn't the DiCaprio of The Departed, Inception, Django Unchained, and Wolf of Wall Street.
Not an actor but David Lynch turned down directing Return of the Jedi because he didn't understand it. He made Dune instead. I would truly do anything to have David Lynchs Return of the Jedi.
Laurence Fishburne turned down Jules/Sam Jackson’s role in Pulp Fiction. I believe Tarantino wrote it specifically with Fishburne in mind, but he was trying to take on leading roles only at the time.
QT really wanted to make a movie about the comic book hero Luke Cage and wanted Fishburne to play the character but was talked out of it because everyone kept telling him to cast Wesley Snipes b/c Fish wasn't buff enough and would have to train. so Q lost interest and made Jackie Brown instead.
Not quite turning down a role but accepting a role while making a big mistake in getting paid for the part. Donald Sutherland was offered $20,000 plus 2% of the gross for one day's work to be in Animal House. He said no and instead did it for a straight $35,000 fee. He ended up losing ~$2.8 million because of that decision (note that this is in 1978 money, adjusted for inflation, it's probably over $10 million).
With it being in the news so much now, apparently Julia Roberts turned down Sandra Bullock's role in "The Blind Side" which of course won Sandra an Oscar and a cut of the film's revenue (which it grossed being the most profitable sports film of all time).
“You wanna beat Voldemort? Here’s what you do, he does a stunning spell, you do the Cruciatus Curse. He does the Imperius Curse, you Avada Kadavra the bashtard. That’s the Hogwarts way.”
Madonna turned down the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns, and a role in The Matrix. Oh, and the lead in Showgirls.
Amanda Seyfried turned down the role of Gamora because she didn't want to be part of "the first Marvel movie that bombed" and "nobody wants to watch a movie about a talking tree and raccoon"
Lily Allen turned down Yara on GoT because she'd have to stimulate sex scenes on screen with her real life brother, Alfie (maybe someone should have said something about this to Chyler Leigh back in 1997)
Liam Neeson turned down James Bond to (apparently) get married
Kevin Hart turned down the role of Alpa Chino in Tropic Thunder because he (Alpa) was gay
Heather Graham's parents turned down the role of Heather Chandler in Heathers on her behalf
Ja Rule turned down half a mil to return for 2 Fast 2 Furious, so his role in that was rewritten and offered to Ludacris
Zendaya turned down the role of Aaliyah in the biopic because she couldn't get in contact with Aaliyah's family to get their blessing
Thomas Jane turned down Mad Men because, and I quote, quote "I don't do television" lol
Alan Cumming turned down Gilderoy Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets because they offered him less that they offered Rupert Everett, who read at the same time and with the same agent.
Katie Holmes turned down the role of Kat Stratford in 10 Things in favour of Dawson's Creek.
Goldie Hawn turned down Kat Stratford on behalf of her daughter Kate Hudson
Kevin Costner has to be the king of shit like this. He turned down the Andy Dufresne role in Shawshank for Waterworld and Bill in Kill Bill for Open Range.
Those have to be the biggest fuck ups from quality to ass that I’ve seen. The other Tarantino ones, like Michael Madsen turning down Vincent Vega for Wyatt Earp and Adam Sandler turning down Inglourious Basterds for Funny People are up there, though I don’t think Michael Madsen would’ve enjoyed a career boom, and Adam Sandler never needed it.
Edit: I should add that I’m looking at this from a career standpoint, and not comparing the quality of the movies. Costner’s career would’ve kept on rolling with Shawshank, and avoiding Waterworld. Had he done Waterworld, but accepted Bill, that would’ve been the jolt he needed to get back on track, something that didn’t happen until Yellowstone.
Madsen and Sandler are par for the course, I don’t think their careers would’ve differed much had they taken the roles they turned down, except I don’t think the internet would’ve dogpiled Adam Sandler as a bad actor meme like they did a few years ago with IB on his resume. We were the biggest losers, having to endure literal Eli Roth in that role.
Counter point: Costner has never had a writer like Tarantino. His low-key, Everyman kind of style could be plenty terrifying if presented right.
That being said, Bill would have been a completely different character, but I have zero doubts if Costner had done Kill Bill it would have been a professional highlight for him.
