Actors who turned down roles that could have been big for them...

who gives a shit?

R1 you cared enough to comment

Mädchen Amick turned down the role of Carrie in SATC. Gabrielle Anwar turned down the role of Rose in Titanic.

Julia Roberts turned down both The Proposal and The Blind Side.

I don’t think either would have performed as well with her as the star, nor do I think she would have even received an Oscar nom, yet alone win like Sandra did.

Oh that's a shame re Ackles. Instead we get catchers-mitt face.

Joaquin also turned down the role of Ennis in Brokeback Mountain.

R6 so did Mark Wahlberg

R3 did mädchen say that? I never heard that before, but she did CPW for Star previously so I guess it’s possible she was in contention for Carrie in S&TC. I always did like Amick was always hoping she’d get a movie career.

I believe sherilyn fenn turned down mulholland dr. I also wish she’d had more of a high profile career after twin peaks. She had it all at the time.

Joan Collins always claims she turned down sons and lovers which got Mary Ure an Oscar nomination.

Angie Dickinson said she turned down the carpetbaggers which went to Carroll Baker.

I think I read Wes Bentley turned down Heath ledgers role in monster’s ball

I could see Wes in place of gyllenhaal in many of his films

Wasn’t there an actress who was cast as Samantha in SATC and then recast after shooting the pilot?

Mark Wahlberg turned down Brokeback because he said he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing he played that role and wouldn’t be able to film love scenes.

That was years ago.

Since then the internet has been scrubbed of his original comments. In recent years, anyway.

R10 yes. I never found out who that was. But weren’t there rumours Dana Delaney was at one point involved in s&tc?

Brook Kerr, who played Whitney on Passions, was the original Tara on True Blood before being recast by Rutina Wesley after shooting the pilot.

Supposedly she just felt wrong after they started filming and felt she was too gentle to be angry black woman Tara.

Alicia silverstone claimed to have turned down Valerie malone in 90210. That could have been interesting but she ended up with a movie carrier, so she probably doesn’t regret it.

R14 yeah, 90210 wasn’t getting her a $10 million movie contract

I can't stand Chris Pratt so JGL as Star-Lord would have been wonderful. That said, Pratt does a great job with the role.

I love that the studio insisted on Chris Evans for Captain America. What a career, the guy got to play another hero after those terrible Fantastic 4 movies. Though his body and charisma sold the fuck out of those lame movies. I swear he's the only reason it made decent money.

Jill Haworth turned down the Kubrick Lolita I think Christine Kaufmann also did

R16 Jessica Alba was at her peak in those, that’s why she was cast in the first place and the name who headlined the films. She was big at that time.

Those movies did nothing for Evans career and he hated being portrayed as a piece of meat, but did it because he was a new film actor who needed to make $$$.

He declined on Captain America at least 3 times before RDJ called him up personally and talked him into it.

She did, R8.

I also remember reading that mädchen turned down a role opposite sylvester Stallone. I think it was daylight which went to Julianne Moore.

I mean assassins

r18, I wouldn't say it did nothing for his career. He became a household name after Fantastic 4. Women went crazy for him. F4 was basically his unintentional audition for Cap. It proved that he's a hard worker that won't cause studios problems, even when forced into a terrible sequel. Despite a few press issues he's been a good studio pet. You are 100% correct Alba was at her career peak, but F4 made Evans at least a B list actor before Cap made him a solid A lister.

Why did Jodie Foster turn down Hannibal?

r23 she won an AA for the original. The movie was good enough on it's own. Maybe she didn't want to beat a dead horse.

R24 I wonder. Hannibal was more entertaining to me. Dont shoot me

OP, I can't speak to the other actors you named, but you're wrong about Jensen Ackles. Ackles himself has over and over that he was never offered ANY part in that film. Supernatural fans started that rumor as wishful thinking. He said it time and time again at Supernatural Conventions. He was not offered the role of Hawkeye.

Angela Lansbury turned down the role of Nurse Ratched because she didn’t think the character had any redeeming qualities. Fletcher of course ended up winning an Oscar for her portrayal.

R23 because she thought the story and the script were horrible and she hated what happened with Clarice.

