Disastrous Casting Considerations

Bette Midler in Misery.

Casted

Benedict Cumberbatch as Bill on True Blood

The very idea of Bette Midler being offered the Annie Wilkes part in 'Misery' boggles the mind. I wonder if she'd have turned it into another of her campfests.

".... and here comes the cliff, and just before the car went off the cliff, he jumped free! And all the kids cheered! But I didn't cheer. I stood right up and yelled, 'I will NEVAH forget it, ya know. I was in the woods last night with my boyfriend Ernie...'... "

I've always heard Molly Ringwald was considered for Ghost. I'm having a hard time seeing her opposite Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg.

George Raft as Sam Spade in THE MALTESE FALCON (41).

Al Pacino as Han Solo

Meryl Streep as Alex Forrest.

Molly Ringwald in Pretty Woman as well. No, thanks. They had her up for everything from about '85-'93 or so.

Jane Fonda and/or Shirley MacLaine as Chris in The Exorcist

[quote] Meryl Streep as Alex Forrest.

That's hardly disastrous.

The incredibly WASPy, overly-mannered Meryl Streep as Evita!

One good example is Barbra Streisand in the early '70s. She was considered for practically everything of import -- Klute, The Exorcist, Chinatown...

Annette Bening was supposed to play Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Batman Returns. But, dropped out due to pregnancy. If she had played the part it would have been a disaster.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Cabaret...

Meryl Streep has zero sex appeal and is incapable of playing any role that requires her to be a believable human being with human foibles. She would have been completely unbelievable as Alex Forrest.

[quote]The incredibly WASPy, overly-mannered Meryl Streep as Evita!

If Madonna kinda worked, Streep would've too.

Bette even did a screentest.

Doris Day as Mrs Robinson.

Jennifer Lawrence as my sister Sharon in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

[quote]Meryl Streep has zero sex appeal

That's what the role requires and why Glenn was so good in it. The producers actually weren't sure about her because they didn't think she was sexy enough but it explains to Alex's desperation. The role wouldn't have worked as well with a Kathleen Turner, Sharon Stone, Michelle Pfeiffer type. You'd know you could just pick up any other rich guy the next weekend.

[quote]and is incapable of playing any role that requires her to be a believable human being with human foibles.

Uh-huh.

Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Dorothy Stratten.

Doris Day was a more appropriate age in 1967 for Mrs R. than 35 year-old Bancroft.

It might have worked.

Oop. Forgot "considerations" for a second.

Elvis was considered for the role of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. It would’ve been a big mistake but he would have been more suited for The Fugitive Kind.

Elvis wasn't yet famous then.

Are you talking about Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

Elvis was consdered for A Star is Born with Streisand

Streisand for CABARET.

I used to have a girlfriend known as Elsie, oy With whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea, oy oy

Sorry, but I still think Glenn Close was too ugly for the part in Fatal Attraction.

Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan for CASABLANCA

Beyoncé as Lois Lane for one of the later Superman movies

Nicolas Cage as Superman for a Superman movie that was never made

Spring Byington for Mrs. Iselin in Manchurian Candidate

R32, was Alex Forrest meant to be a luminous beauty though? I think the point of her character was that she was supposed to be good for a few drunken shags only and then discarded.

Jimmy Cagney was offered the role of Henry Higgins in MY FAIR LADY.

Supposedly Cagney told Jack Warner that not only wouldn't he take the part but that he wouldn't even go see the movie (and that he didn't think anyone else would either) if anyone by Rex Harrison was cast in the role.

R36, I've read that same story about Cary Grant and the Henry Higgins role.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Evita and as Clarice Starling.

Both those parts require real toughness, and Pfeiffer always projects fragility.

Glenn Close has never lacked for a man. The character is a sidepiece, not a sugar baby.

Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Dustin Hoffman, and Sean Connery as Hannibal Lecter.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Rose in Titanic

I agree with r35. Anne Archer is beautiful, but her character in FATAL ATTRACTION seemed classy and sort of cold to her husband; Alex Forrest appeals only for the one crazy weekend because she's slutty and desperate and nutty--the opposite of the Anne Archer character. She did not need to be pretty; just highly-sexed, and able to give the selfish and unhappy Michael Douglas character the one wild sexual weekend he craved.

Jack Nicholson as Michael in The Godfather

John Travolta as Forrest Gump

Pfeiffer projects combination of toughness and fragility, e.g. Suzie Diamond. She's not "wet."

Hackman could have easily pulled off Hannibal Lector. I would have loved to see what he could have done with the role.

Sean Penn as Tyler Durden

Just a reminder: the keyword is "disastrous". Really egregious choices, not just unsuitable, or less preferable than the actor who actually took the role.

Carry on.

[quote] Hackman could have easily pulled off Hannibal Lector.

Your spelling is an assault on my sense of taste.

Muhammad Ali as Superman

Alec Baldwin as Batman in Batman Forever

R33

Beyoncé would've SLAYED! How dare v you disrespect the Queen Bey.

Madonna as Ginger in Casino. I can’t even imagine that charisma-free, peasant-faced Ayetalian as an irish hustler. No.

That Bette Midler video is really funny because that's EXACTLY how she would've played it.

Nicolas Cage as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy

R18 I was about to post that! I watched that a few years ago. I never knew that Bette Midler had actually been considered for the role.

FTR, I think Kathy Bates was terrific as Annie.

Chevy Chase as Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and Forrest Gump

Don Knotts as Guy Woodhouse in Rosemary's Baby

Sammy Davis Jr. as Lando Callrisian in The Empire Strikes Back

Ellen Degeneres as Annie in Speed

Forever young CZJ and Heath Leger as Satine and Christian in Moulin Rouge (2001)

Nicole and Ewan were perfect!

Flip Wilson as John Wayne Prentice in Guess Whose Coming to Dinner

Harrison Ford as Oskar Schindler

Jodie Foster as Roxie in Chicago

Cary Grant as James Bond in Dr. No

I first read OP as saying it would be disastrous to cast Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, and I thought, "No, that'd be great if they could get him!"

Dustin Hoffman as Superman

R61 That actually sounds like a better movie

Lucille Ball in The Manchurian Candidate.

Katharine Hepburn as Scarlett O'Hara

Jean Arthur as Scarlett O'Hara. Love her, but....no

[quote]Hackman could have easily pulled off Hannibal Lector. I would have loved to see what he could have done with the role.

He was too emotional for the role. I think Hackman’s Hannibal Luther might have been comic, but not spine-chilling.

Gaga as Louise in Streisand Gypsy.

Streisand in Streisand Gypsy

Jodie Foster as Roxie Hart? When did that almost happen? I remember Charlize Theron, Toni Collette, and Goldie Hawn being mentioned or attached at one point or another, but Jodie Foster? Granted, she can sing, but that seems like such a weird part for her.

So does Tallulah in hindsight. But she was fun in BUGSY MALONE.

Patsy Kelly as Scarlet O'Hara.

Annie Lockheart and Donna Wilkes as Laurie Strode in Halloween. They were apparently in the lead for it, but Jamie Lee Curtis got it instead. No offense to them, but I can't see anyone else but Curtis in that role.

Liz Taylor in "Hello, Dolly"

Mary Martin, Carol Burnett, Anne Bancroft and a host of others in the Broadway production of "Funny Girl" before Jule Styne finally convinced Ray and Frances Stark to check out a youngster named Streisand.

Debra Winger in the Geena Davis role in "A League Of Their Own"

Meryl in "Sweet Dreams", Meryl in "Evita"

Deanna Durbin in MY FAIR LADY.

Meryl would’ve improved Sweet Dreams. La Lange was the actual disastrous casting.

Shirley Temple as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz - although I heard recently that that was never more than a rumor.

Mark Wahlberg in BM. Thank god he just declined the role because he couldn't "get it".

Reese Witherspoon as Amy in Gone Girl.

R66 LMAO

Charlene Tilton as Sophie in Sophie's Choice. She was considered.

I actually think Reese would have been interesting as Amy. Instead of projecting that cold, aloof quality that Pike did, she'd project the actual "cool girl" persona more. I suppose it just depends on the interpretation you're going for. It would have been a different movie, but a valid one.

R40, I actually think all those guys would have been interesting Hannibal Lecters, except for Dustin Hoffman.

R60, Are you joking or was Ellen really considered for that?

