NFT: Casting what ifs..

cast for the role of Sonny in the Godfather.

Neo in The Matrix.

In comment 15029988 SFGFNCGiantsFan said:

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Neo in The Matrix.

Will Smith as Neo would have been terrible.

Arnie was supposed to be in I am Legend, haha

Leonardo DiCaprio turned down the role of Dirk Diggler in "Boogie Nights.

Denzel Washington could have been Detective David Mills in "Se7en."

Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Michael Corleone in "The Godfather."

Al Pacino turned down a lot of big roles, including an offer to play Han Solo in "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope."

Tom Selleck had to pass up on playing Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Harrison Ford declined starring as Alan Grant in "Jurassic Park"

Johnny Depp was reportedly considered to star in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

Nicolas Cage passed up on playing Aragorn in "The Lord of the Rings"

Christopher Plummer could have been Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings" franchise.

Ian McKellen passed up the chance to play Dumbledore in the "Harry Potter" franchise.

Molly Ringwald turned down the lead in "Pretty Woman."

Henry Winkler passed on Danny Zuko in "Grease."

John Travolta declined to play the lead in "Forrest Gump."

Sandra Bullock passed up playing computer hacker Neo in "The Matrix."

Gwyneth Paltrow – Rose Dewitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) in Titanic

Reese Witherspoon – Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in Scream

John Lithgow – The Joker (Jack Nicholson) in Batman

Warren Beatty – Bill (David Carradine) in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2

Sarah Jessica Parker – Lydia (Winona Ryder) in Beetlejuice

Leonardo DiCaprio – Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) in American Psycho

Tom Hanks – Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) in Jerry Maguire

Thomas Jane – Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in Mad Men

Mel Gibson – Maximus (Russell Crowe) in Gladiator

Brad Pitt was signed sealed and delivered to play the role of Russell Hammond in "Almost Famous" but he backed out at the last minute, said he just didnt get the role, and Billy Crudup was brought in to play the role.

I saw one of those behind the scenes features on "Back to the Future" and the OP was correct; Stoltz not only had the role, but had completed about a month of filming before the powers that be decided he just wasn't right for the role, and they went out and got Fox and reshoot the first month of filming

:thumbsup:

In comment 15030000 Giantsfan79 said:

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Uh this is a mind boggling list. Sandra Bullock as NEO? Will Smith as NEO? Ian Mckellan as NEO? Lol, some make sense though. Mel Gibson could have done Gladiator. I could see Beatty in KB.

Travolta in Gump would have been hilarious! Nic Cage as Aragorn, my goodness.

Fantastic podacast

day. The most absurd, illogical movie ever. And I loved every second of it. IS IT EAST VERSUS WEST OR MAN AGAINST MAN!

In comment 15030018 Jim in Forest Hills said:

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In comment 15030000 Giantsfan79 said: Quote: Uh this is a mind boggling list. Sandra Bullock as NEO? Will Smith as NEO? Ian Mckellan as NEO? Lol, some make sense though. Mel Gibson could have done Gladiator. I could see Beatty in KB. Travolta in Gump would have been hilarious! Nic Cage as Aragorn, my goodness.

I could not see Beatty as Bill nor Travolta as Gump. Cage as Aragorn is fucking laughable. Him attempting an English accent?

Lithgow as the Joker wouldve worked. Hes done the sick fuck bit before in Ricochet.

The THIRD choice for Hannibal Lecter. Gene Hackman was the top choice I believe.

Oh and I think Pacino wouldve been terrible as Han Solo.

Jack Crawford. Connery was another top choice for the role. Dustin Hoffman, DeNiro, Jeremy Irons and, wow, Louis Gosset Jr all were approached for the role.

The role of “The Duke” - Charles Gordon’s character - was supposedly offered to Robin Williams.

as Popeye Doyle?
While it’s hard to imagine anyone but Hackman in the role of NYPD detective Popeye Doyle, he was hardly the first choice for the part. That honor went to Steve McQueen, who worried that the movie was too similar to Bullitt. Lee Marvin, Jackie Gleason, Robert Mitchum, and James Caan were all offered the part, too. All turned it down. Caan didn’t think that Popeye was likable enough.
Even Jimmy Breslin was considered but he refused to drive a car. Nevermind that he wasn't an actor.

In comment 15030003 John In CO said:

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Brad Pitt was signed sealed and delivered to play the role of Russell Hammond in "Almost Famous" but he backed out at the last minute, said he just didnt get the role, and Billy Crudup was brought in to play the role. I saw one of those behind the scenes features on "Back to the Future" and the OP was correct; Stoltz not only had the role, but had completed about a month of filming before the powers that be decided he just wasn't right for the role, and they went out and got Fox and reshoot the first month of filming

Not only that, Stoltz is inadvertently in the final movie. Its Stoltz’s fist you see in the scene where Marty punches Biff in the soda shop.

In comment 15030056 bceagle05 said:

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The role of “The Duke” - Charles Gordon’s character - was supposedly offered to Robin Williams.