R5, at the end of the day I'd have preferred Jensen in the role; though Hawkeye was never 'pretty' -- he's handsome, which Jeremy is not IMHO

there has to be someone in between who'd have been better

Reba was cast as Molly Brown in Titanic. But she chose to drop out, once the filming schedule changed, because it would have interfered with her touring schedule. I respect that, because she was thinking about her band and fans, but it would have established her acting career on a firmer footing especially in film.

I don't know why that Hawkeye rumor persists but a lot of outlets reported it at the time. I was actually at a golf event in Austin and heard Ackles refute it with my own ears. He even said that in retrospect he was glad he didn't get the Captain America role because it would have most likely meant the end of his CW show. Neither Captain America nor Hawkeye are especially challenging roles but Renner can act circles around Ackles.

R31, Renner strikes me as one of those actors who, when playing a character, just looks at his scene partner and pretends not to understand what he or she just said.

Acting!

Renner was absolutely fantastic in the Hurt Locker, R32. Given the right script/director he's a very good actor.

Can't believe Ackles would turn down any big budget movie role. He was stuck in CW tv hell and he wasn't getting any younger.

Renner is hard to look at. That face... My god.

Tina Turner turned down the role of Shug Avery in The Color Purple. She felt it would've been too painful an experience to relive, since much of the plot reminded her of her life with ex-husband Ike Turner.

I wish she had reconsidered, because I believe she would've given that character a rawness and vibrancy that Margaret Avery, the chosen actress, did not. It even might've open a door to roles in subsequent movies, which Mad Max didn't do for her.

I don't quite understand Amick's story in that clip.

Her character from CPW was going to be "spun off" into "Sex and the City" she says, but "Sex and the City" was already an established column and book.

Would they have changed the character in the book into the character from CPW? I mean, I know Darren Starr was in charge of both....but that seems like a stretch.

[quote]Renner is hard to look at. That face... My god.

Ackles doesn't look much better. He hasn't aged well. These photos are 2 yrs old.

R12, the original Samantha from SATC is no big secret. It was Lou Thornton. But the felt that Samantha needed to be older than the others so they let her go.

Dana Delaney was expected to be a huge TV star after China Beach and she was who Starr had in mind while developing SATC.

She turned it down, obviously.

Yikes JA look so damn old in R38's link! I Googled him thinking he was probably 47 or 48 and he's only 43! Today is his birthday, lol. He's a terrible actor but he was hot as hell when he was younger. He's a Christian Conservative Republican which is a huge turn off tho.

Russell Crowe turned down the role of Aragorn in "Lord of the Rings" when Peter Jackson called and offered it to him. Crowe said he had heard that Jackson wanted another actor but was being pressured by the studio to ask Crowe because he was more famous. Crowe said he thought a director should have the cast he wanted.

Too bad because Viggo has the charisma of a turnip and the idea that huge numbers of people would follow him was preposterous. While watching the first film, I thought they should have cast Sean Bean as Aragorn instead of the dull, boring Viggo.

Crowe and Bean are both much more charismatic than Mortensen.

Crowe also apparently turned down "The Matrix".

R33, I'll check it out.

thx

Renner is a very good actor, R41. He's been nominated for two Oscars, once for Hurt Locker and then the following year for The Town. You should watch both. You'll be impressed.

[quote] He declined on Captain America at least 3 times before RDJ called him up personally and talked him into it.

Chris Evans is an idiot. If he had his way, he would have declined it and then had the career of Chris Klein. He wanted to do his own movies like Play It Cool and Before We Go and they were terrible. That would be his filmography if he had declined and he would have faded away and now be a villain on a CW show. RDJ saved his career.

Jake Gyllenhaal turned down The Dreamers because he didn’t want to show dong.

Joseph Gordon Levitt was almost in Short Bus. He wanted to be in it so bad that he sent an audition tape of him jerking himself off to Jame Cameron but Cameron took one look at the tape and rejected him.

[quote]Renner was absolutely fantastic in the Hurt Locker, [R32]. Given the right script/director he's a very good actor.

I agree. He was great in WIND RIVER and 12 AND HOLDING.

TIL that there was a sequel to Sin City.

They wanted Sandra Bernhardt for Miranda in Sex and the City. Sandy says she turned it down because the script sucked and the pay was insulting.

