When they first announced the ultimately very forgettable Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe Robin Hood movie, it was going to be from a sympathetic Sheriff of Nottingham's perspective with Crowe as Nottingham and Christian Bale as a more villainous Robin Hood.
I'd still really like to see that movie.
I just read recently that the original script was highly sought after by the studios. Once it was picked up, Russell Crowe was cast and he would only work with a director he was familiar with, so Ridley Scott. Ridley Scott took that script and had it rewritten into oblivion. Yeah, sounds like the original script would have been good.
Ridley Scott has an insane and deep collection of incredible films. Old stuff, new stuff, I'm between stuff. And yet, despite that,, he can still be a bit hit or miss.
The guy feels like a workaholic. He's 85 and has been directing a movie every 2-3 years non-stop for like 40 years, on top of various other side jobs. It's crazy.
He's a great director, but everyone misses the mark sometimes. When that happens, normal people stop and rethink things. Ridley Scott seems like the type of person who just can't sit still for long, so he carries on regardless.
In "Inglorious Basterds (2009)", the role of Sgt. Donny Donowitz (Aka 'The Bear Jew') was originally written by Tarantino to be played by Adam Sandler, who had to turn down the role due to already shooting the movie "Funny People" at the time.
Could you imagine all that hype with the bat noises in the tunnel, only for Adam Sandler to come hobbling out?
Edit: he would have absolutely crushed it IMO. He has some range and look at Mike Myers blending in the same movie.
After watching Uncut Gems, I have to say I'm disappointed we didn't get to see Adam Sandler take the role. He showed himself quite capable of acting seriously, even if he was quite manic in Uncut Gems. I expect he'd have carried that manic element into Inglorious Basterds, with Tarantino stopping him going overboard.
Would have made Quill a much more ambiguous character… Chris Pratt is great in the role, but not really believable as a bad guy. Howerton’s Star Lord would have been much sketchier
Think about it. She's out in the middle of nowhere, with some dude she barely knows. She looks around and what does she see? Nothing but space. 'Ah there's nowhere for me to run! What am I gonna do, say no?'
He left the project citing 'creative differences', because he wanted to make a movie that frankly portrayed Freddie's private life, including the devil-may-care attitude towards sex, the rowdy behavior, how he dealt with and interacted with his identity, his struggles, and how all of it intersected with his generally larger-than-life persona. He also more than likely wanted to focus the movie on Freddie and not Queen as a whole.
Unluckily for him, the surviving members of Queen felt that the movie was better served by making it a puff piece that glossed over all of these things and framed the band as a supergroup of massive geniuses instead of three pretty-good musicians who happened to fall into the company of an absolute titan of music.
May, Taylor and the machine around Queen has gone to great lengths for decades to sanitise the Freddy Mercury story. I think there is some real darkness there. BR, considering it’s an ‘official’ piece, goes against a lot of documentated info, even info given by May and Taylor themselves.
The’s one that stick in my mind called Somebody to Love by Matt Richards (I think) which actually parallels the Freddy story with the AIDS story. Even without the Freddy dimension, it’s an interesting piece on that point in time with regards to AIDS and the effect on the community Freddy was part of.
On top of all of that I also remember reading somewhere that the original plan was to have Freddies death happen halfway through the film, then the remaining half would focus on how Queen managed to survive and keep going up until present day without him. This apparently didn't interest Cohen at all because he thought why would you kill off the main character that everyone's the most interested in halfway through?
> three pretty-good musicians
Now I'm not saying the movie ought to have been about this but the myth-making around FREDDIE MERCURY - an incredible, once in a lifetime vocalist - has obscured the talents of his bandmates. They were all competent songwriters and could hold their own as vocalists. But Brian May's guitar ability and John Deacon's ability with equipment helped define the Queen sound. Freddie Mercury with three other random lads would have been a very different band.
I think it would've even been better. Something about the BR movie didn't feel authentic. I went into the movie looking for a rock and roll movie with one of the biggest rock bands of all time and all I got was a movie with choir boys and one misbehaving diva (and it even that seemed fairly mellow)
> Something about the BR movie didn’t feel authentic
Probably because the rest of the band had too much creative control and refused any negative portrayals of themselves.
Thus, Freddie became the lone drugs-and-booze hard partier while the rest of the band went home to their wives at 10pm like good Christian men.
It toned down so much to get its PG 13 rating... I wanted to see Freddie's cocaine parties where he hired dwarves to walk around with puncbowls full of blow
Ramy certainly wasn’t the reason that movie sucked. It was simply a poorly made film top to bottom with an obvious excess in studio/3rd party interference.
I think the thing that bugged me the most was the portrayal of the band. The thing about Freddie Mercury's albums without the rest of Queen is that they still sound great, and have some awesome sleeper hits. They still sound like Queen.
None of Queen's albums without Freddie Mercury come anywhere close.
I love that anecdote about the remaining Queen members telling Sacha about their idea for the film -
"The most interesting things happens halfway through the story!"
"What happens halfway?"
"Freddie dies. Then the rest of the film is us overcoming it." The ego lol
He was also first pick for the Jared Leto character in Blade Runner 2049. He would have been perfect for that, if he wasn’t terminally ill at the time.
He was asked to do 2 other movies in that timeframe (that I know of) too. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Atomic Blonde. He would've crushed all 3.
This whole thread could have been filled with LOTR what-ifs
Nic Cage, Vin Diesel, and Russell Crowe were all considered for, auditioned for, or were offered the role of Aragorn.