David Tennant as Hannibal Lecter in the Hannibal tv series.

Eddie Redmayne as James Bond

Bette Davis as Helen Lawson and as Maria in The Sound of Music were both possibilities.

Kaye Ballard as Mame.

R88 I read Ellen was considered for Speed too.

Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones.

Didn't Bette Davis play a horrible schmaltzy and saintly nanny in some awful 1940s picture? The husband and kids fall in love with her but he has an evil wife who won't allow them all to be happy together? Who was the husband, Franchot Tone or Boyer or someone.... In any case she was hideous enough in that role but the idea of her playing virginal Maria sounds indeed disastrous.

[quote]I actually think Reese would have been interesting as Amy. Instead of projecting that cold, aloof quality that Pike did, she'd project the actual "cool girl" persona more. I suppose it just depends on the interpretation you're going for. It would have been a different movie, but a valid one.

Reese with the "cool girl" persona would have fit with how some sociopaths are quite charming.

Lucy being cast in the movie version of Mame.

(What? She was? That must have been a real shitfest!)

Robin Williams as Jack Torrence in The Shining.

I, too, think Reese made have made for an even scarier Amy. With Pike, you sorta know there's something off with her from the start. She's not very charming. She's just rich and pretty, but there's not a lot of charm there. With Reese, you'd have an Amy who seems like the girl next door, someone who actually would socialize with someone like that busybody neighbor, but underneath the surface, she's simmering with resentment.

I'd like that take a little bit more. You could really be led to believe that Reese was a victim of an abusive husband until the big twist. Pike always looked like she could chew Affleck up and spit him out. She seemed cold and creepy from the get go like she was channeling Kathleen Turner in Body Heat and Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. You know they're no good from the start.

I would have really liked Gone Girl if Reese had been in it.

The “it’s ‘CASTED’” troll R2 - who posts on every casting thread - needs to stop.

R95 - is thinking of All This and Heaven Too.

R99 I saw Gone Girl in the theater with my aunt. She didn't read the book and she said afterwards that Pike's coldness pretty much gave it away from the start that she was the big bad. I also agree before the twist, Pike wasn't believable as an abuse victim.

I think David Fincher has a thing for creepy actresses (Rooney Mara, Pike etc) and didn't care if Reese would have been able to pull off Cool Girl Amy.

Didn't Fincher consider Charlize Theron for Amy?

Blake Lively for Mila Kunis' part in "Black Swan."

I would’ve actually preferred Michelle Pfeiffer in Silence of the Lambs. I never got the hype around Foster in that movie. Her performance was too mannered and clunky. Pfeiffer would’ve brought a unique edge to it.

Here’s one that was surprisingly real: Lucille Ball in Dressed to Kill. Can you imagine that shower scene?

Jill Clayburgh and Liv Ullman were also given the script for Dressed to Kill and they both turned De Palma down.

Add me to the list of people who wish Fincher had cast someone less creepy as Amy in Gone Girl. That whole "cool girl" speech never made any sense, because you never saw Amy actually being a cool girl. I could picture someone like Witherspoon at an Buffalo Wild Wings with her husband, but not Pike. Theron would have been another weird choice. She'd have come across creepy from the start, too. It would have been a really interesting role for an America's sweetheart type like Jennifer Aniston or Julia Roberts had it been made a few years earlier.

Joyce Bulifant as Carol Brady in the Brady Bunch. It almost happened.

[quote]I would’ve actually preferred Michelle Pfeiffer in Silence of the Lambs. I never got the hype around Foster in that movie. Her performance was too mannered and clunky. Pfeiffer would’ve brought a unique edge to it.

I agree with you on Foster. TCM aired Silence of the Lambs sometime last month and I tuned in. It had been years since I had last seen the movie and I thought Foster's performance was too clunky for an FBI agent.

Mark Whalberg in Brokeback Mountain

Warren Beatty in Kill Bill

Matthew Broderick in Breaking Bad

Nancy McKeon as Monica in Friends.

I always thought Cox was the least comically gifted of the Friends cast. I suspect the writers thought the same and that they came up with the fat suit for that reason.

[quote]Add me to the list of people who wish Fincher had cast someone less creepy as Amy in Gone Girl. That whole "cool girl" speech never made any sense, because you never saw Amy actually being a cool girl. I could picture someone like Witherspoon at an Buffalo Wild Wings with her husband, but not Pike. Theron would have been another weird choice. She'd have come across creepy from the start, too. It would have been a really interesting role for an America's sweetheart type like Jennifer Aniston or Julia Roberts had it been made a few years earlier.

I think maybe Charlize could have toned the creepiness in first part of Gone Girl then turned back on the full creep mode after the twist revealation.

According to this article before Pike was officially cast, Theron had no interest in the role. Natalie Portman and Emily Blunt were considered for the part, but their schedules were set and they couldn't audition. I don't think Blunt would have been able to pull off the cool girl. She has a cold demeanor similar to Pike and I wouldn't have pictured her being the type at Buffalo Wild Wings either. Portman would have been a disaster casting as Amy if that happened.

The article mentions that Olivia Wilde, Abbie Cornish, and Julianne Hough submitted audition tapes lol.

Debbie Reynolds in The Sound of Music. Blech!

....although I can unfortunately see Debbie delivering a VERY feisty performance as wacky novitiate Maria. "I Have Confidence" sung much like "I Ain't Down Yet."

Lucie Arnaz in Grease.

...although I can unfortunately see Deb delivering a VERY feisty performance as wacky novitiate Maria. "I Have Confidence" sung much like "I Ain't Down Yet." Lots of mugging. And big physical comedy when they fall out of the rowboats.

Sorry for double (and augmented) post. This site behaves strangely at times.

Lana Turner as Scarlett. I think she would have been excellent showing the constantly changing mercurial moods of Katie-Scarlett.

[quote]Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar (1973): John Travolta

IDK. 19-year-old John Boy might have done a nice Scourging at the Pillar scene.

I think Debra Winger as Dottie in A League of Their Own would have been disastrous.

Minelli and Streisand considered for Evita.

Madonna for Velma Kelly.

They initially wanted Shirley Temple to play Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz".

Can you imagine?!

The first movie in which I saw Blunt, she played the cool girl. The main lead was a blonde. And there was a similar aged man. It was summery. I can't remember much else. Perhaps it was an indie.

One of Lana Turner's screen tests for Scarlett is up on YouTube. She wasn't very good

Sissy Spacek in Frances.

R95 and R102 - "All This and Heaven Too" is based on a true-story. There was a scandal around the Duc de Praslin and his affaire with the governess and his murdered wife in which an attempt was made to implicate the governess - which eventually failed. And yes it was Charles Boyer.

Rita Hayworth in Born Yesterday.

Joanne Woodward in Cleopatra.

[quote] Rita Hayworth in Born Yesterday.

They should remake that starring me.

Gregory Peck bought the rights to the story on which "Cape Fear" was based ("The Executioners") because Peck wanted to play the role of Max Cady, the sociopath perp. Peck finally realised that no one would accept Atticus Finch as Max Cady (both Cape Fear and To Kill A Mockingbird were released in 1962), and the role went to Robert Mitchum, whose iconic performance walked off with the film.

James Brolin as James Bond

Bette Middler in Sister Act

Sister Act could quite easily have been made with Midler.

Tom Hiddleston as Thor instead of Loki (there is a photo of him in the screen test with long blond hair)

Bette Davis as Scarlett O'Hara (she got Jezebel instead which was really an audition for Scarlett)

Geraldine Fitzgerald for the part of Cathy in the William 1939 "Wuthering Heights". She was much better cast as Linton's sister, Isabella, while Merle Oberon got Cathy.

Helen Lawson in Requiem for a Dream.

Geraldine Fitzgerald should never have been given the movie of "Sweet Bird of Youth."

Ditto Kim Stanley and "The Goddess."

Nearly everyone being considered for the next Bond - yeah, including Richard Madden (by the way, insider, if you're on this thread, are we still expecting that announcement for 6 May?).

^^*William WYLER 1939 Wuthering Heights

That wasn't disastrous R131. Even the guy at the end says James wasn't that bad.

Well, to each his own, r140, but I think he would have been worse than some of the other suggestions on this thread....