Re: Mädchen Amick and SATC- her character in CPW was based in Candace Bushnell who is a good friend of Darren Star’s. R37 When CPW got cancelled after the revamp with Raquel Welch tanked, Star had a first look development deal with CBS to do a spin off based on “Carrie Fairchild” When Mädchen decided not to continue playing her character, the project was retooled to a single camera half hour show, released from CBS and bought by HBO. This happens all the time

It's mind boggling to me that Jensen Ankles and Jeremy Renner would ever be up for the same part. I can see Jensen wanting those parts and possibly scoring auditions...but Renner is such a vastly superior actor and bigger name. I can't believe they ever seriously considered Jensen. But he was very handsome when the film was made.

I've always thought that Emily Blunt declined those roles in order to have leverage for her husband, John Krasinski.

Krasinski auditioned for Captain America and didn't get it.

Now, the rumor is that they've given him Reed Richards for a Marvel/Feige controlled Fantastic Four...with Blunt as Sue Storm.

Somehow, I think if he had gotten Captain America, she would have taken Black Widow or Peggy Carter.

Haley Atwell was great as Carter.

[quote] Now, the rumor is that they've given him Reed Richards for a Marvel/Feige controlled Fantastic Four...with Blunt as Sue Storm.

Yes, John and Emily are going to be Reed and Sue with Timothee Calloway as Johnny Storm, and Jonah Hill as Ben Grimes.

Didn't Debra Winger drop out of the Dottie role in A League of Their Own?

I don't buy the Machden Amick /SATC story at all.

The only references to it online are Amick's own interviews in Page Six and Kelly and Ryan.

Seems a little delusional.

Maya Angelou turned down the role of Lillian in Bridesmaids because she felt it was demeaning to expect an 80 year old woman to shit in the street.

R20 Julianne Moore wasn’t in Daylight.

R54 listen to any Darren Star appearance on a podcast recently as well as the Origins podcast based on Sex and The City.

I don't buy the Machden Amick story either, R54.

Jensen Ackles looks like a fifty-year-old cosplayer in R38's picture. He's aged terribly. His face is practically hanging off.

I just found out Rachel McAdams repeatedly turned down the role of Andrea Sachs in "The Devil Wears Prada."

She would've killed in that role, and it would've been so fun to watch her play off of Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt. Plus, right off the heels of "Mean Girls" and "The Notebook," she would've ruled the 2000s and 2010s.

W.C. Fields and Ed Wynn were MGM's first and second choices to play the Wizard of Oz. But both asked for too much money and wouldn't lower their price. By that point the film's costs were spiraling so they started testing their in-house contract players and settled on Frank Morgan.

I do not think it would have been Fields who asked for too much money. It would have been Universal, since he would be on loan.

Fields didn't sign with Universal until 1939. Negotiations with MGM for OZ would likely have been months or even a year earlier. Wikipedia says says he was initially enthusiastic about the part but eventually withdrew to concentrate on writing You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, citing the Curtis biography. But I've always read that it was mainly a salary dispute.

[R57] .... Since i am working from home and have some interest in the topic, I just listened to the entire nearly two hour Sex and the City Origins podcast you linked to above.

Very interesting.

And you know what two words are never mentioned by Darren Starr or anyone else?

MACHDEN AMICK.

In fact, Darren Starr says twice he had Parker in mind for the part as he was writing it.

R8 David Lynch and Mark Frost proposed another series with Audrey, Fenn's Twin Peaks character, but it never got off the ground. It eventually became Mulholland Drive. Frost says Fenn was "eager to do it."

A lot of actors lie about turning down roles. Sarah Michelle Gellar used to complain that she "had to turn down" like 8,000 movie roles because of her commitments to All My Children and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These include a role in the film version of The Crucible, the lead in Clueless, Juliet in Romeo + Juliet, the character played by Cameron Diaz in Gangs of New York, the Diane Lane character in Unfaithful, and every other part played a woman in a successful film from the 90s and early-2000s.

I totally agree, R65. Some of these claims I completely believe but others sound dubious at best. I mean, Jensen Ackles? I didn't even know who he was until I googled him. No major studio is going to offer a major film role to someone like that on the WB network.

John Travolta owns this thread. Along with many wigs.

Barbra Streisand apparently turned down Klute, Cabaret, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, and Eyes of Laura Mars (but she still did the theme song). Somehow, she said yes to The Main Event, For Pete's Sake, and Little Fockers. The woman is obviously talented, but she's never been very good at picking projects.