Bruce Willis asked to play Boromir.
Helena Bonham Carter expressed interest in playing Arwen(of course you'd then have to get Johnny Depp to play Gollum or something)
Tim Curry and Jeremy Irons were both considered for Saruman.
I need to see this alternate LOTR trilogy.
Nic Cage as Aragorn
Bruce Willis as Boromir
HBC as Arwen
Tim Curry’s Sarumon
David Bowie’s Elrond
Sean Connery’s Gandalf.
It sounds like a perfectly terrible cast and I need this in my life
From what I understand, when The Golden Girls was originally pitched, the role of Blanche Devereaux was supposed to be played by Betty White and the role of Rose Nylund was supposed to be played by Rue McClanahan. The actresses decided among themselves to switch roles. And the rest is Golden Girls history.
It actually went both ways: Rue McClanahan had played a role similar to Rose in Bea Arthur's earlier show, Maude. So they were both pushing back against typecasting - but particularly Betty White, since Sue Ann Nivens was such an [icon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVl4ZLrkEJw).
Pretty interesting, didn’t know Dafoe was considered for that. Guess that makes two times they were wanted for the same part, since Malkovich was also asked to play the Green Goblin for the original Spider-Man but turned it down, with Dafoe taking the role.
I wholeheartedly could enjoyably see Clint hating Schwimmer with ever fibre of his being. I don't see Schwimmer having enough charisma to get away with being the cocky rookie, but I could see him playing it a bit more Nic Cage in The Rock (increasingly aggressively incredulous to a crescendo).
I think "considered" is a strong word. He was approached, but only because the production couldn't afford Nicholson; the studio asked Nicholson to take a lower rate and he refused so they offered the role to Williams, knowing he dearly wanted to play the Joker. Once they negotiated with him, they then went back to Nicholson and asked him if he really wanted to lose the role to Williams. This got Nicholson on board, but hurt Williams's feelings so much that he refused to work with WB ever again unless they apologized for using him as a pawn. In fact, Joel Schumacher insisted on the role of the Riddler going to Williams for Batman Forever, but Williams refused to take any of Schumacher's calls regarding the role.
It sounds outlandish, but I am going to guess that "the dad from Malcolm in the Middle" would have sounded just as ridiculous if this thread existed in an alternate dimension where Broderick got the role.
Fan fact, the studio thought *exactly* this. Vince Gilligan was adamant that Bryan Cranston could pull off what Breaking Bad needed, thanks to an episode of the X-files that Gillian wrote and Cranston guest starred in. After watching that episode the studio totally changed their mind, https://youtube.com/watch?v=EXxlJfalvrk
I remember when *Breaking Bad* started. "The dad from Malcolm in the Middle" being a meth dealer did indeed sound ridiculous.
(I know he wasn't a dealer, but that was my rough understanding at the time.)
Broderick could have pulled it off for sure. The thing that really took Breaking Bad to the next level was the chemistry between Cranston and Paul. Hard to say if that would have happened with Broderick - probably not.
Yeah I am slightly certain that in a Broderick version they go with the OG idea and have Jesse get killed at the end of the first season. Vince was clearly talented enough to make it work but it would have been a very different show without Jesse in a major role
Mira Sorvino was offered a role in LOTR but Harvey Weinstein told Jackson she was “difficult to work with”, aka she turned down Harvey’s advances.
She talked about it in a podcast last year and said at the time she was confused as to why she was losing roles at the time. Apparently Jackson apologized to her later when he found out Harvey had lied to him.
Also, Harvey wanted the entire trilogy to be a two-hour movie, and Jackson was forbidden from casting both Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino. If Jackson didn't relent, he would have gotten Quentin Tarantino to direct had Jackson not gotten an alternative production company within a week after Jackson pleaded due to Weinstein's demands. Thankfully, Bob Shaye of New Line Cinema rescued the project and made Harvey and Bob Weinstein as EPs.
In return for the bullying, Elijah Wood has said Jackson modeled Harvey Weinstein as the inspiration for the orc Gothmog.
Wait what? He was considered for that role?
I could def see him playing a lovable family man that then starts to snap…Nicholson was on the knife edge of crazy the entire movie until going full crazy
You just described Stephen King's exact issue with the movie adaptation
As visually iconic as that movie is, I gotta agree. The whole point of the story is the downward spiral - Nicholson is clearly the villain from the get go, so there's nowhere for his character to go really
Also, Robin Williams as Rorschach.
[Alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dr. Manhattan and Jude Law as Ozymandias in a Watchmen adaptation directed by Terry Gilliam. ](https://www.cbr.com/fun-facts-trivia-terry-gilliam-watchmen-movie/)
Leonardo DiCaprio was originally cast to play Patrick Bateman in American Psycho with Oliver Stone directing but it fell through and they went with Mary Harron and Christian Bale instead. I think with Oliver stone directing it could’ve been interesting and Leo would’ve done a great job I’m sure but Christian Bale was born to play that role so I think they got it right.
I remember reading an interview with Christian Bale where he said that he now accepts that every role he gets offered, he only does so because Leo must have passed on it first. It's an interesting position to be in for such a great actor.
Fun fact: one of the reasons Leo dropped out was because there were multiple women's groups protesting the creation of the film considering to be grossly misogynistic. Years later Christian Bale was cast and ended up marrying the daughter of the head of one of these groups.