[quote] Bette Davis as Scarlett O'Hara (she got Jezebel instead which was really an audition for Scarlett)

Actually, Warner Brothers made Jezebel as a consolation to their "star" Bette Davis not getting GWTW. Both WB and Davis made a mistake in not being interested in the GWTW film rights when they were available. It came out a year before GWTW, because while a good film, it is nowhere near the epic that GWTW is, so production didn't take nearly as long. It did, however serve as an audition for Max Steiner who was hired to score GWTW based on the strength of his score for Jezebel.

Burt Reynolds as James Bond. It almost happened.

[quote] Meryl would’ve improved Sweet Dreams. La Lange was the actual disastrous casting.

I don't think Meryl would have improved Sweet Dreams, but I agree that Lange was not good casting.

This wouldn't have been a disaster, but Mindy Cohn was considered for the Wendy role in St. Elmo's Fire that went to Mare Winningham.

I thought Lange was great in Sweet Dreams

Kristen Stewart in "Snow White and the Huntsman." KS's beauty was supposed to have driven Charlize Theron's character almost to insanity. It's not just the looks disparity, KS just has no range.

R146 I did too.

Megan Hilty played Patsy Cline in that Lifetime movie Patsy and Loretta. The whole cast was awful.

I didn't think Hilty was that bad

R144 I liked Lange but Sweet Dreams should have cast Beverly D'Angelo. She had already played Patsy Cline in a supporting role in Coal Miner's Daughter and was the definitive Cline of all time. If they had cast her, Sweet Dreams would therefore have acted as an unofficial prequel to one of the most successful and critically lauded musical biopics of all time.

The best Patsy Cline is still Beverly D'Angelo.

I, too, loved Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline in "Coal Miner's Daughter." D'Angelo didn't even look like Cline, but she had friendship chemistry with Sissy Spacek (as Loretta Lynn). Also, D'Angelo was really singing (e.g., "Sweet Dreams") and the passion came through. Hard to beat Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline.

Beverly D'Angelo wasn't considered a leading lady, more a wife/gf/friend type actress.

I had no idea that Gregory Peck originally wanted Mitchum's role. That's interesting. I wonder if he could have pulled it off. I always thought he was really cute and sexy, but there was something too decent and safe about him for that role.

[quote] La Lange was the actual disastrous casting.

*slaps* ' No.

Bette Davis was never considered for Maria in Sound of Music, but Disney did consider her for Mary Poppins (also, Lansbury)—no doubt before they had the Sherman musical score.

[quote] Sister Act could quite easily have been made with Midler.

Let's be clear...it wasn't just that Midler was "up for the role", it had been WRITTEN WITH HER IN MIND.

When she passed on the project, it was retooled for Whoopi. (And that was the first film, since the second one was literally pulled out of someone's ass on the fly.....mind you, it was a really cute film all on its own.)

[quote] I had no idea that Gregory Peck originally wanted Mitchum's role. That's interesting. I wonder if he could have pulled it off. I always thought he was really cute and sexy, but there was something too decent and safe about him for that role.

In a way, Peck's character (Sam Bowden, the attorney) was even more despicable than Max Cady (the convicted rapist client). The tension in the story is that the attorney did actually do Cady wrong. The attorney is more educated, knew better, and should have done better. Cady was just bad to the core; he had no choice to be a good guy.

Bette Davis would’ve worked as Mary Poppins reimagined as horror

R7, and Robert England as Luke, as well. Apparently he was very seriously considered for the role.

Wasn't Jamie Lee Curtis considered for Princess Leia?

I'm sorry, who was Lucy considered for in Dressed to Kill? Bobbi?

Caine.

M in "The Postman Always Rings Twice." Can you imagine Jack doing some heavy petting on M's mound?

Angie Dickinson, R162

Marilyn Monroe as Cleopatra. Jane Russell as Nefretiri.

Gun Molls of the Nile

Montgomery Clift in Cornel Wilde's role in Forever Amber

O.J. Simpson as The Terminator.

Carol Burnett in The Exorcist

Tuesday Weld in Rosemary's Baby

R168 , He was for Nicole and Ron .

[quote]Carol Burnett in The Exorcist

As the mom or Pazuzu?

I just want to say I love these threads, and respect everyone's opinion. There are some really astute film critics on this site. Love you guys. However, all those critical of Jodie Foster in Silence...she was down right brilliant. She played the part with perfect nuance, heroness, and vulnerability. I can't picture any one else in the role. Maybe because I'm military. To me, she perfectly captured many women in law enforcement with conviction, who are ambitious and intelligent, but at the same small and fragile, dealing all the sexism and BS they encounter on a regular basis. All while capturing that small town rural Americaness. She hit all the right notes to me.

Something of these casting "almosts" I think are quite interesting. I never knew OJ was considered for the Terminator. I think it would have been different, but work. I think it would have actually been very good, while uniquely different from AS's interpretation.

I read this on "15 Things You Never Knew About 'Thelma and Louise' a while ago"...

[quite] HOLLY HUNTER, FRANCES MCDORMAND, JODIE FOSTER, MICHELLE PFEIFFER, MERYL STREEP, AND GOLDIE HAWN WERE ALL CONSIDERED FOR THELMA OR LOUISE.

I can see Holly Hunter and maybe Frances McDormand kinda being OK, but some of those other choices would have been awful. Meryl especially. She'd have turned it into a "watch me get the accent right" ego-fest. Davis, in spite of being a far more limited actress, was perfect as was Sarandon.

IMO, Sarandon was terrible in "Thelma and Louise." Maybe it was just a stupid movie, IMO. Trying to drive cross-country (southern states) without going through Texas. Good luck.

R175, initially, it was to be Jodie and Michelle, but they dropped out to do other projects. Somewhere along the line, Cher's name came up, but Ridley Scott didn't think she would be able to bring the humor (?). Then Meryl and Goldie pitched themselves for the parts because they really wanted to work together, but Scott didn't think either were right, so they ended up doing "Death Becomes Her" instead.

Pfeiffer, maybe, but I can't really see Foster in either role in T&L. She was able to play sort-of vulnerable in "Silence" but playing a cynical waitress or a mousy housewife from the South would have been quite a stretch for her. With the right director Goldie may have been able to pull off Thelma, but her dramatic acting has always left me a bit underwhelmed.

Streisand as Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!

Oh, wait....

Cleopatra actually began shooting in London with Joan Collins. When the sets and costumes were lost in a disastrous fire, instead of canceling the film, the Fox suits drastically upped the budget, hired Elizabeth Taylor and moved the production to Rome.

Collins' screen test, all that survives of her filming:

Do y'all think Beyonce would have played well opposite Brad Coooper? The Eastwood remake was originally built around her. I don't think he would have been casted had she stayed as the female lead.

Sigourney Weaver was considered for The Piano which would have been a 6 ft tall disaster.

Sigourney was apparently also considered for Mommie Dearest, I guess after being hot after Alien.

Courtney Love as Nancy in Sid and Nancy.

Would have been disastrous for her reputation.

Performance-wise, OJ would have been perfectly fine in The Terminator. It's his reputation post-1994 that would have been a disaster for the franchise.

[quote]She did not need to be pretty; just highly-sexed, and able to give the selfish and unhappy Michael Douglas character the one wild sexual weekend he craved.

Exactly. And highly sexed is not something Meryl Streep can play. Was she actually offered Alex Forrest? I don't think Lyne would have considered her.

Emma Thompson in Basic Instinct.

Sissy Spacek in Flashdance. Though it could have become a camp classic.

That would’ve been disastrous, R186. She has zero sex appeal.

Also that flash in the pan Greta Scacchi was the first choice, I believe.

That can’t be true, R187. She was already an acclaimed Academy Award winning actress by then. There’s no way she would’ve accepted a role in a trashy dance movie that no one had any expectations for.

Glenn Close had a certain animal sexuality as Alex Forrest. Forrest was getting cruised by both men at the book launch or whatever that party was when she meets MD's character.

[quote]Exactly. And highly sexed is not something Meryl Streep can play. Was she actually offered Alex Forrest? I don't think Lyne would have considered her.

The character's not supposed to be that 'highly sexed' anyway. It's more about a man having a one-night stand with a lonely co-worker who can't let it go. Alex isn't supposed to be irresistible or sex-crazed, just kind of hung up on one particular man

Meryl Streep as Alex Forrest would not have been disastrous.

