Casting Coulda Beens - Good or Bad?

(Partially borrowed from another forum I post at - this topic was too good not to share)

1. Will Smith as Neo in The Matrix
The role went to: Keanu Reeves

Smith turned it down and opted for Wild Wild West instead. Good or bad decision?

2. Jack Nicholson as Michael Corleone in The Godfather
The role went to: Al Pacino

Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Ryan O'Neal, and Dustin Hoffman, were all offered the role as well, but they all declined. Good or bad decision for the decliners?

3. Robert Redford as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate
The role went to: Dustin Hoffman

Actually Redford didn't turn it down but it was mutually agreed he was too cool to play the geeky role. Good or bad choice for the director?

4. Bill Murray as the title character in Forrest Gump
The role went to: Tom Hanks

Good or bad choice by the Directors?

5. Leonardo DiCaprio as Peter Parker in Spider-Man
The role went to: Tobey Maguire

Freddie Prinze Jr. was also briefly considered for the role. Good or bad choice by Directors?

6. Emma Thompson as Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct
The role went to: Sharon Stone

Thompson backed out after getting the role and instead did Howards end. Others auditioning for the role were Kim Basinger, Kelly Lynch, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mariel Hemingway, Lena Olin, Kelly McGillis, and Greta Scacchi. Good or bad choice by the director? Good or bad choice by Emma Thompson?


7. Christopher Walken as Han Solo in Star Wars
The role went to: Harrison Ford

Kurt Russell and Nick Nolte were also considered for the role. Lucas did not want to put any characters he had worked with in any other movie in Star Wars thus he offered the role to all the others before settling on Ford. Good or bad choice to turn the role down by those above?

8. Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark
The role went to: Harrison Ford

Magnum PI commitments meant Selleck had to turn this role down only to then have an actors strike in TV give him the free time to do it but alas it was already cast. Good or bad move by Selleck?

9. Cary Grant as James Bond in Dr. No
The role went to: Sean Connery

The role was based largely on Cary Grant, who was best friends with producer Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli. Although Cary agreed to do Dr. No, he would not commit to the sequels which were already in planning. Without that commitment they had to pass him over. David Niven, Roger Moore, Trevor Howard, and Rex Harrison were all also considered. Good choice Grant? Good choice directors to choose Connery over others?

10. Michelle Pfifer as Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs
The role went to: Jodie Foster

It was Pfifer's role to refuse before pre-production even started. When she did, Jodie Foster stepped in. Good decision on Pfifer's part, or bad?

11. Jeanne Garafalo as Bethany Sloane in Dogma
The role went to: Linda Fiorentino

Garafalo still had a (very minor) part in the movie, but Fiorentino got the lead. Director Smith himself has said that if he had to cast and film the movie over again, Garafalo would have gotten the part (citing dificulties with directing Fiorentino and her primadonna attitude). Good call on Fiorentino?

12. Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back to the Future
The role went to: Michael J. Fox

Stoltz actually shot several scenes before being ejected from the role by director Robert Zemekis and replaced by Fox. Good call by Zemekis?

13. Tom Hanks as the title role in Jerry Maguire
The role went to: Tom Cruise

The script was actually written with Hanks in mind. Hanks turned it down after reading the final script, and Cruise was cast in his stead. Good call by Hanks?

14. John Wayne as the title character in Dirty Harry
The role went to: Clint Eastwood

Frank Sinatra (I kid you not) and Paul Newman also turned down the role. With reluctane (!) the director cast Eastwood in the part. Would Wayne, Newman or Sinatra have made your day, punk?


15. Julia Roberts as Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III
The role went to: Sofia Coppola

Actually, the role went to Winona Ryder. But Ryder backed out of the role, citing exhaustion. Desperate for someone to play the part, Sofia's daddy handed her the role, much to the viewing audiences shagrin. Good call by Coppola? (I think we all know the answer to this one...)


16. Ronald Regan as Rick Blaine in Casablanca
The role went to: Humphrey Bogart

Regan turned down the role. I suppose he was too conent with his work on Bedtime for Bonzo. Good call by The Gipper?


17. Telly Savalas as Gen. George S. Patton in Patton
The role went to: George C. Scott

Content with how his career was going, Savalas passed. Did Kojak screw up?


18. Al Pacino as John Rambo in First Blood
The role went to: Sylvester Stalone

For reasons that are unclear, Pacino passed on the part. Good call on his part?


9. Christopher Walken as Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II
The role went to: Christopher Lee

Lucas snubbed Walken (again!) in favor of Saruman. Good call by Lucas?

[Edited on Apr 03, 2005 by Krash]

Christopher Walken? He is too good of an actor to be in a Star Wars movie.

Couldn't agree more.

And Christopher Lee isn't?

The one that comes first off the top of my head is David Bowie as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings. Supposedly, Peter Jackson thought people would only look at him and think "That's David Bowie." instead of the character, but, um, all I could think of when I looked at the guy he picked was "That's Agent Elrond."

Me too! But I thought Agent Smith....or Mitzi Del Bra.

Nope. Some how Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Samuel L Jackson flew under the radar, but Lucas gave them one direction, "Act not so good."

Also Sir Alec Guinness, James Earl Jones, etc?

Was James Earl Jones really a known actor at that point? I remember hearing an interview with him where he was saying that his voice was put in afterwards because Lucas didn't like the original voice. So James only got paid as a special effect (not very much), not as an actor.

James Earl Jones was already a legend as a stage actor at that point, but the point wasn't that Lucas doesn't pick famous people, but that he only picks bad actors. Jones clearly is not a bad actor.

Ok, that makes sense then.
James earl jones is cool. . .

True. But can you imagine how much more cool Star Wars would have been with Walken playing Solo?

"You've... never heard... of the Millenium Falcon? She's the ship... that made the Kessel run... in under 4 parsecs."

"But... 'droids don't... rip people's... arms off."

Edit: better emphasis




[Edited on Apr 03, 2005 by skeptik]

"That's no moon... that's a ...space station."


"Goodnight... moon?"

Every time he spoke, i was expecting to hear him say, "Mr. Anderson."

wuh? he's awesome, yes. but he's been in things like Gigli, Kangaroo Jack, Joe Dirt...

And that Mouse Trap movie with Nathan Lane.

I think of Christopher Walken as one of the world's most versatile B+ movie actors. He tends to be in a lot of movies that aren't neccesarily bad, but have a high camp factor.

I really liked Joe Dirt....

one of my favorite hangover movies.

kurt russel coulda done han solo.

and... this thread is neat.

Has anyone seen Kevin Spacy's impersonation of Walken as Han Solo on SNL?

Yes, I have. It was the funniest thing on SNL in a good ten years.

Lenoardo di Caprio has courted and turned down at least double the roles he's actually taken.

How bout the ultimate casting decision.

Instead of Arnie, producers thought about casting a different Terminator...

... O.J. Simpson

Apparently they chose Arnold cause they didn't think O.J. would be a believable bad guy.