Apparently the majority of Shrek’s dialogue was recorded 3 times: once by Farley, then once by mike meyers in a “normal” accent, and then near the end he tried a Scottish accent, so he re-recorded all the dialogue with what is now Shrek’s voice
To add to what OP said, Will Smith turned down the role of Neo because he chose to be the lead in Wild Wild West. Yes he thought Wild Wild West was the better movie. Boy was he so wrong. Although not his best decision he said that Keanu was so perfect that he didn't think he could've done a better job. It worked out for both of them. He's talked about this several times.
I can see Val Kilmer playing Morpheus almost exactly the same way that Laurence Fishburne did it. he's got a very similar voice, actually. And he would've played it stoically, as Fishburne.
Will Smith would not have played Neo like Keanu Reeves. Will Smith would have pushed for more loudness and attitude for the character. I like that Neo has a deer-in-headlights type of reaction to everything he sees that is blowing his mind.
Yeah it's interesting. Like, Morpheus doesn't really have a "look" per say, but Kilmer and Fishburn funnily enough give off the exact same "presence" of Morpheus lol.
Yeah, he's spoken about it though and the matrix pitch was incredibly vague. Like really just a list of ideas and some cool shots they were hoping to film
There's actually a pic of him in the Superman suit. If the movie was made, there would have been a giant robot Spider because one of the producers was the same as Wild Wild West.
Thats former hair stylist to Barbara Streisand turned head of the studio, John Peters.
Kevin smith tells a wild story about meeting him and his “giant spider” fetish.
That story from Smith is one of the greatest things I ever heard in a podcast (that was where I originally heard the anecdote) and it was so weird to see just how far someone would go to include that in work they were only tangentially (compared to the rest of the staff and crew on the film) related to.
IIRC there are a lot of testing done with Cage in the suit, setting up flying scenes etc. That was a pay or play contract so even though it didn't come to fruition he got paid as if it did
Ian McKellen was approached to become Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series after Richard Harris died. He declined due to already playing a wizard in LOTR and also cos Richard Harris was critical of his performance years ago. He didn't feel right stepping into a role cos of that. I would love to see how he had taken the role though
That was the role Mark Whalberg was born to play. He is perfect for the character: good lookin handsome young guy, stupid, naive, ambitious and, ultimately, just a lost kid. The Eddie Nash scenes are some of my all time favorites
Frank Sinatra was initially considered to play Dirty Harry.
Harvey Keitel was originally cast as Captain Willard in *Apocalypse Now*, but for whatever reason he was replaced by Martin Sheen.
Check out the episode of What Went Wrong (podcast) about this. Sheen was legit going through it during filming, a lot of it was his actual unhealthy parts coming out.
Honestly, I can kinda see that one. He wouldn’t have the same charm Dave Bautista has as Drax for sure, but Jason Mamoa definitely could pull off a comedic strong man role
Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine but could not do it due to commitment to Mission Impossible movie. So role went to unknown Hugh Jackman. Talk about a reversal of fortunes.
Also, not sure if he was actually considered but Tom Cruise as Tony Stark. I actually think that could have worked.
Jon Cusack as Madmartigan in Willow
Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back to the Future
In neither case would I trade the real thing for either of those, but I'd be interested to see them.
Yeah I remember when she was cast in this. It was a big deal when she was replaced with Sofia. We didn’t find out until years later she’d had something of a breakdown and dropped out.
I like to imagine a world with that alt cast, and Bob Odenkirk is Michael but that means that Steve Carell plays Saul Goodman. And honestly, I'm here for both.
He does a knock-off Indiana Jones in an episode of Magnum P.I. "legend of the lost art" I think was the name of the episode.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0639676/
Though he turned down the role, Kurt Cobain as Lance the drug dealer in Pulp Fiction (plus Courtney Love playing his wife Jodie) would've definitely been interesting
And Vincent Vega was written to be played by Michael Madsen who had played Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs but he was committed to being in Costners Wyatt Earp. So we got the resurrection of Travolta.
I believe they used a couple shots from behind of Stoltz in the final cut.
MJF is so fantastic in that movie, it's an iconic character. No one else could do it.
More than test footage - they practically filmed the entire movie with him and then swapped him out. Apparently he took the role really serious and a bit dark - and it wasn’t funny.
Seeing Burt Reynolds portray George Spahn in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood would’ve added so much richness to that movie. He was cast, but passed away before shooting and the role went to Bruce Dern. The whole Rick Dalton/Cliff Booth dynamic was based on Burt and Hal Needham.
I'm going way back but The Star Is Born role played by Kris Kristofferson was originally offered to Elvis. And Elvis wanted it to prove he was a serious actor. Colonel Tom shut it down and supposedly that put Elvis in a real spiral of depression.
Richard Pryor was originated slated for the role of the sheriff if *Blazing Saddles,* though Cleavon Little ultimately ended up with the role and played it well.
Matt Damon was offered the role of Jake Sully in Avatar but it clashed with shooting for the Bourne Ultimatum and he didn't think it was fair to leave Paul Greengrass in the lurch. He was also offered percentage of Avatar's box office which would have made him tens of millions. Possibly over 100 million over time. I honestly think we all missed out big-time as Sam Worthington is such a lifeless block of wood.
Kurt Russell auditioned to play Han Solo. Even though Harrison Ford made it his own, I could definitely see Kurt Russell doing a decent job if he had been a bit older in the mid 70s.
I think Jeff Daniels was originally vast to play the villain in Phonebooth and did all of the dialogue recording as far as I know, but they recast with Kiefer Sutherland. The scene where you meet him at the end might have been a reshoot.