Stick to the topic, as R48 said.

Or just start your own thread about how you don't like her.

Emma Thompson??? In "Basic Instinct"???!!!???

As what, the ice pick?

R181, Weaver is so close to original conception of the character. One of the reasons Hunter had to be so aggressive in pursuing the role was that Campion envisioned the character as a tall, imposing woman--not a munchkin like Hunter.

When you hear Campion describe how she saw the character, you sort of wonder if she might have written it with Weaver in mind.

Maybe Sigourney can't play the piano and refused to learn. Being able to play is what helped Holly get cast.

R193 - Digital Spy has the story.

R142 - Thanks - I thought the release of "Jezebel" preceded the casting for GWTW. Regardless, and I admire Davis, she just didn't have the looks or the sexual charisma for Scarlett.

One of the problems for casting Scarlett, and this goes for some other book-to-film transfers, is that on Page One of GWTW, Mitchell gives a very detailed and striking physical description of Scarlett: magnolia white skin, the black hair and black eyebrows slanting upward in that skin, the tiny waist (the smallest in three counties!), the brilliant green eyes and thick black lashes . . . and the magnetic charm.

In the end, they got someone as close to Mitchell's image as possible, and who could also act.

There is a famous interview (which I saw) in which William Wyler tells that while casting Wuthering Heights, Olivier was angling to get Leigh for the role of Cathy - Wyler knew Leigh was angling for the role of Scarlett, and thought she would be a good fit for the role. When he spoke to Leigh, Wyler urged her to take the role of Cathy in WH, assuring her that Cathy was the best role she would possibly get as unknown. Wyler then smiled wryly and said, "I made that deathless remark."

^*thought she would be a good fit for the role of Cathy . . .

Meg Ryan was considered for one of the lead roles in Thelma and Louise.

David O. Selznik wanted Jennifer Jones, his then wife, for the role of Gillian Holroyd, the Greenwich Village sorceress, in "Bell Book and Candle". However, Jones fell pregnant, and Kim Novak got the role, even though she was filming "Vertigo". But before Novak got it, Grace Kelly and Cary Grant were considered, but Kelly turned into Ruritanian royalty. The reciprocity agreement with Paramount for the lending of Novak for "Vertigo" got them Jimmy Stewart, and it was done.

One that almost happened: Lisa Kudrow cast as producer Roz Doyle in "Frasier". It was only after Kudrow landed "Friends" and dropped out that Peri Gilpin got the part.

Gilpin was wonderful as Roz: wry, funny and sexy. Kudrow with her shrill voice and one-note acting would have ruined the character.

R201 I thought Kudrow was fired from Frasier.

I searched around and Lis Kudrow was indeed fired from Frasier after test audiences watched the pilot.

Oh, was she fired? I watched an interview with Gilpin once where she made it sound like Kudrow left because she'd got the role on "Friends". Maybe Peri was trying to be kind.

Lisa Kudrow did a commencement address years ago at Vassar. She talked about auditioning for SNL alongside Julia Sweeney and Kathy Griffin. Sweeney was cast for SNL and then she talks about the firing from Frasier. The whole thing is up on youtube. But here's a partial clip about the Frasier firing.

I cracked up at this list of people who auditioned for Friends. Jane Krakowski as Pheobe and Eric McCormick as Ross might have been ok.

I didn't know the creators of Friends had written Jane Lynch in as a character. Why else would she be there since it's all she can play.

R197 Technically, Jezebel came out before GWTW's Scarlett had been cast, but David O. Selznick had already let Bette Davis and WB know that she was NOT being considered.

Kudrow as Roz seems like weird casting. She was perfect in Friends.

Meryl might have been fine in Fatal Attraction. The fact that Alex isn't some gorgeous sex pot kinda help sells her desperation a bit more. The role Meryl WAS wrong for (she's even admitted it) was as the femme fatale in Still of the Night. The movie itself isn't very good to begin with, but poor Meryl is completely out of her depth trying to play a role that seemed better suited for Kathleen Turner or Sharon Stone.

[quote]Oh, was she fired? I watched an interview with Gilpin once where she made it sound like Kudrow left because she'd got the role on "Friends". Maybe Peri was trying to be kind.

It's likely Peri was trying to be kind. But, maybe she was unaware that Kudrow has talked about the Frasier firing numerous times in interviews and other events.

"Also that flash in the pan Greta Scacchi was the first choice, I believe."

Scacchi is a good actress. I think she would have been fine.

I can totally imagine Meryl or Greta Scacchi in Fatal Attraction. Maybe not as good as Glenn, but hardly disastrous.

I thought the Scacchi casting was in reference to "Basic Instinct"?

John Travolta was offered:

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN

AMERICAN GIGOLO

LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR

Don't think he would have been worse than Gere in those roles

Most people have forgotten that Helen Lawson was the original star of Mame. She was fired after the first preview for flailing around the moon in every possible position during the Moon Lady number -- and she wasn't wearing any panties. They brought in Lansbury to replace her because they trusted Angela to keep her knickers on.

R203, everyone is wrong here. She was cast and it was during the week of rehearsal for the pilot that she was fired. She never did a taping as the character and there was no footage of her for a test audience to see.

Kudrow talked about in depth on a podcast - I think it may have been RuPaul's. From what I recall, she knew something was up after the table read. I think she was gone by the next day or so.

Not to keep harping on it, but there were some interesting comments about the casting in Fatal Attraction on the thread we had about not too long ago. Barbara Hershey was the first choice and there was controversy about the casting of Glenn Close because it changed the trajectory of the character.

The idea was that Barbara Hershey could probably have any man she wanted and the fact that she was rejected for probably the first time is one of the reasons she went off the deep end. The studio noted that with Glenn Close the audience was less on her side because of the idea that how dare she think she deserved the man that a much prettier woman had. I forgot if it was the studio’s concerns or something that came up in test screening, but I can see where they were coming from.

Fatal Attraction is still a classic and Glenn was good with the psychotic parts, but I can’t help but think it would’ve been better if the audience didn’t have to jump through the hoops of logic to accept her as this hot piece of ass and not see that as a distraction because, let’s be honest, it is a distraction.

I think Barbara Hershey would’ve been better overall. She was fantastic in The Entity, could play sexy, and could bring a quiet chilliness to the role that was lost with Glenn’s scenery chewing.

"Fatal Attraction is still a classic and Glenn was good with the psychotic parts, but I can’t help but think it would’ve been better if the audience didn’t have to jump through the hoops of logic to accept her as this hot piece of ass and not see that as a distraction because, let’s be honest, it is a distraction."

I don't think she was necessarily supposed to be super hot, just "easy" and available

June Lockhart was considered for the role of Lou Grant's wife on MTM, it was supposed to be a bigger role than what Priscilla Morrill had. June's Edie would have hated Mary and created constant conflict by visiting the newsroom. Kind of a precursor to Sue Ann.

Will Smith in the Matrix. Thank god he turned it down to do Wild, wild, west. I think the film still would have been a box office smash and mildly entertaining. But, I think the film's core "we are all living in a computer" would have came across as cheesy. The is one flick where Keeanu's understated acting and subversive nature actually works.

r190, To me, Glenn is a brilliant actress who can pull off any role. That is why when the debates pop up verses who's better G. vs. M. I say this--take any Meryl role and put G. in it and she would have nailed it. Now do the same and put Meryl in G's iconic roles...There you go. G. is the better actress.

r192, It is that poster's opinion that M. would have been disastrous as Alex Forrest and I agree. WTF don't you understand. You disagree; does not make it off topic.

Beyonce was considered for the part of Lois Lane in the first 2006 remake, but didn't get it. She had to settle for playing a version of herself in Pink Panther.

Let’s talk about a disastrous casting consideration that became a reality:

Glenn Close as Nelly Forbush in South Pacific

Barbara Hershey as Alex would have been pretty good. She was one of the high points of Black Swan as the wacko mom.

Molly Ringwald was offered Blue Velvet but her mother thought it was too lurid.

Meryl would have been a disaster in Fatal Attraction. She would have been unconvincing every step of the way. She can't do sexy very well and she would have been all methody in her approach. Can you imagine the over the ending?