Liza Minnelli turned down the '89 revival of Gypsy on Broadway that eventually went to Tyne Daly. That could have been a great farewell to the Broadway stage for her. Her farewell ended up being a poorly received replacement gig in Victor/Victoria.

I think Phoenix was right to turn down "Doctor Strange", when he finally made a comic book movie it was one that totally suited his talents and where he wasn't overshadowed by the special effects. Cumberbatch did a damn good job with the movie that was made, and he's a professional who wants to build a long career, so he can play the franchise game.

Helena Bonham Carter pulled out of Breaking The Waves, which could have got her her first Oscar nomination. The unknown Emily Watson was cast instead.

Emily Watson then turned down Elizabeth and some woman called Cathy Blanchard was cast instead.

Emily Watson was also due to appear in a French movie written for her called Emily but there were "issues" so the role was given to someone called Audrey Tautou.

r24, she didn't agree with the direction they were taking Clarice. Didn't find it believable. I haven't seen it so I don't know.

I can understand Jodie not liking what happened to Clarice in the Hannibal novel (going off to be with Hannibal), but the film had a very conventional ending and Clarice didn't change much from the original film.

Sean Connery turned down Gandalf the Grey even though he was offered backend points. Had he taken the role, he'd have made an enormous amount of money.

Cary Grant turned down A Star Is Born and My Fair Lady.

James Cagney turned down My Fair Lady (Doolittle).

Frank Sinatra turned down The Music Man. He also dropped out of Carousel after pre-recording the soundtrack and showing up on location.

R20 Do you mean Assassins?

Leonardo DiCaprio turned down Boogie Nights to do Titanic. He admitted that he ended up regretting that decision. Marky Mark says he regrets doing Boogie Nights.

100 actresses claimed that they turned down the role of Ginger in Casino. I think they're all full of shit.

If Nicole Kidman hadn't got pregnant and filmed The Reader would she have got a second Oscar or would they have given it to Kate Winslet for Revolution Road?

As good as Jodie and Kristen Stewart were together in Panic Room Nicole would have made the film quite different.

R46. Is Jame Cameron anything like Jame Gumb? I think you mean John Cameron Mitchell.

r71 Foster says she was happy she turned down the sequel where Clarice joins Lecter as a killer and cannibal.

I remember an interviewer asking if she regrets turning it down. She joked did you see the movie? What do you think. Implying the movie was so bad it was good for her to turn it down.

Leonardo DiCaprio turned down Primal Fear to do Romeo + Juliet because he wanted to do Shakespeare and work with Baz.

r53 she didn't sign her contract and held out for some demands to be met. The deadline past and the next day the studio flew Geena Davis in to assume the role.

Edward Norton was brilliant in Primal Fear so THANKS, LEONARDO!

Will Wheaton turned down Primal Fear too!

Madchen Amick turned down "Mame" because Gary Morton convinced her not to do it.

Debra Winger and Lori Petty would have actually looked like sisters. That said, Davis was great in the part.

Brando turned down Lawrence of Arabia. Albert Finney was then given a series of elaborate screen tests costing over $100,000 in 1960s dollars. Accounts vary as to what happened next. Some stories say producer Sam Speigel demanded Finney sign a 7 year contract with him and Finney refused. Other accounts say director David Lean didn't like the screen tests nor did he like working with Finney and refused to continue with him. At that point, shortly before shooting was to begin, someone suggested the then practically unknown Peter O'Toole, who of course got the part.

Leonardo has been the most sought-after actor in Hollywood for 25 years. (Say what you will about him, he puts butts in seats.) I bet he's turned down almost every major leading man role during that time period. Studios work from a very short wishlist for major films.

Meg Ryan turned down Silence of the Lambs. When asked about it later, she grimaced and said she thought the subject matter was distasteful. But it came across like sour grapes.

Once again, Clarice does NOT join Hannibal as a killer at the end of the movie. That's only in the book.

The Hannibal film actually wasn't that bad, though the brain-eating scene was stupid (it was stupid in the book, too).

Michael Keaton turned down “Groundhog Day” because he says he didn’t get it.

Bill Murray was offered Forrest Gump but he turned it down without even reading the script. Howard Stern asked him if he regretted turning down such a huge film, and he said he still to this day hasn’t watched it, so no.