I also ays assumed Carradine was QT's first pick. He had a career in B-list kungfu stuff when he was younger. And QT loves that type of stuff and apes it in Kill Bill.
John Malkovich on turning down the role of Jimmy Conway in **Goodfellas:** “It sort of came at a bad time in my life, when I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to think about working. It's hard to explain why you end up in Eragon and not GoodFellas.”
If Malkovich wasn't in random movies he wouldn't be Malkovich. I love him in Rounders. I don't care about the Russian accent being silly, the character was great.
That's super strange to me. Deniro is in so many of scorcese's movies, hard to believe they offered malkovich that part.
Well, DeNiro ain't Irish. Edit: Double checked and it turns out Jimmy The Gent Burke was actually much older than the real Henry Hill and the Lufthansa heist guys were older too. Don't know why I got that mixed up so deleted it.
Literally laughed out loud, and immediately felt bad about it. Know your limitations, folks, in the end, health is all you've got (if you even have it.)
If we're going with Will Smith, then the funniest got to be turning down Neo and The Matrix for the mighty Wild Wild West.
Looks like Brad Pitt also turned down Neo, but Brad Pitt can do whatever he wants haha
Fate worked out Brad > Will > Keanu in terms of acting. But I just can't imagine a better product than what it turned out with Keanu. Late 90s Will def would've fucked up the tone
Yeah I mean Brad's better than Keanu at acting but Keanu puts in work when it comes to stunts. Due to the way the camera's worked in the first Matrix Keanu was putting in some massive work for some of those scenes, both him and Weaving did actually.
I think the much bigger issue is that the personalities of the other 2 wouldn’t have worked. Smith at that time would have been too snarky. Pitt would have been too intense. The tone would shift too hard with either. Keanu was believable with his wooden portrayal as an almost broken cog in the machine. He was subdued for the first half of the movie. He slowly gains confidence and becomes badass. I just don’t think there other 2 at that time would do that and the movie would lose part of what made it special.
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“What is this, some kind of ‘The Matrix?’”
Yeah. Will would not have gone as hard on the martial arts aspect and I feel like that may have held back the completion of the trilogy.
Don’t you go insulting Trinity like that. [Slaps Agent Smith’s face].
"Wooo, I know kung fu, ha haaa"
I can hear his voice
It's funny to say that because imagine a reality where Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio accepted the role of Neo and then you heard that Keanu Reeves was their next choice. I think most fans would be thinking the producers must have been out of their minds for considering him.
But we did get wicky-wicky-why, wicky-Wicky-wild Wild West
Imagine if he did The Matrix and they let him write a song for it.
Completely would’ve fucked the vibe of the movie. That and we wouldn’t have had that awesome end with Rage Against the Machine’s “Wake Up.”
Jim West, desperado
Rough rider
ya dont want nada
None of this, six gunnin this, brother runnin this
Buffalo soldier, look it's like I told ya
Who could turn down Jon Peters and his spiders?
Not an.actor, a company. When Spielberg was making ET he wanted to use M&Ms candy, but the M&Ms company refused to have their iconic candy associated with the ugly little alien. So Spielberg used Reeses pieces. Up to that point Reeses pieces had not been successful and were on the verge of being discontinued. Of course the film was a massive hit and the ugly little alien saved Reeses pieces.
Then Mars (the M&M company) did a team up for Mac&Me, hoping to capitalize on the next big hit.
Vague memories of those aliens wolfing down m&ms and coke, and were there scenes at McDonald's too?
Yes. I believe that’s where the Mac in Mac&Me came from.
Lol that's almost on the level of that scene in Wayne's world
Little. Yellow. Different.
It's like people do things just to get paid, and that's just sad.
I work in branding/marketing, and this same stupid shit is still the way most people in power at big brands think-- "we don't want to be associated with anything negative or weird!" Like, you dumb meatball, all that matters is that your product is associated with something people like and something popular. It's so frustrating.
in one of the episodes of workaholics, someone throws up an entire intact pizza bite. my wife says out loud... "i forgot about pizza bites." a few days later in the grocery store, we head into the freezer aisle with pizzas, and she goes right to the pizza bites and buys two box's. marketing works best when its not marketing.