Glenn was perfection in Fatal Attraction, but any of the following would have been good choices:

Debra Winger (who was initially offered the role)

Jessica Lange

Mare Winningham

Bette Midler

Miranda Richardson

Diana Scarwid

Margot Kidder

What was the original ending of Fatal Attraction? Wasn't it changed after test screenings?

I think the original ending has the male lead going to prison.

People here think Mare Winningham is sexier than Meryl Streep?!

Yes, Alex kills herself with the same knife she attacked Dan with earlier - the one he picked up and placed on the counter hence getting his fingerprints on it. The police come to arrest him for murder and his wife ends up finding the creepy tape that Alex had left him which could acquit him. That's how it ends. Not terribly exciting.

It's no wonder they had to reshoot the ending. Even the writer and director weren't too sure about the ending, but felt it was an appropriate enough closure. Endings are tough to get right and, while the original might have been more realistic, the final one was much more exciting and left people talking as they left the theater. Maybe if Alex hadn't killed the bunny, the original one would have fit, but once she killed that bunny, I think the audience turned on her. That's not the act of someone who's just a little obsessive and slightly disturbed. It's the act of someone who's totally psychotic.

Bette Midler in Fatal Attraction? As what, the rabbit?

[quote] What was the original ending of Fatal Attraction? Wasn't it changed after test screenings?

The original ending was that the Michael Douglas character left his wife and children for the Glen Close character. The Douglas and Close characters then got married in a small, backyard wedding. The Glen Close character turned out to be an amazingly good stepmom to Douglas's kids.

I think Robin Williams would have been a fantastic Jack Torrence in The Shining- likely far better than Jack Nicholson was. He would have been able to play both normal (in the beginning) and then the slowly dawning horror at the end (which Nicholson went in with). Williams was an incredible 'serious' actor and terrifyingly creepy

Thanks, r231 and r233.

[quote]Barbara Hershey as Alex would have been pretty good. She was one of the high points of Black Swan as the wacko mom.

Her performance in Black Swan creeped me out. Sometime after my first Black Swan viewing, I was flipping channels and came across a Barbara Hershey( it might have been Beaches) and I changed the channel because I was still creeped by out Black Swan.

I'm one of those people who still wonders if Hershey's character in Black Swan was a sexual abuser.

Lucy as Mame. Oh wait, no.

I'm in the minority here, but I find Glenn incredibly sexy and alluring in Fatal Attraction. She's never been more attractive in a film. She's not the conventional beauty that Ann Archer or Barbara Hershey is, but she brings an electricity & excitement to the role that explains why Michael Douglas would screw up his life for a one-night stand with her. In my opinion, she was perfectly cast.

r240, Agreed. All one has to do is watch an episode of Judge Judy or Datelinee to see how many homely, successful, sexy women make hot lookin, sexy men fall head over heels.

Michael Douglas was all that hot?

[quote] Molly Ringwald was offered Blue Velvet but her mother thought it was too lurid.

We're lucky Dennis Hopper played that role instead.

Helen Hunt opposite Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You. Unthinkable!

All this talk about Fatal Attraction reminds me that the writer wrote it in mind with William Hurt & Theresa Russell - not that that means they were offered the roles though.

Jane Fonda, Jill Clayburgh, Faye Dunaway & Marsha Mason in Norma Rae. All of them were offered the role before Sally Field ended up with it. She was perfect and all of them as fine as they are would have been so miscast.

I can see Fonda or Dunaway doing it.

Does the virus have a foreign accent? OK, we need Streep. She's our Corona.

Sophia Loren as Alexis Carrington.

Damn it, I meant that post to be in the HBO series thread on Covid-19.

Lauren Bacall sought the Anne Bancroft role in "The Turning Point".

Thank God she didn't get it. The less Bacall movies the better.

Why would you want the movies to have less flavah?!

Bancroft as the ballerina in performance didn't move much either.

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Tracy Freeland in Thirteen.

R255 Yes I agree. She was way too young for that role.

Tilda Swinton as Orlando. She is too fucking ugly to play a man. She only looks good as a woman with a lot of makeup.

R247 I've seen Tilda Swinton in the flesh so to speak. It was nearly 20 years ago, she wasn't wearing any make-up and is way more beautiful off screen then on screen.

Tilda Swinton looks like a wrinkled pinky with eyes

The only ginger leading men I can think of are Peter O'Toole and Robert Redford. Redford is a strawberry blonde, anyway. Gingers have light eyebrows and lashes and red eyelids. Women can conceal this with makeup but men can't.

She's pale and striking, with not much of a singing voice.

There's some people who hate Streep on DL. But she was right in type for Fatal Attraction. They've just chosen that role to jump on to hate her, which is silly.

I love Glenn though, and I'm glad she did it. Even though she doesn't like her own performance -- and was brave enough to discuss that, despite it being her most notable. I understand why, but I still love it.

Her Nellie Forbush though was a unique lapse in judgement. She's been great in everything but that. I'd love to hear her talk about what inspired her to do that.

Glenn Close jumped at the chance to star in a TV movie version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on James Michener's World War II book."It was my first musical memory. I couldn't see the top of the record player, but I remember watching it spin around and hearing Mary Martin sing 'Dites-Moi,"' Close recalled in an interview. "That sound has been with me my whole life and I wanted to play that character ever since I can remember."

The article with quote.

R201 And Gilpin has that smooth 'radio voice' - perfect for the producer's introduction of callers.

Jessica Rabbit as the boiled bunny.

R243 Now I want to see Molly huffing amyl and doing the 'come to daddy' routine.

Absolutely R265. Peri Gilpin has a gorgeous husky voice.

Madonna as Jill Layton, the truck driver in Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL.

Madonna was a big name at the time, Gilliam and others were looking at her and apparently De Niro was on board. Kim Greist is good in the role. But Madonna could have as usual easily sucked all the energy out of a brilliant film. Potentially disastrous indeed!

Antony Hamilton as James Bond (late 70's/early 80's)

R269 Kim Greist was very hard to work with and did not deliver the goods as an actress. The role was much larger as written, and was cut severely due to Geist's shortcomings.

Madonna might have been an improvement. She certainly could not have been worse.

R271 Interesting. I remember hearing this about Greist in the role as well. Poor Gilliam was plagued with film troubles his film entire career. I think BRAZIL is his best accomplishment (and he has a lot of them).

Madonna possibly an improvement over Greist's uninspired performance in BRAZIL? Hmm... maybe, overall. But I think a prediction definitely up for debate.

Olivia de H in the film of A Streetcar Named Desire.

R272 You mean that wasn't her?

Winona Ryder as Shelby in Steel Magnolias.

Madonna as Roberta Guaspari in Music of the Heart.

Frank Sinatra had the right of first refusal to the John McLane part in Die Hard. Can you even fucking imagine? Lol!

I can't picture Meryl having her ass hoisted up on the kitchen sink or giving a blow job to someone in an elevator.

But to be fair, no one thought Glenn could at the time either.

But, sheesh, why do people get in such a tizzy when someone suggests Streep isn't the be all end all of actors?

Misery would have been unwatchable with Bette Midler.

I'm oddly loving the idea of Bette Midler in Fatal Attraction. Picture her running to Michael Douglas with the knife.

"YOU MUTHAFUCKA!"

I love Michelle Pfeiffer but she would've been totally unsuitable as Clarice Starling, a poor white trash girl from rural West Virginia.

My only problem with Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, is that her accent in that movie sounds like she is mimicking Reba. I really have to wonder if she watched videos of her to get the southern accent.

R279 It would have been very watchable, but for all the wrong reasons.

GYPSY with Midler isn't all that watchable.

When Midler delivered the line "I won't be ignored, Dan!," she'd have whipped off her outfit to reveal a mermaid costume underneath.

"Fatal Attraction" wih Midler would have been a camp howler. Unintentionally funny.

Amy Irving as the title role in Carrie.

The thought of an even more deranged Mama Rose keeping James Caan tied to a bed and forcing him to write her a novel, eventually hobbling him, is HILARIOUS to me.

Bette Midler is more realistic as a powerful witch from three hundred years ago than a woman Michael Douglas would fuck even once.

That truly is a disastrous casting suggestion that I doubt was ever made.

R288, it'd have been a prequel to Midler torturing Caan in "For The Boys" a year later.

Midler would have been wrong for the role but in her youth, she wasn't unsexy. Was Ellen Barkin considered for "Fatal Attraction"?