Matt Damon had to turn down Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight due to scheduling conflicts. He doesn’t resent having to turn it down because he feels Aaron was terrific in the role

Mädchen Amick beat out Helen Lawson for the lead in the TV movie adaptation of Hit The Sky but the project fell apart after the costumes were inexplicably destroyed and the sets were burned down in a freak accident.

[quote]Sean Connery turned down Gandalf the Grey even though he was offered backend points. Had he taken the role, he'd have made an enormous amount of money.

It'll forever be a true loss to the world of cinema as he'd have been altogether perfect for the role.

Isabelle Adjani was Adrian Lyne’s first choice for ‘Fatal Attraction;’ he originally envisioned the character as a gorgeous temptress. She was deep in pre-production duties for ‘Camille Claudel’ and had to pass.

Adjani was also in the mix for Michelle Pfeiffer’s role in ‘Scarface’ and Sharon Stone’s in ‘Basic Instinct.’ Dropped out of ‘Damage’ and was replaced by Juliette Binoche. I think she was also attached to ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ with her then-partner DDL at one point.

It’s a shame these didn’t pan out and she ended up doing ‘Ishtar’ and ‘Diabolique.’ Her English is excellent and she had the potential to be a much bigger star internationally.

Meryl turned down all three of my Tony winning roles. (The Real Thing, Death and the Maiden and Sunset Boulevard.)

oops I forgot to sign r97 was me.

R89 Michelle Pfeiffer turned it down for similar reasons, but said that she wouldn't have been as good as Foster because the material made her so uncomfortable.

Jason Patric turned down the lead in The Firm, which went to Tammy and was a huge hit. When asked if he regretted turning down such a big hit, he said that it was a hit because of Tammy and wouldn't have been nearly as popular with him in the lead.

[quote]Debra Winger and Lori Petty would have actually looked like sisters. That said, Davis was great in the part

Moira Kelly was originally cast as Kit in A League of Their Own. She dropped out of the movie because she had some kind of injury from filming The Cutting Edge and Petty replaced her.

R99 glad he knew it. People think “you must regret turning down that movie that was a huge hit” or “that role that won so and so an Oscar” etc.

Ummm it may have turned out very different with a different actor (critically panned instead of praised etc) or a flop instead of a hit. Tammy was a movie star and everything he was putting out back then was making tons of millions. I think people forget how big he was in the 80s and 90s.

[quote]Leonardo DiCaprio turned down Boogie Nights to do Titanic. He admitted that he ended up regretting that decision. Marky Mark says he regrets doing Boogie Nights.

Whoa....what???!!! I personally hated TITANIC, but it was one of the most successful films of all time, and it cemented DiCaprio's stardom. I would be shocked if he ever said he "regretted" doing that movie over BOOGIE NIGHTS. I don't suppose you have a source for your claim, do you?

Marky Mark regrets doing Boogie Nights and is thankful he didn’t do Brokeback.

Jack Nicholson as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. He turned it down because he felt the part should be played by an Italian and not just a white man.

Actually Bill Murray wasn’t their first pick for Forrest Gump. They offered the part to John Travolta first. He was who they envisioned in the part originally. After he turned it down to do Pulp Fiction instead, it was offered to Murray who turned it down without even reading the script.

Will Smith turned down The Matrix.

He was offered the lead but found the script to be confusing and lackluster, so he turned it down for campy Wild Wild West. Keanu then got the part.

He later admitted it’s one of his biggest regrets when it comes to his career.

I always wondered why Marilyn turned down Breakfast at Tiffany’s. They were desperately trying to get her but she rejected it.

Capote hated Hepburn in the part.

Molly Ringwald for Pretty Woman

Jane Fonda passed on Bonnie and Clyde, The Exorcist and Chinatown.

Connery said he turned down Gandalf because he did not understand the movie or the character.

Capote always claimed he had Marilyn in mind when he wrote the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Damn Yankees, the stage show, was written with Marilyn in mind as Lola. She told the producers she wanted to do it and was seriously interested. But negotiations went on for months and when it was time for rehearsals to start, she still hadn't signed despite the producers offering her everything she had asked for. When they finally told her she had to shit or get off the pot, she still dithered. They auditioned other people and it got down to Mitzi Gaynor, Zizi Jeanmaire and Gwen Verdon. Verdon, of course, got the the part and it made her a a Broadway superstar. Composer Richard Adler said later that not getting Marilyn was the best thing that happened to the show.