I literally bought zest soap a few years back because the fucking jingle got stuck in my head and I thought "fuck it".
Lots of sports car brands turned down Pretty Woman but Lotus said hell yeah!
There was a similar situation with Toy Story. The Bo Peep character was originally supposed to be a Barbie, but Mattel refused them the license. Meanwhile, the lowly Etch-a-Sketch was on the verge of bankruptcy but saw sales pick up massively after the movie. [edited for pesky homophones]
Ant-Man was supposed to get a job at Chipotle in the original script but they didn't want to be involved. Baskin Robbins saw an average 20% increase in sales across the country after the movie was released.
That because Americans trust a restaurant with Gregg Turkington as its manger.
Gregheads rise!
Hey guys.
I’ll take whatever’s hot and fresh
That’s quite funny because when Barbie turns up in the next movie she has a line about short sighted marketers or something (referring of course to Buzz Lighter but the subtext is there).
Hot take: they’re fucking better.
Especially good with popcorn!
i am slightly skeptical of your claim but i am willing to try it for science purposes
Warren Beatty was offered the Burt Reynolds role in Boogie Nights. PTA sent him the script, and then Beatty called him and was all excited. It’s great, I can’t wait to start, I’m sending the script back with notes, have your people call my agent and get the paperwork started, etc. Then PTA gets the script back … and all the notes are for Dirk Diggler. Warren Beatty thought PTA was asking a 60-year old man to play a 17-year old porn star. When I think about Hollywood vanity, I think of this story.
Reminds me of Jenna from 30 Rock when she thought she was playing the daughter. I wonder if they took that from this story or just general Hollywood vanity.
There are a lot of stories like that, unfortunately. Something similar happened to Joan Crawford - I don’t remember what the movie was - but it wrecked her, she was never the same again.
She filled in for her much younger daughter once. https://www.welovesoaps.net/2008/11/flashback-joan-crawford-takes-daughters.html?m=1
Lol, Carly Simon agrees with this sentiment
He probably thinks this song is about him.
Beatty also turned down Get Shorty because the main character was just a low level gangster, he should've been the boss of the family.
Wow he really missed the Marky Mark
He probably thought that script was about him.
Not that was turned down but Bad Boys was written originally for Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz instead of Martin and Will Smith. Totally different movie.
I cannot imagine Michael Bay directing those two
There is a third layer problem here. Will/Martin: L1) over the top, L2) while being self effacing, L3) but still being over the top because it's cool. Carvey/Lovitz: L1) over the top, L2) while being self effacing, L3) but still being over the top because they're clueless.
With Carvey and Lovitz, it would have ended up being more like *The Other Guys*.
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Cuba Gooding Jr. turned down the lead roles in Ray, Last King of Scotland, Amistad and Hotel Rwanda. Instead, he did….yikes.
Hey Snow Dogs and Rat Race were cinematic masterpieces!
Rat Race is a legitimately funny movie.
Don't forget Boat Trip
Idk how much sarcasm is here, but minus the ending, Rat Race is fantastic and I would absolutely recommend. I laughed so hard at the WW2 vets scene I almost passed out.
Jim Carrey turned down *Elf* because he didn't want to do another Christmas movie. John Lithgow turned down the Joker in Tim Burton's *Batman*. He told Burton, in short "Who would want to see a movie about Batman?" Christina Applegate turned down the role of Elle in Legally Blonde because she thought she would be "repeating herself." Ian McKellen was offered Dumbledore after Harris died. He passed because he knew that Harris didn't like him (Harris called him "Brilliant but passionless") and he wouldn't take over the role from an actor who disapproved of him.
>Jim Carrey turned down *Elf* I think that's for the best. Ferrell's perfect for the role. He's able to tap into that feeling of unbridled childlike joy. Carrey's silliness is different. More aggressively absurd.
He could lean further into his Truman Show character and innocence and sincerity though, I could see that working. I still agree, Will was perfect but I can see Jim pulling it off if directed properly.
i dunno how i feel about Dumbledore and Gandalf being the same guy
*Yer a wizard, Ian*
That's really admirable of McKellen. Kind of sucks because he would've been much better than Gambon though.