Midler is quite sexy here. Not much of a dramatic actress, of course, which is a shame as she knows her way around a ballad.

According to IMDB: Isabelle Adjani, Kirstie Alley, Rosanna Arquette, Christine Baranski, Ellen Barkin, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Beals, Candice Bergen, Jacqueline Bisset, Kate Capshaw, Stockard Channing, Cher, Jamie Lee Curtis, Beverly D'Angelo, Sally Field, Geena Davis, Alison Doody, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Faye Dunaway, Christine Ebersole, Morgan Fairchild, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Jennifer Grey, Melanie Griffith, Mary Gross, Farrah Fawcett, Jodie Foster, Linda Hamilton, Daryl Hannah, Goldie Hawn, Barbara Hershey, Holly Hunter, Olivia Hussey, Angelica Huston, Amy Irving, Olivia Newton-John, Diane Keaton, Cheryl Ladd, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Heather Locklear, Amy Madigan, Madonna, Kelly McGillis, Bette Midler, Demi Moore, Lena Olin, Catherine O'Hara, Jennifer O'Neill, Annette O'Toole, Michelle Pfeiffer, Annie Potts, Gilda Radner, Miranda Richardson, Mimi Rogers, Isabella Rossellini, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Jane Seymour, Ally Sheedy, Cybill Shepherd, Elizabeth Shue, Helen Slater, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep, Kathleen Turner, Tracey Ullman, Sigourney Weaver, Raquel Welch, Tuesday Weld and Debra Winger were all considered for the role of Alex Forrest.

And Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Nicolas Cage, Chevy Chase, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, John Heard, Kevin Kline, Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Dennis Quaid, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Martin Sheen, O.J. Simpson, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, Jon Voight and Bruce Willis were considered for the role of Dan Gallagher.

What does that mean? They were all on a long list? I doubt all their agents were contacted.

R295 well they were either just on a list, actually approached, or read for the part, or turned it down.

Harrison Ford as Dan Gallagher might have worked well.

Harrison Ford would never cheat on his wife.

Imagine OJ Simpson as Dan. Pity the Alex!!!

Was OJ Simpson ever considered a leading actor? I know he's in that astronaut movie. I've only seen him in Naked Gun.

Alex Forrest might have been a great role for psycho cunt Susan Sarandon.

R300 I saw the astronaut movie Capricorn One a long time ago on cable. From what I remember OJ wasn't the lead. He was a supporting actor, but I think there was probably some interest in him as a leading man.

Reading this thread sort of reminds me of several movie recast podcasts that have popped up in the few years. Some of the podcasteers' suggestions for recasts of memorable roles are quite bad and laughable.

Susan Sarandon might have been an interesting Alex. You could certainly understand why a man would be drawn to her in the first place.

Midler has really only ever been good in movies like Hocus Pocus, Ruthless People, and Outrageous Fortune. Give her a one-note shrieking harpy to play and no one does it better but try to turn the character into a real person with a few nuances and she always drops the ball. She's pretty winning in Gypsy during all the early comedy scenes, but the moment things start getting serious in the story, she slowly becomes less and less effective until the finale where she's just shrieking every line and lyric to make up for the fact that she's out of her depth. Maybe she thought simply being loud and over the top would distract everyone. Her Dolly was wonderful at the comedy as well, but her Ephriam speech left a lot to be desired. She seemed to rush through it in the night I saw it.

There are a lot of WTFs on the lists of people considered for Dan and Alex. I can't see Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, or Chevy Chase pulling off a role like Dan.

Was Alex's age given in the screenplay? Several of the actresses on the list like Jennifer Jason Leigh, Elisabeth Shue, and Demi Moore would have been in their mid 20s at the time.

Alex tells Dan she's 36 during the scene where she says she's pregnant.

I don’t think it would cost them their creative integrity to change one line.

R293 - some of these names are unbelievable. Raquel Welch was persona non grata in Hollywood after the Cannery Row business.

Raquel Welch was considered for the bunny.

I think some of these lists are embellished. Just because every actress and her mama was interested in playing Alex Forrest, it doesn't mean they were all considered for it. I bet half the women on those lists weren't even a blip on the producers' radar.

Yeah, like Kay Lenz. Kay Lenz?!

Can the eldergays on this thread please explain what a Kay Lenz is to us millenials?

Kay Lenz was the early 70's immortal and feisty ingenue.

Potentially disastrous casting considerations for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN were Mark Wahlberg and Edward Norton. They were sent the script.

The script for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN was also sent to potentially interesting and cool casting considerations Joaquin Phoenix and Ryan Phillipe.

Maybe if Stockard Channing had the Fatal Attraction role they could have given her musical number with "I Won't be Ignored Dan".

I would say maybe ten or so actresses on that big list might have been considered for the Alex part.

It's a known known that Streep can't do sex. She just hasn't got the gene for it. In "Silkwood", an otherwise quite respectable film with a an otherwise well-cast set of actors, Streep was the mismatch because she was totally unpersuasive as the town slut - badly miscast. I thought both Cher and Kurt Russell (how come we never talk about how hot he was as a young actor?) outclassed her, which was no mean feat at the time.

I'd have liked to see exactly someone like Barbara Hershey cast in the Streep role in "Silkwood",

Burt Reynolds and Adam West would have been disastrous (in my opinion) if they accepted the offer to play James Bond in LIVE AND LET DIE in the early 1970s. Ultimately Burt and Adam felt James Bond was written as a British character. Rex Harrison would have been a disaster when offered the role in the 1960s.

Sam Neill was considered to play James Bond in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, which would have been cool.

Meg Ryan in Silence of the Lambs.

Sandra Bullock in Million Dollar Baby

I heard that Ian Fleming himself wanted David Niven to play Bond

Mark Wahlberg is a raging homophobe. He absolutely would've been a disaster in Brokeback Mountain. I'm surprised he was even sent a script.

R319, you are correct. I believe Sean Connery was the fourth or fifth choice to play Bond in Dr. No after David Niven (disastrous choice, ugh) and Rex Harrison and Cary Grant! turned it down.

Before Daniel Craig was offered the role in CASINO ROYALE Liam Neeson turned in down. They were also considering Julian McMahon.

David Niven, as great an actor as he was, would've been totally miscast as Bond. Rex Harrison would've been creepy.

Richard Dreyfuss in All That Jazz.

Katie Holmes in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

...but Niven was Bond in the first version of Casino Royle.

As was Woody Allen.

[Quote] Katie Holmes in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

As Willow?

R325 I thought Peter Sellers played Bond in Casino Royale

R327 No, she was offered the Buffy role and turned it down to finish high school.

This article/slideshow mentions it. Nathan Fillion auditioned for Angel. Ryan Reynolds turned down the role of Xander. Danny Strong auditioned for Xander, but lost out and was later given the role of Jonathan. Bianca Lawson auditioned for Cordelia.

What role/project did Reynolds pick instead?

Liza Minnelli in the Janis Joplin Story. Seriously. It was the project that became "The Rose" but they asked Minnelli after "Cabaret".

BTW, is it true that Liza insists on everyone calling her Janis?

Hello? Julia Motherf*cking Roberts as Harriet Tubman!???!!! Owns this thread

R330 Reynolds said he turned down the BTVS job because he didn't want to play a guy in high school at the time. It's not mentioned in the article, but Reynolds had been on a Canadian teen show a few years before. So, it could have been him not wanting to do another teen show.

Then why did he audition? I'm skeptical that he was "offer only" then.

Nicole Kidman in Indecent Proposal.

Jami Gertz as Rachel on Friends

Nicolette Sheridan as Grace on Will and Grace

Richard Dryfuss was actually hired for All That Jazz but either dropped out or was fired during rehearsals, depending on which account you read. He never had a singing voice and a series of physical ailments over the years had left him unable even to move gracefully, much less dance. This made him an even more bizarre choice for Max Bialystock in the original London production of The Producers. This time he was fired outright during rehearsals and Nathan Lane was brought over at the last minute to repeat his Tony winning performance from Broadway.

The first screen James Bond was Barry Nelson in a one hour American TV production of Casino Royale. It was broadcast live in 1954; here is the low quality kinescope which survives.

