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Notstarring.com...the greatest what-if site ever

Damnit, this site is fascinating

-Frank Sinatra turned down the lead roles for "Death Wish" and "Dirty Harry". Other actors who turned down "Dirty Harry" where Steve McQueen (it was originally going to be a sequel to "Bullitt", but McQueen said he didn't do sequels), Paul Newman, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum (who found the script abhorrent)

-Roger Moore and Michael Caine were considered for "The Day of the Jackal" (one of the best political thrillers of all time IMO)
 
There were a ton of actors considered for The Penguin in Batman Returns, but the weirdest to me is Dean Martin. I can't buy him in that role one second. He might've worked as a boozier Max Shreck.

Charles Grodin as The Penguin is another weird one. And then Phil Collins being considered might be the weirdest near pick of all of them. Quite an eclectic group overall

Dustin Hoffman was originally the first choice to play the Penguin, but he declined. Apart from Hoffman, Marlon Brando, John Candy, Bob Hoskins, Ralph Waite, Dean Martin, Dudley Moore, Alan Rickman, John Goodman, Phil Collins, Charles Grodin, Christopher Lee, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Rocco and Christopher Lloyd were all considered for the part before DeVito got it.[8]
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-Christopher Walken, Jon Voigt and Jack Nicolson were all considered to play the protagonist in "Exorcist II"

-Jason Statham almost had a role in "Dog Soldiers", but turned it down to do "Ghosts of Mars"

-Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone, Eve Plumb, Kim Bassinger, Jaimie Lee Curtis, Melanie Griffith and Laura Dern all auditioned or where considered to play Reagan in "The Exorcist". Carol Burnett and Jane Fonda were considered to play her mother.

-Cameron Diaz was going to play Sonya Blade in the first "Mortal Kombat" movie, but injured her wrist.

-Diaz was also considered to play Clarice in "Hannibal". Other actors who were considered include Gillian Anderson, Christina Applegate, Kate Beckinsale, Cate Blanchett, Helen Hunt, Lucy Liu, Jenifer Jason Leigh, Angelina Jolie, Alyssa Milano, Gwenyth Paltrow and Denise Richards. John Malkovich and Tim Roth considered to play Hannibal if Anthony Hopkins turned the role down, and Christopher Reeves was considered for the role of Verger.

-Sting was considered to play the Dutch Businessman in "Hostel".
 
Brocklock said:
Charles Grodin as The Penguin is another weird one. And then Phil Collins being considered might be the weirdest near pick of all of them. Quite an eclectic group overall
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Charles Grodin as the Penguin seems crazy enough that it might have worked. Facial structure wise, I think he'd be great cause he kind of has jawline that comic book/TAS penguin has.

Speaking of Phil Collins and The Penguin, in his autobiography, he talks about how in the late '80s/early '90s, he was in talks to star in a live action film adaptation of Goldie Locks & The Three Bears with him, Bob Hoskins, and Danny DeVito as the Three Bears and IIRC Kim Basinger as Goldie Locks. That movie sounds like it'd have been destined to become a minor cult classic. Ah well.
 
Kate Beckinsale was turned down by Quentin Tarantino for the Mia Wallace role because she was thought to be too young (Beckinsale was 20/21 at the time).

Christina Applegate actually had/was offered the role of Paula in Nell whilst Jodie Foster was slated to direct. After Foster was replaced by Michael Apted as director, Natasha Richardson got the role instead.

Always fascinating to see these hot TV Stars narrowly missing out on such movie roles.
 
Gary said:
A few interesting roles that never happened

-Mick Jagger wanted to play Dr Frank'Furter in "Rocky Horror"

-Not mentioned on the site, but Ken Russell wanted Jagger to play the Cardinel for "The Devils". Also, according to the site, Barbara Streisand turned down a role for the movie, and the idea of her in a movie with topless nuns writhing around in ecstasy is something else.

-John Denver was offered the lead role for "An Officer and a Gentleman", but he didn't like the script.