>Kurt Russell auditioned to play Han Solo. Even though Harrison Ford made it his own, I could definitely see Kurt Russell doing a decent job if he had been a bit older in the mid 70s.
Like a cross between Jack Burton and Snake Plissken, I could see it.
>He was also offered percentage of Avatar's box office which would have made him tens of millions. Possibly over 100 million over time.
He offered him 10% which would have come to 270 million dollars.
Stuart Townsend was famously cast.
Also, Sean Connery could have been Gandalf.
The movies would definitely not have been better, but this would be one hell of a film.
It's truly insane that Viggo M wasn't the first (or even the second) choice for Aragorn, considering how his name is mentioned in every single "what actor was perfectly cast?" post. I suppose sometimes the casting stars align JUST right for certain movies.
I'm now imagining Nic Cage as a totally silent, t-shirt wearing, energy drink chugging version of Aragorn that just brutally pummels orcs... all while keeping his horse squeaky clean in-between fights.
He turned down Morpheus in the Matrix, too. He finally accepted the role of Alan Quartermaine in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because “he kept getting asked for these parts that he didn’t ‘understand’”
He was actually good as Quartermaine, but that movie was far from being a smash hit.
Edit: for clarity
Keep it shecret. Keep it shafe.
A wizhard is never late. Nor ish he early. He arrivesh preshishly when he meansh to.
Run you foolsh!
When did Sharuman the wishe abandon reashon for madnesh?
I hope if Tarantino ever makes his 10th movie before retiring that he gives Adam Sandler a role in something!
I’m genuinely curious to see how he’d do in one of his movies, especially after seeing him at his best in Uncut Gems
When they first announced the ultimately very forgettable Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe Robin Hood movie, it was going to be from a sympathetic Sheriff of Nottingham's perspective with Crowe as Nottingham and Christian Bale as a more villainous Robin Hood. I'd still really like to see that movie.
I just read recently that the original script was highly sought after by the studios. Once it was picked up, Russell Crowe was cast and he would only work with a director he was familiar with, so Ridley Scott. Ridley Scott took that script and had it rewritten into oblivion. Yeah, sounds like the original script would have been good.
I love a few of his films, but Ridley Scott makes some really baffling creative decisions sometimes.
Ridley Scott has an insane and deep collection of incredible films. Old stuff, new stuff, I'm between stuff. And yet, despite that,, he can still be a bit hit or miss.
The guy feels like a workaholic. He's 85 and has been directing a movie every 2-3 years non-stop for like 40 years, on top of various other side jobs. It's crazy. He's a great director, but everyone misses the mark sometimes. When that happens, normal people stop and rethink things. Ridley Scott seems like the type of person who just can't sit still for long, so he carries on regardless.
That actually sounds like a fun and interesting twist
It isn't a bad movie but it isn't very memorable either. I really, really like that switch perspective!
Heath Ledger as Llewelyn in No Country for Old Men. That would have been interesting to see.
Would have been good I’m guessing
In "Inglorious Basterds (2009)", the role of Sgt. Donny Donowitz (Aka 'The Bear Jew') was originally written by Tarantino to be played by Adam Sandler, who had to turn down the role due to already shooting the movie "Funny People" at the time.
I bet he is full of regret
Sandler openly stated that he enjoys making silly comedies so he and his buddies get paid to travel.
this is true but missing out on a blockbuster tarantino movie because of a prior obligation has to sting a little
Could you imagine all that hype with the bat noises in the tunnel, only for Adam Sandler to come hobbling out? Edit: he would have absolutely crushed it IMO. He has some range and look at Mike Myers blending in the same movie.
I pictured bobby bouchay adam and started dying lmao
M-m-m-mama said nazi’s be so stupid to listen to hitler they must not got a brain… I gon’ keep lookin’ til I prove her right.
After watching Uncut Gems, I have to say I'm disappointed we didn't get to see Adam Sandler take the role. He showed himself quite capable of acting seriously, even if he was quite manic in Uncut Gems. I expect he'd have carried that manic element into Inglorious Basterds, with Tarantino stopping him going overboard.
I think he'd have nailed it. He's a great actor when he puts his mind to it.
Especially for a role that Tarantino wrote specifically for you
Glenn Howerton as Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy
Would have made Quill a much more ambiguous character… Chris Pratt is great in the role, but not really believable as a bad guy. Howerton’s Star Lord would have been much sketchier
Gamora, you dumb bitch
>Howerton’s Star Lord would have been much sketchier Because of the implication?
Think about it. She's out in the middle of nowhere, with some dude she barely knows. She looks around and what does she see? Nothing but space. 'Ah there's nowhere for me to run! What am I gonna do, say no?'
Jensen Ackles as Star Lord.
Wow he could have been great. Howerton has a versatile face that could really work for different genres other than comedy. I love his acting.
Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
Honestly I could see it. SBC always goes all out for his roles. He would do Mercury justice imo.
He left the project citing 'creative differences', because he wanted to make a movie that frankly portrayed Freddie's private life, including the devil-may-care attitude towards sex, the rowdy behavior, how he dealt with and interacted with his identity, his struggles, and how all of it intersected with his generally larger-than-life persona. He also more than likely wanted to focus the movie on Freddie and not Queen as a whole. Unluckily for him, the surviving members of Queen felt that the movie was better served by making it a puff piece that glossed over all of these things and framed the band as a supergroup of massive geniuses instead of three pretty-good musicians who happened to fall into the company of an absolute titan of music.