There was some other actress that De Palma wanted for the lead in Carrie and Sissy Spacek had to beg to audition. Who knows if this girl would have been great, too, but I don't think she went on to do much. To me, Carrie is a perfectly cast film. I can't imagine anyone else in those roles which has made all the remakes and reimaginings seem tepid in comparison. That was a case of lightning in a bottle - the perfect script with the perfect director and the perfect cast/crew at the perfect time.

.... and the perfect soundtrack R339.

Yes R340. That Donaggio score is perfection and I even love the pop songs he composed for the prom sequence. They have that same, beautiful haunting quality.

Melanie Griffith auditoned for the title role in Carrie lol. Betsy Slade was DePalma's first choice for the role.

Melanie Griffith auditoned for the title role in Carrie lol. Betsy Slade was DePalma's first choice for the role.

Cecil B. DeMille wanted William Boyd to play Moses in the 1956 version of The Ten Commandments.

R320 funny... he used to be a raging pass-around Yacht bottom.

Mark Wahlberg got drunk on the Graham Norton show and decided to sit on Graham's lap. It was a joke move, obviously. But the impulse to do that action...?

R338, I wouldn’t have minded Dreyfuss or Warren Beatty as Joe Gideon. I know that I’m in the minority here, but I always found Roy Scheider dull and charmless in the role. The movie around him is terrific though.

I bet it would have been more a hit with someone else in the lead.

R340, I’m a weirdo that sometimes I like to get stoned, put on the theme, and take a long shower.

I tell my boyfriend I’m going to take a “Carrie shower” and he knows what it means.

Jodie Foster for Diane Lane's role in Unfaithful.

Cindy Williams for Princess Leia.

R349 I love Cindy Williams, but she would have been awful as Princess Leia.

lol at Jodie Foster for Unfaithful.

[quote]Mark Wahlberg is a raging homophobe. He absolutely would've been a disaster in Brokeback Mountain. I'm surprised he was even sent a script.

I'm guessing it was some clueless casting director or producer who decided to send him a script.

r350, she is awful.

Tuesday Weld was considered for "Bonnie & Clyde". I think she's too wispy to look like she can rob a bank.

Who the fuck is Cindy reading against, Willie Nelson?

Aw, that's cute R348

Egomaniac and drunk fishwife Patti LuPone being asked to play Evita's mother in the movie version Oliver Stone was going to direct. Miss "I went to Juilliard" LuPone was offended and turned it down.

If she had agreed to do it and then Meryl hadn't gotten pregnant, LuPone as Mama to Streep's Eva would have had so much comedy potential.

[quote]Tuesday Weld was considered for "Bonnie & Clyde". I think she's too wispy to look like she can rob a bank.

For that matter, Tuesday Weld in Rosemary's Baby. I know she's closer to how Rosemary is described in the book, but Mia being so tiny really ups her being vulnerable.

Barbra Streisand in Sophie's Choice. Barbra reportedly was very interested in doing this film and even offered to work without salary. Putting her dramatic abilities aside there is the issue of Sophie's looks. I don't mean how she is repeatedly described as beautiful but the fact that she is repeatedly said to not look Jewish.

r19 Did anyone else notice Johnny Carson's sexual snark? When Doris Day sat down, Carson said "My goodness, I think we have a summit meeting tonight." He was referring to having two guests with their boobs hanging out. Day caught the innuendo immediately and replied "That's very sweet", and she pushed her chest out while saying it. Day had no reason to complain about Carson's remark because she was wearing a skin-tight blouse and no bra - showing off her bodacious tatas and her bodacious nipples. Day had been a big ole slut since she hit puberty, but by this time in her career she had decided to stop playing the virgin and let the pussy out of the bag - so to speak.

Was she seeing Sly Stone at that time?

R358 Goldie Hawn wanted to play Sophie as well. Probably wanted to display her dramatic acting chops.

Ginger Rogers wanted to play Queen Elizabeth to Katharine Hepburn's Mary Queen of Scotts. That might have been interesting.

R358 - Not to mention that Babs would have had to get rid of her famous nails.

But it is true that one of the primary underpinnings of the attraction to Sophie is not only that she isn't Jewish but that she looks non-Jewish ("Look at that pale skin," he says as he rushes to help the stranger who has just passed out, and we get the subtle reference to the Nazi myth of the contrast between fair Aryans and swarthy Jews).a p

Streisand isn't capable of dialling it back enough for a part like that. She can' t star in something without Starring in it, if you get my drift.

I remember reading a review of "The Mirror Has Two Faces" that began, "And both of them are Barbra Streisand's"

John Travolta wasn't even known in1973.

Wahlberg was gaybaiting as I recall, R346, and Norton was NOT amused.

[quote]It's a known known that Streep can't do sex

It’s also a known known that Streep has sex with her leading men, complete with the requisite NDAs.

You’d think she’d be capable of tapping into those urges and bringing them to the screen, alas...

R349 was that a serious consideration? Did they not see Sommersby?

[quote]It’s also a known known that Streep has sex with her leading men, complete with the requisite NDAs.

Even PSH in "Doubt"? And all three of them in "Mamma Mia"? Presumably Bruce Willis would have turned her down when they did DBH, given the gossip about his inclinations.

[quote]It’s also a known known that Streep has sex with her leading men, complete with the requisite NDAs.

Even PSH in "Doubt"? And all three of them in "Mamma Mia"? Presumably Bruce Willis would have turned her down when they did DBH, given the gossip about his inclinations.

I doubt PSH.

^ See what I did there?

That would explain how Rick Springfield got to be her leading man in the 21st century.

Johnny Depp as the Joker.

James Cagney for the lead in The Adventures of Robin Hood.

ooops

Richard Madden as the next Bond - thankfully, the prediction by our "Insider" that this would be announced on 6 May has proved . . . wrong.

Wouldn't you like a gay(ish) Bond?

Joanne Woodward as Cleopatra.

i haven;t checked this thread in several days and can't remember whether this was mentioned. Elizabeth Taylor's production of Cleopatra began as a B list film starring Joan Collins. Midway through filming, there was a disastrous studio fire and all the sets and costumes were lost. Instead of just writing the film off as a total loss and taking the insurance payoff, Zanuck and the suits at Fox bumped the film to A list status and moved the film from London to Rome with a new cast, screenwriter and director. All that survives of Joan's performance is her screen test.

George Hamilton as Michael Dorsey in Tootsie.

R379 - I think this is wrong. Joan Collins screen-tested but was not cast. Filming began with Eizabeth Taylor but the weather and her illness caused the production to shut down.

^ Almost but not quite. Taylor began shooting in London but production had to be shut down again when she had her near fatal bout of pneumonia, resulting in her tracheotomy, which left a visible scar. It was then that the film moved to Rome with a new cast and new production team.

Lord, the amount of money Fox threw away on that film when they could have have legitimately just written it off several times. The studio basically bankrupted itself. It wasn't until the runaway success of The Sound of Music a few years later that Fox became financially solvent again.

Diane Keaton was cast in the lead role in "The Stepford Wives" but backed out after her analyst warned her about bad vibes or something (Katharine Ross assumed the role).

Joanna Cassidy worked a week on the same pic as the best friend, but it sounded like she, um, just didn't fit (Paula Prentiss was hired to replace her).

R383 - Interesting bit about Diane Keaton. Katharine Ross was a better fit - she was more attractive and her looks were very "in tune" with the preferences of the day. Prentiss was a perfect foil for Ross.

I love Ross and Prentiss in The Stepford Wives, but Keaton would have been great, too. If that script gave her analyst bad vibes, what did they think of Looking For Mr. Goodbar?

I wonder why Cassidy was fired. On paper, she seems like she'd be a great Bobbie.

Cassidy doesn't do comedy well

R363 One of my favorite reviews of all time, (it might have been People Magazine):

"The Mirror has Two Faces, and the theater has many exits."

Cassidy was hilarious in Six Feet Under. I can see her as Bobbie, but not in the same way Paula Prentiss played her.

Cassidy was also in "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead."

Tom Cruise for A Beautiful Mind.

Joanna Cassidy was fired from Stepford Wives because she and Katharine Ross were too physically similar.

[quote]R78 Annie Lockheart and Donna Wilkes as Laurie Strode in Halloween... No offense to them, but I can't see anyone else but Curtis in that role.

Who the hell ARE they?

Anne Lockhart is June Lockhart's daughter. She had some tv roles, most notably on Battlestar Galactica, and was in the film Joyride, which starred three other offspring of famous actors- Desi Jr, Melanie Griffith and Robert Carradine.