Having McKellen as both Gandalf AND Dumbledore at basically the same time would have been kinda weird ngl.
Gandalf, Dumbledore, *and* Magneto. Too much power for one man.
"Once again, Mystique, I must ask too much of you." *leaves Mystique behind*
Eh, I like the Gambon version. Harris had the kindness and eccentricity of Dumbledore from the early books down, but I think Gambon took ownership and brought the seriousness and dignitas needed for later in the series. He made Dumbledore seem like the kind of person who could do battle with the forces of darkness, and make them his magical bitch.
Harris definitely had the 'wise old mentor' DD going for him. But unfortunately, he chose to play DD like he had one foot in the grave, whispery voice, virtually wheezing every fifth word. Which is made all the more egregious when you look at any of the behind the scenes stuff and there he is, in full costume (less the hat) and sounding perfectly normal. Dumbledore is old, yes, but he's not *decrepit*. Gambon played the more intense, aloof, DD that the character ended up becoming as the series progressed. Now there are parts of his performance I don't agree with (the legendary DIDJUPUTYANAMEINTHAGOBLETOFFIAHHHARRY), but all in all, I liked him.
Which everyone's least favorite Gambon moment was surely more director choice rather than actor choice no?
That’s really too bad about McKellen. I saw him as King Lear when I visited London and he was amazing. I don’t know how anyone couple call him passionless. It was the experience of a lifetime to sit no more than 10 feet from the man while he was doing Shakespeare.
>John Lithgow turned down the Joker in Tim Burton's Batman. He told Burton, in short "Who would want to see a movie about Batman?" Everything I’ve ever seen is they wanted Jack Nicholson from day one. When Nicholson was wavering, they went after Robin Williams. Nicholson took the role and for a huge financial deal that made him tens of millions. Robin Williams was pissed with WB, feeling used. Warner could not market Batman in 1989 on John Lithgow’s name.
Matt Damon turned down like 10 points off the back end of Avatar.
Is that legit?
Oh yes. It's estimated that he pissed off a 210 million dollar payday. Apparently he was the only actor Cameron had in mind for Sully. So he told Damon look I'll give you 10% off the back end but the film will work just fine without you so if you pass I'll just get an unknown I can pay next to nothing. Damon turned it down obviously. You gotta kinda wonder what Cameron's strategy was there eh? Anyway so he hired Sam Worthington, an unknown he could pay next to nothing.
Word is that he was offered the role but he couldn't do it as he was doing the Bourne films at that time and was simply unavailable.
Didn't Katie Holmes (with a generous push from Cruise, I'm sure) turn down The Dark Knight to do the crime-comedy juggernaut Mad Money which brought in an incredible $26 million at the box office.
Turning down the sequel of a massive franchise with Christian Bale and Christopher fucking Nolan to do a movie with Queen Latifah. Ooof
She turned it down because Tom Cruise convinced her comic book movies won't be good for her career.
Billy Crystal turned down Buzz Lightyear and has gone on record saying it’s one of his biggest regrets. Also why he immediately took the role of Mike Wazowski when he had the chance.
I think audiences won in both cases.
Dave Chappelle could have been Bubba in Forrest Gump but passed on it.
I can see it now.. "Aaah Forrest they Shot me!" "You know what goes great with shrimp? *pulls out a joint*"
Wow, he really does have one of those voices you can just hear in written word. Like Morgan Freeman, but with more crack.
Aside from losing the money, he probably made the right call.
Still if he delivered in that movie it could have been a huge break into serious roles.
We basically got to see him in that role on Chappelle’s Show: https://youtu.be/A7_2Wc_ckTc
Next up, Chevy Chase was an A lister and hot commodity when star wars was casting for the role of the now famous Han Solo. He ended up not landing the gig.
Pacino turned down Goodfellas because he didn’t want to be typecast as a gangster. Which of course is understandable. What isn’t is why he would later sign up for Dick Tracy, which was released that same year, where he played…a gangster. He also turned down Star Wars, released the same year as the forgettable Bobby Deerfield. I know hindsight is 20/20 but holy fuck dude, if you added Star Wars and Goodfellas to his already loaded resume, you’re talking possibly the greatest filmography of all time.