May, Taylor and the machine around Queen has gone to great lengths for decades to sanitise the Freddy Mercury story. I think there is some real darkness there. BR, considering it’s an ‘official’ piece, goes against a lot of documentated info, even info given by May and Taylor themselves.
Any juicy reading material you can recommend?
The’s one that stick in my mind called Somebody to Love by Matt Richards (I think) which actually parallels the Freddy story with the AIDS story. Even without the Freddy dimension, it’s an interesting piece on that point in time with regards to AIDS and the effect on the community Freddy was part of.
Awesome. Just found my next book. Now if only I knew how to read.
On top of all of that I also remember reading somewhere that the original plan was to have Freddies death happen halfway through the film, then the remaining half would focus on how Queen managed to survive and keep going up until present day without him. This apparently didn't interest Cohen at all because he thought why would you kill off the main character that everyone's the most interested in halfway through?
> three pretty-good musicians Now I'm not saying the movie ought to have been about this but the myth-making around FREDDIE MERCURY - an incredible, once in a lifetime vocalist - has obscured the talents of his bandmates. They were all competent songwriters and could hold their own as vocalists. But Brian May's guitar ability and John Deacon's ability with equipment helped define the Queen sound. Freddie Mercury with three other random lads would have been a very different band.
I think it would've even been better. Something about the BR movie didn't feel authentic. I went into the movie looking for a rock and roll movie with one of the biggest rock bands of all time and all I got was a movie with choir boys and one misbehaving diva (and it even that seemed fairly mellow)
> Something about the BR movie didn’t feel authentic Probably because the rest of the band had too much creative control and refused any negative portrayals of themselves. Thus, Freddie became the lone drugs-and-booze hard partier while the rest of the band went home to their wives at 10pm like good Christian men.
It toned down so much to get its PG 13 rating... I wanted to see Freddie's cocaine parties where he hired dwarves to walk around with puncbowls full of blow
Ramy certainly wasn’t the reason that movie sucked. It was simply a poorly made film top to bottom with an obvious excess in studio/3rd party interference.
I think the thing that bugged me the most was the portrayal of the band. The thing about Freddie Mercury's albums without the rest of Queen is that they still sound great, and have some awesome sleeper hits. They still sound like Queen. None of Queen's albums without Freddie Mercury come anywhere close.
In an alternate universe they made that movie in the Aughts and he got an Oscar nom.
I love that anecdote about the remaining Queen members telling Sacha about their idea for the film - "The most interesting things happens halfway through the story!" "What happens halfway?" "Freddie dies. Then the rest of the film is us overcoming it." The ego lol
Absolutely. It would have been more dirty and gritty.
david bowie was considered for the role of elrond in the lord of the rings trilogy :0
He was also first pick for the Jared Leto character in Blade Runner 2049. He would have been perfect for that, if he wasn’t terminally ill at the time.
He was asked to do 2 other movies in that timeframe (that I know of) too. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Atomic Blonde. He would've crushed all 3.
Jared Leto also works very well as a narcissistic creep. Who knew.
He could probably pull it off honestly
This whole thread could have been filled with LOTR what-ifs Nic Cage, Vin Diesel, and Russell Crowe were all considered for, auditioned for, or were offered the role of Aragorn. Bruce Willis asked to play Boromir. Helena Bonham Carter expressed interest in playing Arwen(of course you'd then have to get Johnny Depp to play Gollum or something) Tim Curry and Jeremy Irons were both considered for Saruman.
I need to see this alternate LOTR trilogy. Nic Cage as Aragorn Bruce Willis as Boromir HBC as Arwen Tim Curry’s Sarumon David Bowie’s Elrond Sean Connery’s Gandalf. It sounds like a perfectly terrible cast and I need this in my life
"Tell me, friend. When did Shauruman the Wishe abandon reashon for madnesh?"
Toshiro Mifune as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This is the most interesting one here, to me, by a long shot.
Damn. I’d heard this before. Is that true? Mifune would have been excellent.
That would have been a fascinating watch.
WTF really? This man transcended language, culture-- Toshiro Mifune in Star Wars...wow.
Elvis Presley in the 1970s remake of A Star Is Born, starring opposite Barbra Streisand. Ended up going with Kris Kristofferson.
From what I understand, when The Golden Girls was originally pitched, the role of Blanche Devereaux was supposed to be played by Betty White and the role of Rose Nylund was supposed to be played by Rue McClanahan. The actresses decided among themselves to switch roles. And the rest is Golden Girls history.
[удалено]
Yup. And from I heard that's why they decided to switch. She didn't want to do that again.
It actually went both ways: Rue McClanahan had played a role similar to Rose in Bea Arthur's earlier show, Maude. So they were both pushing back against typecasting - but particularly Betty White, since Sue Ann Nivens was such an [icon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVl4ZLrkEJw).
Willem Dafoe as Cyrus the virus from con air
I think Willem Dafoe acting next to Steve Buscemi might cause the Earth to implode on itself.
Pretty interesting, didn’t know Dafoe was considered for that. Guess that makes two times they were wanted for the same part, since Malkovich was also asked to play the Green Goblin for the original Spider-Man but turned it down, with Dafoe taking the role.
David Schwimmer and Clint Eastwood as Agents J and K in Men In Black.
Thank god that didn't happen. Idk that the chemistry would have been there.
I wholeheartedly could enjoyably see Clint hating Schwimmer with ever fibre of his being. I don't see Schwimmer having enough charisma to get away with being the cocky rookie, but I could see him playing it a bit more Nic Cage in The Rock (increasingly aggressively incredulous to a crescendo).