Donna Wilkes was in Jaws 2 and the series Hello, Larry, and later starred in the film Angel.

R393 Yikes, Donna must’ve looked like a baby back then. She looked about twelve in Angel in 84. She also looked high as a kite on some heavy drugs in that movie, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that played a part.

I have to say Donna didn't look too different between 78 and 84. She definitely looked believable as a real teen.

Donna Douglas was offered the lead in HALLOWEEN, too.

#fact

Wasn't she too old to play a teenage babysitter??

Donna's years of being able to pass for a teenage eventually caught up to her, because she certainly looks her age now. I believe she had some drug issues.

^^ She dead you fool.

[Quote] ^^ She dead you fool.

Donna WILKES.

Really? You expect me to name them all?

Just check "all" that one non-Oscar winner and have done with it.

John Travolta in All That Jizz.

R383 that’s funny because I always thought they looked a lot a like. Ross was more conventionally pretty of course, but from certain angles they look very separated at birth. I think it’s the eyes.

Just thought I would drop this here having seen it on the Let's Be A Bond Film thread . . .

Eunice Gayson, who played Sylvia Trench in Dr. No, had initially been cast as Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary. Lois Maxwell had been cast as Sylvia Trench. However, Maxwell found the Trench character too "immodest", and their roles were switched, and Maxwell went on to define the ladylike but flirtatious Moneypenny.

Maxwell was a republican columnist.

Alec Baldwin as Vincent in The Godfather Part III. I know that movie wasn't great, but I thought Andy Garcia was great in the role of Vincent and I can't imagine Alec Baldwin playing that role.

I still wonder if Winona Ryder would have been ok as Mary in the movie.

Nicolas Cage as Superman (Thank God that didn't happen). Just, No.

Tim Burton is on record confirming that his original choice to play Beetlejuice was Sammy Davis, Jr. I don't know if that would've been disastrous but it sure would've been something to see.

Jean Arthur as Scarlett. She tested down the wire to the final four actresses tested in Technicolor. She was never really in the running but Selznick humored her because he was fucking her at the time.

Who were the final four?

Arthur, Joan Bennett, Paulette Goddard, and Vivien. Vivien showed up in LA at the very last minute and blew everyone else's tests off the screen. She had been the unknown dark horse for a long time. Selznick had had prints of her British films, like A Yank at Oxford, shipped to him and had been studying them for a year. It didn't hurt that her agent was Selznick's brother Myron.

If for some reason she hadn't worked out, it probably would have been Goddard. But Selznick was very concerned about casting her because she had been publicly living with Charlie Chaplin for over two years but they couldn't produce a marriage license. They claimed they had been married at sea by the ship's captain but still couldn't produce any proof.

R411 - While Goddard was attractive, she wasn't nearly the screen beauty that Leigh was, and Goddard had bad skin. Only Leigh had the colouring (Indian black hair and magnolia white skin and green eyes without a hint of hazel, if I remember from the first page of the book).

She was more chipmunk to Leigh's sable.

MGM already had Hedy Lamarr on contract so why didn't they just give the Scarlett role to her? Just a few acting lessons and a dialect coach and she would've been perfect.

Lamarr might have been an interesting thought, but 1) she was Austrian and WWII was shaping up on the horizon - even if a dialect coach had been able to rid her of her accent completely (which I doubt), she was just too . . . foreign. And, she had already done the film "Ecstasy" with its fabled nude swimming scene. It just wouldn't have flown, beautiful as she was.

Leigh was at least English, and Americans at that time still felt connection to Britain and especially to England. And even with Leigh, there were murmurs about the role not going to an American.

No, Lamarr would never have gotten the role.

Vivien actually had blue eyes. During her GWTW close ups, they threw tightly focused yellow light on her eyes to make them appear green, or at least greenish.

R415 it’s actually very rare for Americans /those of European descent to have straight green eyes (without being blue/green, grey/green, hazel, etc). My older sister happens to have them and I’ve never seen another person with her color eyes. It’s actually much more common among Turkish and some others of Middle Eastern descent.

[quote]MGM already had Hedy Lamarr on contract so why didn't they just give the Scarlett role to her?

Among other reasons, including nobody would consider casting her in that part, GWTW wasn't an MGM film. It was strictly a Selznick International film, personally produced by David O. Selznick. When Selznick couldn't come up with the total financing, he was forced to go to his father in law Louis B. Mayer for money, a deal that involved MGM lending Gable and additional production funding, in exchange for exclusive distribution rights for Lowe's Inc., MGM's parent company, and a share of the profits.

Years later MGM bought all the rights to the film but it was never an MGM production. It was originally a Selznick production all the way.

R417 was it that they didn’t want to cast a Jewish actress?

Esp in 1939, that certainly wouldn’t be surprising,

No, troll r418, nobody wanted her for the part because she wasn't right for it. i won't respond to any further race baiting.

Didn't Sally Field play Iranian in Not Without My Daughter? Anyway, it was a terrible film and the performance matched its lack of quality.

No, Sally's husband was Iranian.

R105 I love Michelle but the role would've been made too basic if a beautiful blonde played her. It would've been the intended Hitchcock blonde. Foster made her more tough at least in approach and I know people like to say she can be wooden and mannered but I actually think those things worked in her favor as Clarice. She made Clarice tough yet stilted mentally smart yet mentally vulnerable. Anything wooden also emitted inexperience and fear.

R419 seriously race baiting? I probably shouldn’t engage in this but you realize what the climate was in those times right? Hollywood May have been “Created” by Jews but they sure didn’t like to hire them, especially starlets.

Anyway back to the topic at hand...

R418 - Just for the record, Hedy's mother converted to Catholicism and raised Lamarr as a Catholic. If you want to split hairs about what makes a Jew Jewish, please start another thread. She was simply too foreign. No one whose first language was German was going to get that part. End of.

R423 - Lee Grant (born in the 1925 believe it or not), Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni, Judy Holliday, Sylvia Miles, Paul Newman, Peter Sellars, Shelley fucking Winters, Jeff Chandler, Martin Balsam, John fucking Garfield, Kirk fucking Douglas, Paulette Goddard, Sylvia Sidney (that far enough back for you?), Luise Rainer (that far enough back for you?), Eli Wallach, Cornel Wilde (yeah, Cornel Wilde), Peter Lorre . . . and speaking of starlets: Lauren Bacall.

That's a partial list of who they didn't like to hire.

Wait, I left out Melvyn Douglas, Dinah Shore, Lee J. Cob, Kitty Carlisle, Red Buttons, Vic Morrow, Laurence Harvey, Peter Falk, and Tony Curtis, and Theda Bara (the first of the big film sex symbols, a/k/a the "vamp").

Amongst others.

Yes: you're race baiting.

Thank you, r425. I just didn't have the strength.

The over 80 crowd has hijacked this thread. More modern cinema please.

[quote] Didn't Sally Field play Iranian in Not Without My Daughter?

No. Betty Mahmoody is not Iranian nor of Iranian decent. She’s from Michigan, her maiden name is Lover.

More modern cinema please.

Fuck off.

r429, You fuck off, before I turn you on with how I will beat you.

R430 - You're not quite right for the part. NEXT!

Lily Tomlin for Gorillas in the Mist

^^^ I'm not so sure. Lily could easily play a vicious ape without any make-up or prosthetics.

I think Doris Day as Mrs. Robinson would of been genius. I think she would of pulled that off in an amazing performance.

"Actors who were offered or considered for roles who would have been disastrous if they had actually been hired.

Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar (1973): John Travolta"

Shouldn't it be, actors who sat on some random guy's dick? And maybe: MAYBE that guy said something about getting him a job in some movie?

Because that sounds a lot more plausible than John Travolta being offered the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar.

But it could explain the origin of the story.

Helen Hunt as Lt. Colleen McMurphy on CHINA BEACH.

The final casting choice was between Dana Delany, who the producers really wanted, and Helen Hunt, who the network executives really wanted. The suits didn't think Dana looked Midwestern, nor was she "pretty enough." (Huh? Ya' mean, compared to *Helen Hunt*?)

Thankfully, John Sacret Young's & William Broyles' opinion prevailed! And Dana got an apology note from one of said-network execs, after she won the Emmy.