-Not casting, but George Lucas considered directing "Apocalypse Now"
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Francis Coppola has mentioned that Lucas was originally set to direct Apocalypse but chose .Star .Wars instead. Coppola was actually considered to direct Star Wars but backed out last minute. He chose Apocalypse instead obvs. The Han Solo character was based on FFC according to Lucas as Lucas worked as an assistant to FFC in the 60s and early 70s.
 
Gary said:
Damnit, this site is fascinating

-Frank Sinatra turned down the lead roles for "Death Wish" and "Dirty Harry". Other actors who turned down "Dirty Harry" where Steve McQueen (it was originally going to be a sequel to "Bullitt", but McQueen said he didn't do sequels), Paul Newman, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum (who found the script abhorrent)

-Roger Moore and Michael Caine were considered for "The Day of the Jackal" (one of the best political thrillers of all time IMO)
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IIRC Wayne was mad that he didn't take the Dirty Harry part so he tried his own with the instantly forgettable McQ.
 
BruiserBrody said:
IIRC Wayne was mad that he didn't take the Dirty Harry part so he tried his own with the instantly forgettable McQ.
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That is true. I'm actually surprisded he turned it down, considering his politics and whatnot. I could see him not being thrilled with it's sequels take on police overreach.
 
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Man... Joan Cusack killed it in the role in Addams Family Values but this could've been great: Rebecca Demornay was offered the role of Debbie, but turned it down due to the similarity to her role in "Hand that Rocks the Cradle" (even though it was essentially a parody of that film's character).

Field of Dreams could've been interestingly different, don't know if the "heart" Costner had would've hit the same tbh: Tom Hanks was offered the role of Ray Kinsella but turned it down.

Josie and the Pussycats could've been different:
Aaliyah was the first choice to play Valerie but she was already committed to play the lead in Queen of the Damned. Actor who got the part: Rosario Dawson
 
-Brad Pitt and Edward Norton (who turned it down) were originally supposed to play Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho", while James Woods was going to play Willem Dafoe's character. Not mentioned, but Oliver Stone and Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator" and "From Beyond" among others) were originally meant to direct. Mary Harron was the right choice, though I do think Gordon could've done something interesting with it. Oliver Stone...I can't see it working TBH.

-Remember that movie "Heartbreakers" with Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt? Original choices for the leads included Cher, Jennifer Aniston, Anjelica Huston and Alicia Silverstone.

-The one for Jurassic Park is pretty big. Among the people not cast were Sean Connery, Richard Dreyfuss, Christina Applegate, Juliette Binoche and Christina Ricci.

-John Travolta, Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman were considered for the role Richard Gere would play in "Days of Heaven"

-Hugh Jackman almost played the lead in 2004's "The Punisher" but ended up doing "Van Helsing" instead. Vin Diesel was also offered the role but turned it down

-Tom Arnold, Tom Hanks and Bill Murray were considered for the lead in "The People vs Larry Flynt"
 
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Gary said:
-Remember that movie "Heartbreakers" with Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt? Original choices for the leads included Cher, Jennifer Aniston, Anjelica Huston and Alicia Silverstone.
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I could see all of those working out in a similar manner, really, but I'm glad we got Sigourney in a body stocking out of it. For reasons.
 
just learned recently that Christina Applegate was the original choice to play Wayne's love interest in the Wayne's World film(s). She turned it down. That does sound like a Lorne move to attach the show to a young rising star (in 1992)
 

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Jeff Bridges turned down the role of Andy Dufresne.​
Actor who got the part: Tim Robbins​

Costner was offered the part of the main character Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank Redemption.​
Actor who got the part: Tim Robbins​

Tom Hanks turned down the role of Andy Dufresne due to scheduling conflicts with "Forrest Gump."​
Actor who got the part: Tim Robbins​

Brad Pitt was intended for the role of Tommy Williams.​
Actor who got the part: Gil Bellows​

Rob Reiner reportedly offered to buy the rights to the script so he could direct.​
Actor who got the part: Frank Darabont.​


Any of these would have been crazy, damn. Not to say they would have made the movie better, I can’t see anyone other than Tim playing the main role for example. But still, it would have been a very different movie with any of these choices, minus Pitt as Tommy. At first I thought Pitt was a huge name that might have been distracting in such a secondary role, but looking back I don’t think he was in the stratosphere yet.
 