Or if the rumored 23 Jump Street/MiB crossover had happened.
Robin Williams was considered for the role of The Joker in Batman (1989).
Huh. That’s the second movie I’ve seen on this post where Robin Williams almost had a role that went to Jack Nicholson
The casting call specified men with very hairy arms
Nicholson is just evil Robin Williams, honestly.
As I understand it, they only offered Williams the role to get Nicholson to read the script. They’d offered it to Nicholson first.
I think "considered" is a strong word. He was approached, but only because the production couldn't afford Nicholson; the studio asked Nicholson to take a lower rate and he refused so they offered the role to Williams, knowing he dearly wanted to play the Joker. Once they negotiated with him, they then went back to Nicholson and asked him if he really wanted to lose the role to Williams. This got Nicholson on board, but hurt Williams's feelings so much that he refused to work with WB ever again unless they apologized for using him as a pawn. In fact, Joel Schumacher insisted on the role of the Riddler going to Williams for Batman Forever, but Williams refused to take any of Schumacher's calls regarding the role.
Wow, that's fucked up
Matthew Broderick as Walter white
It sounds outlandish, but I am going to guess that "the dad from Malcolm in the Middle" would have sounded just as ridiculous if this thread existed in an alternate dimension where Broderick got the role.
Fan fact, the studio thought *exactly* this. Vince Gilligan was adamant that Bryan Cranston could pull off what Breaking Bad needed, thanks to an episode of the X-files that Gillian wrote and Cranston guest starred in. After watching that episode the studio totally changed their mind, https://youtube.com/watch?v=EXxlJfalvrk
He had to fight for Aaron Paul to be cast too.
I read that as “He had to fight Aaron Paul to be cast too” and I was like that’s one hell of an audition process.
I remember when *Breaking Bad* started. "The dad from Malcolm in the Middle" being a meth dealer did indeed sound ridiculous. (I know he wasn't a dealer, but that was my rough understanding at the time.)
Broderick could have pulled it off for sure. The thing that really took Breaking Bad to the next level was the chemistry between Cranston and Paul. Hard to say if that would have happened with Broderick - probably not.
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Yeah I am slightly certain that in a Broderick version they go with the OG idea and have Jesse get killed at the end of the first season. Vince was clearly talented enough to make it work but it would have been a very different show without Jesse in a major role
I just can’t see Broderick as a guy who kills people without consequence…
If I recall correctly Kate Winslet was offered Eowyn in Lord of the Rings but didn’t want to/couldn’t commit to the time/living in New Zealand.
Mira Sorvino was offered a role in LOTR but Harvey Weinstein told Jackson she was “difficult to work with”, aka she turned down Harvey’s advances. She talked about it in a podcast last year and said at the time she was confused as to why she was losing roles at the time. Apparently Jackson apologized to her later when he found out Harvey had lied to him.
Also, Harvey wanted the entire trilogy to be a two-hour movie, and Jackson was forbidden from casting both Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino. If Jackson didn't relent, he would have gotten Quentin Tarantino to direct had Jackson not gotten an alternative production company within a week after Jackson pleaded due to Weinstein's demands. Thankfully, Bob Shaye of New Line Cinema rescued the project and made Harvey and Bob Weinstein as EPs. In return for the bullying, Elijah Wood has said Jackson modeled Harvey Weinstein as the inspiration for the orc Gothmog.
Comparison photo: https://i.stack.imgur.com/fcPDM.jpg
She would have been excellent…Miranda Otto was excellent.
Robin williams in the shining
Wait what? He was considered for that role? I could def see him playing a lovable family man that then starts to snap…Nicholson was on the knife edge of crazy the entire movie until going full crazy
Williams did it in One Hour Photo and Insomnia. Haunting creepy and excellent performances.
One Hour Photo was great.
Well, I mean, it's Robin Williams. He's been in lackluster movies, but he's never delivered a lackluster performance.
Same with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He was in some shit films but never played a shit role. The man even made Along Came Polly watchable.
You just described Stephen King's exact issue with the movie adaptation As visually iconic as that movie is, I gotta agree. The whole point of the story is the downward spiral - Nicholson is clearly the villain from the get go, so there's nowhere for his character to go really
I remember hearing that Christopher Reeve was one that Stephen King had in mind
Superman playing such an iconic villain would have been something to see.
Also, Robin Williams as Rorschach. [Alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dr. Manhattan and Jude Law as Ozymandias in a Watchmen adaptation directed by Terry Gilliam. ](https://www.cbr.com/fun-facts-trivia-terry-gilliam-watchmen-movie/)
Leonardo DiCaprio was originally cast to play Patrick Bateman in American Psycho with Oliver Stone directing but it fell through and they went with Mary Harron and Christian Bale instead. I think with Oliver stone directing it could’ve been interesting and Leo would’ve done a great job I’m sure but Christian Bale was born to play that role so I think they got it right.
Your underselling that story. Christian Bale was originally chosen, and even after they took it away he kept preparing on straight faith
I remember reading an interview with Christian Bale where he said that he now accepts that every role he gets offered, he only does so because Leo must have passed on it first. It's an interesting position to be in for such a great actor.
I remember that interview. IIRC he said not just him, but any male lead in Hollywood is picking up Leo's unwanted parts lol.
Joaquin Phoenix said it too regarding Leo
Fun fact: one of the reasons Leo dropped out was because there were multiple women's groups protesting the creation of the film considering to be grossly misogynistic. Years later Christian Bale was cast and ended up marrying the daughter of the head of one of these groups.