Wow. Robin Williams was great in everything, but hard to imagine anyone other than Grodin in that role

I recall reading that they auditioned a ton of actors for Don Draper, didn’t like any of them, until relatively unknown at the time Jon Hamm walked in and owned it

Great thread but I find this one hard to believe and there are others that also don't seem believable. With Gladiator, I remember reading that the producers did not want A list stars to save money. Russell Crowe, at that time, was not an A lister.

Not only did Connery turn down Gandalf but he also turned down the role of Morpheus from Matrix. He said that he didn’t understand either movie and then accepted the lead in the League of extraordinary gentlemen. That role was the reason why he quit acting.

To make matters worse Connery was offered $10 million for each film plus 15% stake of the box office profits for each Lord of the Rings movie had he accepted the role of Gandalf. He would have made over $450 million had he accepted.

pretty woman. I have to miller this thread. I find her disgusting - that was in the 80's. I'm sure she is even haggier (is that a word now). I think she could pass for a skank hooker but can't clean up.

OK -back to the thread. I watched a documentary on Friends - a lot of different casting scenarios. Jami Gertz as Monica. I think Courtney Cox as Rachel. The rest I can't remember but was pretty interesting.

Going back decades - wow, you can actually say that about Friends. Jerry Van Dyke as Gilligan.

As Ironman.

John Krasinski as Captain America. Krasinski had the role locked up because Chris Evans turned down Marvel three times. After Krasinki tried out for the role and had it locked up Marvel called Evans again offering it one final time and he changed his mind.

the lead in Superman and Taxi Driver. I read somewhere he had no interest in either and thought they would be terrible...

Frank Sinatra had first refusal, contractually, because the movie was based on "Nothing Lasts Forever," the sequel to "The Detective," and Fox had already made "The Detective" into a movie with Sinatra starring. He was smart enough to know he was too old.

Clint Eastwood turned it down, said he didn't get the humor.

Paul Newman turned it down. His son had shot himself and he didn't want to do roles where he appeared onscreen with a gun.

Supposedly almost every leading man in town turned it down: Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, pretty much anyone you can think of who was a star in those days. That's how they ended up with TV star Bruce Willis, who had only been in a couple of unsuccessful films. Hollywood was incensed that they paid Willis so much money. But they were smart to do it.

On another note, the legend is that at one point Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan were attached to "Casablanca." Everybody sort of goes "Whaaaaaat" but Reagan wasn't going to play Rick, he was going to play Victor Laszlo, which makes a lot more sense. Ann Sheridan though? I dunno. Nice actress, beautiful, but no Ingrid Bergman.

Another legend that I once did kind of a "myth-buster" on: Arnold Schwarzenegger was supposed to play Kyle Reese, not the Terminator, in "The Terminator." Not really. I interviewed Gale Anne Hurd, the producer, and asked her about that. She said they always knew they wanted Arnold to play the Terminator. But Reese was the male lead. The Terminator was a pretty small part. Arnold was the only big name they had. So to get financing, they had to say that Arnold was going to be the star. Then he announced he "preferred" to play the villain.

Turned it down because he hadn’t really done TV

as Jack Torrance in The Shining

Was supposed to be James Cagney instead of Erroll Flynn. Never got that

Would have been terrible as Han Solo. Thank God that didn’t happen

I made the Kessel Run, IN 12 PARSECS, HOOO AAAAH

That Princess Leah, has a GREAT ASS!!!! And my head, is right up it.

An equally horrific choice.

One of the most interesting ones to me is Tom Selleck, who was all but sealed as Indiana Jones until scheduling with Magnum couldn't be worked out. I could see him being decent in that role, but not the iconic figure Ford was. There likely would not have been the franchise that resulted, even if Raiders still turned out well.

was almost Mary Corleone in GF3. Dropped out last minute due to "exhaustion."

But the director didn't want him because he couldn't skate.

In comment 15030571 Matt M. said:

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An equally horrific choice. One of the most interesting ones to me is Tom Selleck, who was all but sealed as Indiana Jones until scheduling with Magnum couldn't be worked out. I could see him being decent in that role, but not the iconic figure Ford was. There likely would not have been the franchise that resulted, even if Raiders still turned out well.

The Selleck/Indiana Jones thing is a good one. He was already under contract to CBS for "Magnum PI" when he was offered the role of Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Spielberg asked CBS to let him out of the contract, though I don't know whether he wanted a permanent release or just a delay. CBS looked at the situation and basically said "Steven Spielberg wants this guy for the lead in his movie and we already have him? And Spielberg wants us to give up up? Oh HELL no." And they were right. Selleck was/is a really good TV actor but never as impactful on the big screen. It was probably best for everyone.

In comment 15030030 Sonic Youth said:

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Fantastic podacast

Movie podcast? I’ve been looking for a good one. I’ll check it out.

I think that would have worked as well,but Roy Scheider did a pretty good job.

In comment 15030705 Greg from LI said:

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But the director didn't want him because he couldn't skate.

I can't see him in that role at all.