That would've just made it a cult classic bad movie vs a seriously flawed yet beloved movie that's just okay.
 
Joey Lawrence was originally cast as Tom Hanks best friend in Big. Penny Marshall and the execs loved him but Tom Hanks didn't think he was right and would take focus off the Josh character. He was replaced.
 
Mickey Massuco said:

​


Jeff Bridges turned down the role of Andy Dufresne.​
Actor who got the part: Tim Robbins​

Costner was offered the part of the main character Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank Redemption.​
Actor who got the part: Tim Robbins​

Tom Hanks turned down the role of Andy Dufresne due to scheduling conflicts with "Forrest Gump."​
Actor who got the part: Tim Robbins​

Brad Pitt was intended for the role of Tommy Williams.​
Actor who got the part: Gil Bellows​

Rob Reiner reportedly offered to buy the rights to the script so he could direct.​
Actor who got the part: Frank Darabont.​


Any of these would have been crazy, damn. Not to say they would have made the movie better, I can’t see anyone other than Tim playing the main role for example. But still, it would have been a very different movie with any of these choices, minus Pitt as Tommy. At first I thought Pitt was a huge name that might have been distracting in such a secondary role, but looking back I don’t think he was in the stratosphere yet.
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I'm reading through this thread, and rewatched Shawshank recently, so these are fascinating. I'm not a Costner fan, but he would've been good as Andy. He has a similar stillness to him that Tim Robbins brought to the role. Bridges also would've been excellent, but doesn't have the kind of haunted and offputting vibe that Robbins brought to Andy. Hanks would've been great too, but I feel like he plays too similar of that type of part.

Reiner was still on a hot streak, and would've done awesome with Shawshank. 1994 ended up being the year that destroyed his directing career, as he directed North the same year Shawshank came out. American President is solid, but that's the only one of his movies post 1994 I like. I haven't seen Spinal Tap 2 yet, so I hope it breaks the streak.

Pitt in 1994 still would've been too big for Tommy. He was kind of too good for the part. He was coming off A River Runs Through It which was a hit and Pitt got good reviews for his acting. He also did Kalifornia in 93 which got bad reviews, but Pitt was constantly praised for his against type performance. Also, I think Gil Bellows may have only been in it for 5 minutes. Now, if big Brad got cast, they might of had to rewrite and extend the role.
 
National Lampoon's Jaws: 3, People: 0In 1979, Matty Simmons hired John Hughes and Tod Carroll to write the script of the third Jaws film as a National Lampoon parody from Universal Pictures. According to Simmons, the film was to star Bo Derek and Richard Dreyfuss, and be directed by Joe Dante. Rodger Bumpass was also to appear in the film. However, Steven Spielberg, who directed the first film, managed to convince Universal not to make the film by threatening to never work with the studio again.

John Hughes's unrealized projects - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
god damn I never knew that Dumb and Dumber was a re worked John Hughes script from the 80s that was to star Steve Martin and Martin Short as two idiot guys who go to a ski lodge.
 
In penultimate feature length movies-Courtney Love was originally supposed to be the lead in "Ghosts of Mars" but got replaced by Natasha Henstridge when Love's ex-boyfriend ran over her foot. Also, Jason Statham was originally supposed to be the male lead, but Ice Cube got the part because he was more famous at the time.
 
I don't know if it was ever actually confirmed but supposedly Dwight Yoakam's character in Panic Room was originally offered to Maynard James Keenan but he was touring with Tool at the time and couldn't do it.
 
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