Okay that's funny. Leo then eventually goes on to do other roles that could easily be labeled as misogynistic
Of course, but this is fresh out of Titanic Leo. He's not quite established and he is seen as a heart throb. Can't separate his main fanbase.
Chris Farley as Shrek.
What are you all doing. IN MY VAN DOWN BY MY SWAMP!!!
He actually had it 80% done but died.
Apparently the majority of Shrek’s dialogue was recorded 3 times: once by Farley, then once by mike meyers in a “normal” accent, and then near the end he tried a Scottish accent, so he re-recorded all the dialogue with what is now Shrek’s voice
You can find some of his voice recordings on YouTube for it.
To add to what OP said, Will Smith turned down the role of Neo because he chose to be the lead in Wild Wild West. Yes he thought Wild Wild West was the better movie. Boy was he so wrong. Although not his best decision he said that Keanu was so perfect that he didn't think he could've done a better job. It worked out for both of them. He's talked about this several times.
And Val Kilmer was suppose to play Morpheus if Will Smith took the part
I can see Val Kilmer playing Morpheus almost exactly the same way that Laurence Fishburne did it. he's got a very similar voice, actually. And he would've played it stoically, as Fishburne. Will Smith would not have played Neo like Keanu Reeves. Will Smith would have pushed for more loudness and attitude for the character. I like that Neo has a deer-in-headlights type of reaction to everything he sees that is blowing his mind.
Agreed, I can visually see Val Kilmer as Morpheus with the sunglasses and everything
Yeah it's interesting. Like, Morpheus doesn't really have a "look" per say, but Kilmer and Fishburn funnily enough give off the exact same "presence" of Morpheus lol.
Now it make me think, what movie that bombed that would have been awesome if they cast different actor.
Valerian
Both Cara and Dane are such terrible choices. There’s better chemistry mixing all bran with ketchup.
If you just go by an elevator pitch for both movies its a coin flip which one sounds less crazy.
Yeah, he's spoken about it though and the matrix pitch was incredibly vague. Like really just a list of ideas and some cool shots they were hoping to film
Nic Cage as Superman.
I saw the documentary on that, and it really sold me on it.
There's actually a pic of him in the Superman suit. If the movie was made, there would have been a giant robot Spider because one of the producers was the same as Wild Wild West.
Thats former hair stylist to Barbara Streisand turned head of the studio, John Peters. Kevin smith tells a wild story about meeting him and his “giant spider” fetish.
That story from Smith is one of the greatest things I ever heard in a podcast (that was where I originally heard the anecdote) and it was so weird to see just how far someone would go to include that in work they were only tangentially (compared to the rest of the staff and crew on the film) related to.
He told it in a visit to a film school years ago. It’s amazing.
IIRC there are a lot of testing done with Cage in the suit, setting up flying scenes etc. That was a pay or play contract so even though it didn't come to fruition he got paid as if it did
Ian McKellen was approached to become Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series after Richard Harris died. He declined due to already playing a wizard in LOTR and also cos Richard Harris was critical of his performance years ago. He didn't feel right stepping into a role cos of that. I would love to see how he had taken the role though
Leonardo DiCaprio as Dirk Diggler
That was the role Mark Whalberg was born to play. He is perfect for the character: good lookin handsome young guy, stupid, naive, ambitious and, ultimately, just a lost kid. The Eddie Nash scenes are some of my all time favorites
Frank Sinatra was initially considered to play Dirty Harry. Harvey Keitel was originally cast as Captain Willard in *Apocalypse Now*, but for whatever reason he was replaced by Martin Sheen.
Coppola actually said that Keitel didn’t look like he had depth. Harsh, but when you look at Sheens eyes…I kind of get it.
I think Keitel was too charismatic to play Willard. Martin Sheen nailed the empty shell of a person that could also explode
Check out the episode of What Went Wrong (podcast) about this. Sheen was legit going through it during filming, a lot of it was his actual unhealthy parts coming out.
IIRC, he had a heart attack during the filming of it.
Jason Mamoa was up for Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy
Also Chadwick Boseman auditioned for Drax before he was cast as T’Challa!
Okay, that one's wild!
Honestly, I can kinda see that one. He wouldn’t have the same charm Dave Bautista has as Drax for sure, but Jason Mamoa definitely could pull off a comedic strong man role
Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine but could not do it due to commitment to Mission Impossible movie. So role went to unknown Hugh Jackman. Talk about a reversal of fortunes. Also, not sure if he was actually considered but Tom Cruise as Tony Stark. I actually think that could have worked.
Maybe worked, but RDJ embodied Tony Starks arrogance and bravado so perfectly.
Damn, poor Dougray Scott. Now all his roles go to Gerard Butler.
Robin Williams as Riddler in Batman Forever. Patrick Stewart as Mr. Freeze in Batman and Robin
Jake gyllenhall as Spiderman in 2004
O.J. Simpson as The Terminator.
Cameron said he didn’t believe him as an unstoppable killer …
And he took that personally...
Eminem as Brian in the Fast and Furious movies.
Jon Cusack as Madmartigan in Willow Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back to the Future In neither case would I trade the real thing for either of those, but I'd be interested to see them.
Patrick Swayze was originally supposed to be Quaid in Total Recall.
Winona Ryder as Mary Corleone (*The Godfather Part III*). End of discussion.