R49, You are completely wrong. HBO was pitched Sex and The City before Darren Star was attached and it had nothing to do with his CBS deal. The common denominator is that Michael Bergin played Madchen Amick's love interest in the opening scene of Central Park West. His manager also managed Candace Bushnell who brought the show to HBO but Bushnell did not like the HBO producers so they offered it to Herbert Ross, who wanted to do SATC as a movie. But he became too ill to move forward so Darren was offered the show.

Is this why he is playing Soldier Boy for season 3 of The Boys? That character is a parody of Captain America.

i believe that 20th century fox would NOT loan marilyn out to Paramount to do "breakfast at tifanny's" for whatever reason.... most likely because she had made only 1 film out of the 4 film contract she signed with them back in 1955, and then were pressing her to fulfill her contract obligations, so hence no loaning her out to any studio for any movie at that time.... so instead of "breakfast" they could only find her the dreadful "let's make love" which was NOT a hit and seriously hurt her career especially after the huge blockbuster that was some like it hot"....

and then of course there was the bargain basement salary that 20th century fox was paying marilyn which was only 100 thousand a movie!... by 1962 her last unfinished movie, she was STILL obligated to make only 100 thousand.. while the 2nd banana in that film her co-star dean martin was going to be paid 300 thousand!..

When you read Breakfast at Tiffanys it is pretty clear the character's physical appearance is based on Marilyn Monroe. The whole point is that this cornfed, all-American gal lives off shady money she gets from shady men.

Marvel Castings:

Emily Blunt turned down the role of Black Widow

Joss Whedon actually wrote Scarlet Witch with Saorise Ronan in mind, but she turned it down

Sean Gunn originally wanted Glenn Howerton (of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame) to play Star Lord but the studio wanted Chris Pratt

Joaquin Phoenix turned down Doctor Strange

Linda Purl turned down the role of Chris Hargensen in Carrie because she felt the script was too sorid.

We know about Blunt, fucking R116. Its in the goddamn OP. Does anyone on this fucking board read?

Paul Lynde turned down the role of Vito Corleone.

Early in Casablanca's development, a Warner Bros. press release announced the film and floated the idea that it might star Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan. This led to an urban legend that they actually were the original leads. In reality they were never considered for Rick and Ilsa.

Wasn't Dana Delany also originally offered Bree Van de Kamp (the Marcia Cross role) on Desperate Housewives but turned it down, regretted the decision (after the show became a hit), and so Marc Cherry then later wrote a different role? I think Sela Ward was also originally offered Susan (Teri Hatcher) on the show.

John Travolta's turn-downs have made Richard Gere's career:

Days of Heaven

American Gigolo

An Officer and a Gentleman

Chicago

The Danny Aiello role in Do the Right Thing was written for Robert DeNiro, who turned it down because he felt it was stereotypical.

AnnE Hathaway had to turn down the movie version of Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera because she was locked into Princess Diaries 2. She also had to turn down the role of Johanna in Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, but I forgot why.

The first choice for Christine in The Phantom of the Opera was Katie Holmes! She can't sing for shit so it's not surprising she was quickly replaced.

[quote]The first choice for Christine in The Phantom of the Opera was Katie Holmes! She can't sing for shit so it's not surprising she was quickly replaced.

Her singing must be really bad if they replaced her and not Gerard Butler! His singing literally sounds like he's TAKING a shit!

Thomas Jane turned down Mad Men. But both him and Hamm’s careers are in the toilet. So maybe it wouldn’t have mattered.

Jensen wouldn't have liked how useless Hawkeye was.

R92, Bill Murray would have been all wrong for FG. Murray simply has a natural weisenheimer mien and can't help but be funny even just standing still. The character FG was more earnest, more innocent.

R119, I know you're joking, but can't you just hear Paul saying the line, "You can act like a MAN!"

Haha, r104.

They wanted Calista Flockhart for the Terri Hatcher role on Desperate Housewives

Could DL’ers like R1 just SHUT THE FUCK UP??!!

Ted Baxter on Mary Tyler Moore was written very specifically written for Jack Cassidy to play. He turned it down and when the show became such a huge hit, he regretted it tremendously.