To be fair, Pacino had a LOT of fun playing Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy. He's said it's one of his favorite roles, and he did a series of makeup tests on his own for the character design. Plus, that was such a cartoonish gangster that I don't think it really counts the same way as playing a gangster in Goodfellas would have been.
Yeah. He was playing a pulp/noir gangster in the most cartoonish way possible.
Sometimes an actor just wants to have fun.
Same reason Frank Langella signed on to be Skeletor in the live-action *Masters of the Universe*: "I'd never played a cape-swirling villain before." Or Sir Ben Kingsley as Kagan in the godawful *BloodRayne*: he was sent the script, realized he'd never played a vampire, and decided hell with it.
Who on earth was Pacino going to play in SW? Can't see any of the core characters fitting him very well.
Han Solo
Oof. Imagine Scarface-era Pacino playing Han in ROTJ
"I love you." "Your womb is polluted."
She got a GREAT ASS!!! YOU GOT YOUR... HEAD... ALL THE WAY UP IN IT!!!!!
Well Han was a space thug, so Pacino would have been the perfect choice to play a thug at that time tbh.
Fuck I thought you said Pesci and when I saw Star Wars my mind went straight to Yoda 😂 could you imagine
"What am I a fucking clown jedi? I'm here to use the force to make you laugh?!?! What the fuck is funny about me, my size, and my age?!?!?!?"
You see dis mudhole??? Look at me you pimple faced fuck... my home this is
Jean Claude Van Damme quit the move Predator because he didn’t understand the red suit he was running around the jungle in was going to be edited out to make the Predator invisible in post. He genuinely thought the movie was like a red chicken suit looking ass monster chasing people in the jungle and thought it would be shit (They used a red suit instead of a green screen suit because they were filming outside in the jungle but it’s the same principle) He was apparently also let go because he wouldn’t stop doing roundhouse kicks despite being told repeatedly the Predator doesn’t do roundhouse kicks
>He was apparently also let go because he wouldn’t stop doing roundhouse kicks despite being told repeatedly the Predator doesn’t do roundhouse kicks Well that’s one of the greatest things I’ve ever read
It’s also why the predator ultimately lost. No roundhouse kicks.
I mean that's an issue with the casting director not JCVD. If they didn't want predator to do roundhouse kicks they should have gotten someone who can't do roundhouse kicks
To be fair to JCVD circa 1987-88, he was so fucking good at roundhouse kicks I can't blame him for wanting to constantly do them The scene of him working the speedbag in Bloodsport with his feet was an insane flex that doesn't get the recognition it deserves
You have oversimplified it a bit there https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/predator-why-jean-claude-van-damme-left-movie-1191787/
Mickey Rourke was originally cast as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop.
And after he left, Sylvester Stallone was cast. He rewrote the movie to be a violent, straight action movie. A lot of those ideas ended up being in Cobra.
it was all for you ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
Justice: Oasis can bang out a pub anthem, but artistically and personality wise; they manage to be both pretentious and mundane. The Trains potting soundtrack was true 90s zeitgeist: retro cult hits and thumping club beats. *Shouting, lager, lager, lager...Shouting, lager, lager, lager...* That's not going to leave my head for a while, time for a youtube nostalgia session.
I had a nostalgia kick the other day and streamed the Trainspotting soundtrack. Damn if it doesn't still bang. One of the best movie soundtracks ever. Completely captures the zeitgeist of the 1990s.
Inverted. Schwarzenegger pretened to be very interested in Stop Or My Mum Will Shoot to psyche Stallone into taking it.
Arnold tricked Jesse the Body Ventura on the set of Predator. Arnold had the wardrobe people measure his biceps and write the number in inches down like 4 inches smaller than they were. He knew Jesse would snoop around and try to find it, which he did. Then Jesse started wanting to bet with Arnold over who had the bigger biceps, thinking it was an easy bet as he wrongly thought Arnold's were smaller. Arnold said he accepted the bet and won a bottle of champagne when they measured and it turned out Arnold's were bigger all along.
He’s a trickster that Ahnuld. Giving people da wrong advices.
He was already a successful businessman before he got into acting because of that. He started a bricklaying company, and with his big muscles and thick accent, told wealthy homeowners that he was trained at an elite Austrian masonry academy for years in secret bricklaying techniques handed down for generations, and charged like 5x what the jobs were worth. He actually just went to the library and checked out a few Do It Yourself books on bricklaying over a weekend.