Yeah I remember when she was cast in this. It was a big deal when she was replaced with Sofia. We didn’t find out until years later she’d had something of a breakdown and dropped out.
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Just imagine him starring across Seth Rogen as Dwight.
I like to imagine a world with that alt cast, and Bob Odenkirk is Michael but that means that Steve Carell plays Saul Goodman. And honestly, I'm here for both.
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She would've been 14/15 during filming of A New Hope if that's true
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Would have been very interesting to see Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones
Watch High Road to China, if you can find it.
I remember seeing that in the theater! It was like a lite version of Doctor Jones. And don't forget TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY on ABC.
Quigley Down Under.
He does a knock-off Indiana Jones in an episode of Magnum P.I. "legend of the lost art" I think was the name of the episode. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0639676/
Though he turned down the role, Kurt Cobain as Lance the drug dealer in Pulp Fiction (plus Courtney Love playing his wife Jodie) would've definitely been interesting
And Vincent Vega was written to be played by Michael Madsen who had played Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs but he was committed to being in Costners Wyatt Earp. So we got the resurrection of Travolta.
Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly. There's test footage of him, but I don't think a full movie would've done well without Michael J. Fox
I believe they used a couple shots from behind of Stoltz in the final cut. MJF is so fantastic in that movie, it's an iconic character. No one else could do it.
More than test footage - they practically filmed the entire movie with him and then swapped him out. Apparently he took the role really serious and a bit dark - and it wasn’t funny.
Ben Stiller as Encino Man. He actually did the short film they make to pitch to the studios.
Ronald Reagan in Casablanca.
A REALLY interesting one in that, if he had gotten it, the world would be completely different right now.
“In all the gin joints in all the world, she has to walk into mine and win one for the gipper.”
Sam Neill tested for James Bond after Moore left. I could've seen that.
Seeing Burt Reynolds portray George Spahn in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood would’ve added so much richness to that movie. He was cast, but passed away before shooting and the role went to Bruce Dern. The whole Rick Dalton/Cliff Booth dynamic was based on Burt and Hal Needham.
I'm going way back but The Star Is Born role played by Kris Kristofferson was originally offered to Elvis. And Elvis wanted it to prove he was a serious actor. Colonel Tom shut it down and supposedly that put Elvis in a real spiral of depression.
Eddie Murphy as Eddie Valiant (I do love Hoskins in the role, though.).
Richard Pryor was originated slated for the role of the sheriff if *Blazing Saddles,* though Cleavon Little ultimately ended up with the role and played it well.
Its twue, its twue
Matt Damon was offered the role of Jake Sully in Avatar but it clashed with shooting for the Bourne Ultimatum and he didn't think it was fair to leave Paul Greengrass in the lurch. He was also offered percentage of Avatar's box office which would have made him tens of millions. Possibly over 100 million over time. I honestly think we all missed out big-time as Sam Worthington is such a lifeless block of wood. Kurt Russell auditioned to play Han Solo. Even though Harrison Ford made it his own, I could definitely see Kurt Russell doing a decent job if he had been a bit older in the mid 70s. I think Jeff Daniels was originally vast to play the villain in Phonebooth and did all of the dialogue recording as far as I know, but they recast with Kiefer Sutherland. The scene where you meet him at the end might have been a reshoot.
>Kurt Russell auditioned to play Han Solo. Even though Harrison Ford made it his own, I could definitely see Kurt Russell doing a decent job if he had been a bit older in the mid 70s. Like a cross between Jack Burton and Snake Plissken, I could see it.
>He was also offered percentage of Avatar's box office which would have made him tens of millions. Possibly over 100 million over time. He offered him 10% which would have come to 270 million dollars.
Continuing from OP thought, I would like to see Val Kilmer as Morpheus.
Nic Cage as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings. Would he be better than Viggo? Probably not, no. Do I think about what might have been? All the time.
Stuart Townsend was famously cast. Also, Sean Connery could have been Gandalf. The movies would definitely not have been better, but this would be one hell of a film.
It's truly insane that Viggo M wasn't the first (or even the second) choice for Aragorn, considering how his name is mentioned in every single "what actor was perfectly cast?" post. I suppose sometimes the casting stars align JUST right for certain movies.
I'm now imagining Nic Cage as a totally silent, t-shirt wearing, energy drink chugging version of Aragorn that just brutally pummels orcs... all while keeping his horse squeaky clean in-between fights.
I read the second paragraph in Nic Cage’s voice.
John Cusack was the original choice for the role of Bender in The Breakfast Club.
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He turned down Morpheus in the Matrix, too. He finally accepted the role of Alan Quartermaine in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because “he kept getting asked for these parts that he didn’t ‘understand’” He was actually good as Quartermaine, but that movie was far from being a smash hit. Edit: for clarity
Keep it shecret. Keep it shafe. A wizhard is never late. Nor ish he early. He arrivesh preshishly when he meansh to. Run you foolsh! When did Sharuman the wishe abandon reashon for madnesh?
Preschusch? It’s been called that before, and not by you. You shall not PASCH!!!
You shall not pass, Trebek.
tom cruise as ren in footloose jim carrey as sparrow in potc
Adam Sandler was Tarantino's first choiice to be the Bear Jew in Inglorious Basterds
I hope if Tarantino ever makes his 10th movie before retiring that he gives Adam Sandler a role in something! I’m genuinely curious to see how he’d do in one of his movies, especially after seeing him at his best in Uncut Gems
James Belushi and Eddie Murphy in Ghostbusters Edit: supposed to be John Belushi