R46 that's not exactly how it went. Yes, JGL was desperate to be in the movie, mainly because he was determined to shed his wholesome child/teen image -- and he did send a video tape of himself to JCM though its contents have never been revealed; most people think it's a JO tape -- but in the end JCM decided against casting him because he wanted to use complete unknowns; he thought having a well-known face among the cast, especially one who was known as a child actor, would be too distracting for the story. Though not a child star like Macaulay Culkin, JGL had been a working child/teen actor ("A River Runs Through It," "Angels in the Outfield," "10 Things I Hate About You," several TV appearances) and had recently starred in the long-running, Emmy-winning sitcom "3rd Rock from the Sun."

R53/R82 according to Penny Marshall's memoirs, Winger dropped out of ALOTO after Madonna was cast, saying she "didn't want to make an Elvis film," whatever the hell that meant.

R109 when Fonda was on WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE about ten years ago (God, has that show been on that long?), she told Andy Cohen that she wanted the 'Bonnie Parker' role and was pissed/saddened that she didn't get it. She said it was one of her greatest regrets that she didn't get to do the movie... but not because she had rejected it.

Patrick McGoohan turned down the roles of:

Bond, James Bond, the origin, in "Dr. No."

Simon Templar, in "The Saint."

Gandalf.

Professor Dumbledore.

[quote] according to Penny Marshall's memoirs, Winger dropped out of ALOTO after Madonna was cast, saying she "didn't want to make an Elvis film," whatever the hell that meant.

I haven't read Penny Marshall's memoirs, but I recall reading some article that mentioned Winger's comment about not wanting to do an "Elvis film". I don't think Winger would have made a good Dotty. Geena Davis had the right look for the era.

R102 He has said multiple times that he wishes he had done Boogie Nights instead.

From Vanity Fair: "In spite of the great sex with models, the whole post-Titanic chapter seems to make him shiver. Today, he admits that he wishes he had done Boogie Nights, which he turned down for Titanic."

Meanwhile Marky Mark wishes he didn’t do it.

Did You know that Leonardo DiCaprio played the TV version of the character Joaquin Phoenix had played in the original film of PARENTHOOD? David Arquette played the Keanu Reeves part. Alas, the series was short-lived.

R104 Interesting that Don Corleone was played Brando who is not Italian and was Coppola's dream casting for the role and Nicholson was a huge Brando fan and yet Nicholson played an Italian in Prizzi's Honor.

R143 huh?

To corroborate what R139 is saying:

I lived in Chicago when they were filming A League of Their Own (and had lived there for years, before and after). I worked on Oak Street as well, at Michigan Avenue. Winger was definitely in town to start shooting and had been seen on Oak Street shopping, specifically buying jewellery - which for some reason was characterised as being for her female lover at the time. (Forget the source for that but it was the gossip.)

Then it was announced that Madonna would be joining the cast and Winger abruptly left town. It had to do with an interview Madonna had done around that time for Movieline magazine, maybe, where she criticised Winger’s performance in Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky and said she would’ve been better in the role. Which was pretty ludicrous even back then.

People forget: Winger was A-list at the time and had been sought after since 1980’s Urban Cowboy. She had odd taste and made a lot of bad to so-so movies, and also some terrific ones. But she was a magnetic presence on screen. I still enjoy seeing her in things but even now she makes some mundane choices - that film she did with Tracy Letts a few years back, The Lovers, is a good example: she was good but the script was boring and one-note.

People also remember, what a lot of these actors mean when they say they were “offered” a part or “turned down” a role is that they declined the meeting. It doesn’t mean they were signing on the dotted line. Casting is a process and for above the title talent, it’s a slow dance. They may have read some of these scripts and declined to meet and then say “I declined the role” which doesn’t mean they were that far along in the process.

I think it’s kind of tacky when actors do this - ultimately the role belongs to the person who played it and this is just an angle to make it sound like they were 1st choice when they may have barely been in the mix. No matter how many actresses were seen for it, the role of Alex Forrest belongs to Glenn Close, same with Catherine Trammel and Sharon Stone.

Goop claims she "turned down" Titanic, but I've always been skeptical.

Fletcher would kill for Lansbury's career, R27, and Angela has an honorary Oscar in any case.

That's the thing, being an Oscar winner(or award winner in general)doesn't always equal an enviable career, and Fletcher is a good reminder of that.