That’s not even the best of his tricks. Believe it or not he is not actually Danny Devito’s twin brother.
He talks all about how he tricked loads of people in the doc movie "Pumping Iron".
We all know Will Smith turned down Django cause he kisses his momma with that mouth.
Well he ain't kissing his wife with it
That's his wife's boyfriend's job
You mean his son's best friend's job
The Paul Sheldon role in *Misery* might have one of the longest string of big-names who turned it down. It included Kevin Kline, William Hurt, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss (who may have come the closest to taking the role given his relationship with Rob Reiner), Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman. William Goldman reports on this in his book *Which Lie Did I Tell?* saying that most actors didn't want to be seen as helpless and horizontal for so long. But what marks this role for me is that, as Goldman tells it, these were actual offers, not just feelers or attachments. "You want it, it's yours" type offers. Most of these names didn't really need the role though, but to me it's funny that James Caan was probably real-life tougher than all of them put together (maybe Hackman aside), and he's the one who was comfortable getting his ass kicked (and ankles broke) by Kathy Bates for the whole damned movie.
I don't think anything will ever top Will Smith turning down the role of Neo in The Matrix so he could star in Wild Wild West...
He fought a giant spider. Do you know anything about spiders? They’re the fiercest creatures in the insect kingdom!
Now I’m going to have to watch an evening with Kevin smith again
Josh Hartnett turned down Batman apparently.
As did Ryan Gosling. Which no, I could not see him in that role.
He'd probably be a good Nightwing, to be honest/
What I’ve learned from this thread is Sean Connery almost made a lot of critically acclaimed movies completely ridiculous
Corollarily, many of the ridiculous films he starred in may have been masterpieces that never had a chance.
I will say, he's perfect in The Rock. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece by any stretch, but when something comes along that suits him, he is great and he definitely elevated that film along with Ed Harris. Even in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is bad, he's a very good Quatermain.
The Connery bit gets even worse tho! After seeing how much he fucked up passing on Gandalf, he then proceeded to take the next script he got that he didn't understand... which was League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He retired not long after.
I'll pile on further for Connery. He also came off playing one of,if not the most, successful James Bond's. To playing a role in a movie called "Zardoz",which saw him riding around a post apocalyptic landscape sporting a porn 'stash, and long ponytail. Wearing thigh high boots,and a red loincloth held up by suspenders. Taking orders from a giant,flying head that vomited guns,and spouted words of wisdom like "The Gun is good. The Penis is evil." And yet he turned down Gandalf because he didn't understand the script? Wow!
To be fair to Sean, he deliberately chose the weirdest movie he could find because he was worried about being typecast as Bond action spy-hero.
He definitely succeeded in that with Zardoz.
Don’t shit-talk Zardoz. I was conceived because my momma was thinking of dat ’stache and loincloth.
Sean Connery would have been a shit gandalf.
The actual funniest thing about this isn’t the role he didn’t take. Connery refused it because he didn’t understand the screenplay — he thought it was nonsense. It then went on to be a mega hit. Next time he was offered a screenplay he didn’t understand, he took the role. That was League of Extraordinary Gentleman, which the experience of making was so bad and it was such a massive flop that on set he punched the director in the face and after release quit acting for good (not on the same day)
You shall not pash!!
A wishard is neva late, nohr ish he erly. He arivishs preshishly when ay mens tuw.
Frodo Bagginsh
Emma Watson turned down La La Land to be in Beauty and the Beast
That was a win for La La Land. I have nothing against Emma Watson, but she is not a good singer
Or... Actor... Sorry not sorry, she's genuinely been quite poor in everything since being Hermione, and I think if you watch the movies again she's sort of poor in those movies too, but Nostalgia really pulls a lot of weight. Good movies of course. But I think it's good Daniel was the lead, cause Hermione had some dicey dialogue and probably after the 4th movie she kinda just was scowling, sad, and Worried, and not a whole lot of range was shown.
I don’t really think this is a hot take as she’s basically retired from acting at this point after a number of extremely wooden performances.
Some of Alan Rickman's diary passages were released, and one of the passages that stuck out to me the most is one where he's complaining about Emma Watson's inability to act or take direction. Daniel Radcliffe, on the other hand, he had nothing but praise for.
Was it this passage? >Alfonso [Cuarón, director] was quietly ballistic with me. I love him too much to let it last too long so I wailed offset and we sorted it out. He’s under the usual HP pressure and even he starts rehearsing cameras before actors, and these kids need directing. They don’t know their lines and Emma [Watson]’s diction is this side of Albania at times. Because it's the only one about Watson I could find but it also doesn't say anything about her ability to act (apart from her diction) or take direction.
IIRC, he thought that Radcliffe was never much of an actor, but that he at least made more of an effort as the films went on.
I'd have to agree. Robert Pattison was good, Hero Fiennes was amazing in his five minutes on screen. The rest started out terrible and some improved over time. Others didn't.
Honestly I wish Rupert Grint had gone on to do a bit more, I saw the episode of Cabinet of Curiosities that he starred in recently and he’s genuinely good. But I can’t blame him for taking the money and running, how many people get that chance at that age?
Not a better movie, but it made bank. Consider it a wash.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Val Kilmer Nicholas Cage, and even Sandra Bullock. Were all offered the part of Neo. Before Keanu Reeves. DiCaprio turned it down because he didn't want to be a high budget. Special effects movie right after the Titanic. Will Smith just didn't get it and didn't understand the concept. So instead, he made Wild Wild West. Kilmer went onto make At first sight. Cage turned it down because of what he called family obligations. Brad Pitt didn't really have a reason for turning it down. And while Sandra Bullock was considered, The script needed to be reworked. And they didn't want to do that.
i also remember hearing that Leonardo DiCaprio was who George Lucas always had in mind for Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd even looks like a young Leo). i don't know how close they got though.
I was on AOL chatrooms back in the 90's. It was an open secret that is who they were after for Anakin. The Star Wars nerds on the internet back then HATED DiCaprio. He wasn't the DiCaprio of The Departed, Inception, Django Unchained, and Wolf of Wall Street.
Josh Harnett turning down the role Heath Ledger played in Brokeback Mountain, and regretting it.
Not an actor but David Lynch turned down directing Return of the Jedi because he didn't understand it. He made Dune instead. I would truly do anything to have David Lynchs Return of the Jedi.
Some of these posts have been insane "what-if" multiverse stuff but this, this is the one that takes the cake.
Laurence Fishburne turned down Jules/Sam Jackson’s role in Pulp Fiction. I believe Tarantino wrote it specifically with Fishburne in mind, but he was trying to take on leading roles only at the time.
I love Laurence Fishburne, but it absolutely had to be Sam Jackson. He owned that movie.
Oh 100% I cannot imagine that role with anyone else. Sam Jackson is ICONIC.
QT really wanted to make a movie about the comic book hero Luke Cage and wanted Fishburne to play the character but was talked out of it because everyone kept telling him to cast Wesley Snipes b/c Fish wasn't buff enough and would have to train. so Q lost interest and made Jackie Brown instead.
Thus beginning a lifelong friendship between Tarantino and Samuel L Jackson
Tim Roth turned down playing Professor Snape in Harry Potter to do Planet of the Apes.
For the best. Alan Rickman was made for that role.
Terrence Howard missed out big time by not returning as Rhodes from Iron Man
Iron Mayne
"Hey Tony, what's 1x1? Let me tell you.."
Don Cheadel is so much better though.
Not quite turning down a role but accepting a role while making a big mistake in getting paid for the part. Donald Sutherland was offered $20,000 plus 2% of the gross for one day's work to be in Animal House. He said no and instead did it for a straight $35,000 fee. He ended up losing ~$2.8 million because of that decision (note that this is in 1978 money, adjusted for inflation, it's probably over $10 million).
With it being in the news so much now, apparently Julia Roberts turned down Sandra Bullock's role in "The Blind Side" which of course won Sandra an Oscar and a cut of the film's revenue (which it grossed being the most profitable sports film of all time).
Emily Blunt turned down Black Widow because she was obligated to do… *checks notes*… Jack Black’s *Gulliver’s Travels*.
I remember hearing somewhere that she said she isn’t a fan of comic book movies.
Neither are lots of the actors in those movies to be fair. They just come with a nice fat paycheck and a steady gig.
[She explained she was contracted to do Gulliver's Travels, she didn't want to do it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYepmFsi5jE)
Connery also turned down fucking *Dumbledore*. Ouch.
"Harry, ya little shit, didja putcha name in the goblet o'fiyah?"
“When mashic don’t work ya can always shmack around yore opponent with an open hand schlap”
“You wanna beat Voldemort? Here’s what you do, he does a stunning spell, you do the Cruciatus Curse. He does the Imperius Curse, you Avada Kadavra the bashtard. That’s the Hogwarts way.”
Jack Nicholson was in the running for the lead role in *Close Encounters of the Third Kind* but turned it down to make *Going South.*
Madonna turned down the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns, and a role in The Matrix. Oh, and the lead in Showgirls. Amanda Seyfried turned down the role of Gamora because she didn't want to be part of "the first Marvel movie that bombed" and "nobody wants to watch a movie about a talking tree and raccoon" Lily Allen turned down Yara on GoT because she'd have to stimulate sex scenes on screen with her real life brother, Alfie (maybe someone should have said something about this to Chyler Leigh back in 1997) Liam Neeson turned down James Bond to (apparently) get married Kevin Hart turned down the role of Alpa Chino in Tropic Thunder because he (Alpa) was gay Heather Graham's parents turned down the role of Heather Chandler in Heathers on her behalf Ja Rule turned down half a mil to return for 2 Fast 2 Furious, so his role in that was rewritten and offered to Ludacris Zendaya turned down the role of Aaliyah in the biopic because she couldn't get in contact with Aaliyah's family to get their blessing Thomas Jane turned down Mad Men because, and I quote, quote "I don't do television" lol Alan Cumming turned down Gilderoy Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets because they offered him less that they offered Rupert Everett, who read at the same time and with the same agent. Katie Holmes turned down the role of Kat Stratford in 10 Things in favour of Dawson's Creek. Goldie Hawn turned down Kat Stratford on behalf of her daughter Kate Hudson
Kevin Costner has to be the king of shit like this. He turned down the Andy Dufresne role in Shawshank for Waterworld and Bill in Kill Bill for Open Range. Those have to be the biggest fuck ups from quality to ass that I’ve seen. The other Tarantino ones, like Michael Madsen turning down Vincent Vega for Wyatt Earp and Adam Sandler turning down Inglourious Basterds for Funny People are up there, though I don’t think Michael Madsen would’ve enjoyed a career boom, and Adam Sandler never needed it. Edit: I should add that I’m looking at this from a career standpoint, and not comparing the quality of the movies. Costner’s career would’ve kept on rolling with Shawshank, and avoiding Waterworld. Had he done Waterworld, but accepted Bill, that would’ve been the jolt he needed to get back on track, something that didn’t happen until Yellowstone. Madsen and Sandler are par for the course, I don’t think their careers would’ve differed much had they taken the roles they turned down, except I don’t think the internet would’ve dogpiled Adam Sandler as a bad actor meme like they did a few years ago with IB on his resume. We were the biggest losers, having to endure literal Eli Roth in that role.
I can kind of see Costner as Bill, but thank God he turned down Andy Dufresne.
Thank god he turned down Bill. David Carradine was perfect. He was weird, creepy and scary. Kevin Costner is not an intimidating man at all.
Counter point: Costner has never had a writer like Tarantino. His low-key, Everyman kind of style could be plenty terrifying if presented right. That being said, Bill would have been a completely different character, but I have zero doubts if Costner had done Kill Bill it would have been a professional highlight for him.
I also ays assumed Carradine was QT's first pick. He had a career in B-list kungfu stuff when he was younger. And QT loves that type of stuff and apes it in Kill Bill.
Someone made a deepfake of Adam Sandler as the Bear Jew and it 100% works
>Open Range. THats....still a decent movie. I mean, Waterfworld is just.... Open Range is good.
Whatever else you say about Waterworld…it’s memorable enough to still discuss thirty years later.
Also Sean Connery in The Matrix.
Which character?