There are moments when some actors turn down roles because they don’t understand the script, or they don’t believe in it, or they simply don’t want it. But sometimes those actors end up kicking themselves since the people that do end up taking the roles to find that it wasn’t just the role that was bound to make them even more famous, it was the movie that it was attached to. Some actors just shrug their shoulders and move on since that’s life, you make decisions and live with them later on, but in some cases, it’s a genuine case of not knowing what they were being given, which in the end makes them regret not taking the role since it could have elevated their position in such a way that people would have no doubt that they were the perfect person for this role. Then again, there are times when looking back, it’s usually best that the actors that wound up with the roles were selected when the initial choices turned them down since it’s fair to say that trying to imagine those that were originally selected might not have been quite as effective.
Here are a few actors that either became famous or gained even more popularity after taking on roles that other actors had turned down.
5. Brad Pitt – Se7en
This role was actually supposed to go to Denzel Washington who turned it down since he thought the part was a little too dark. But upon seeing the movie he realized that he turned down something that people instantly came to enjoy. The only thing about this however is that Denzel isn’t exactly the same type of character that a lot of people responded to when it came to Detective Mills and the way that Pitt played him. Trying to see Washington play opposite Morgan Freeman isn’t a big deal, but the fact that Freeman and Pitt’s characters were so opposite is what helped to make this movie.
4. Harrison Ford – Star Wars
Can you believe that Al Pacino was the guy that was given the script to read for Han Solo? He was a popular actor at the time and it was likely thought that he might bring a bit more star power to the movie, but he feels all wrong for the part all the same. But the upside, in this case, is that he couldn’t really understand the part or the story and as a result bowed out. It would then go to a largely unknown individual named Harrison Ford who would knock it out of the park and, ironically, want the character to be killed off after a while. To create such an iconic character only to want out of the franchise so quickly is kind of awkward, but oh well.
3. Kathy Bates – Misery
Bette Midler was considered for the role of Annie Wilkes, can you believe that? It’s a little tough to imagine Bette taking on the role of a crazy fan such as Annie and really selling it without laughing at her since Bette Midler has been a dramatic and comedic actress for so long that trying to picture her in a horror/suspense movie just doesn’t work as well. But Kathy Bates turned on the nuttiness in a way that was insane since it not only scared the living daylights out of a lot of people, it was absolutely believable since she took off on such tangents that it’s easy to think that she was fully in the moment at times.
2. JoAnn Woodward – Three Faces of Eve
Apparently, Eva Marie Saint didn’t want this role since it had to do with mental illness and she wasn’t comfortable taking on a character that had a mental issue. Obviously, actors are going to have their own hangups when it comes to various parts, but this kind of paved the way for JoAnn to step in after a couple of other actresses turned down the part, and the role came off as something that would boost her career in a way that made it possible for JoAnn to win a Golden Globe and an Oscar for her part in the movie. This is probably when people start kicking themselves since they could have had a chance if they were a little more flexible in what they’d do for their craft.
1. Hugh Jackman – X-Men
Dougray Scott was supposed to take this role but he had a prior commitment, while Viggo Mortensen actually turned it down. Russell Crowe apparently pushed for Jackman to get the role, but it doesn’t sound like anyone that was initially supposed to take it really has any regrets about passing it up. Jackman became Logan/Wolverine over the course of many years and was perhaps one of the best people to do it, which is why casting this character is going to be so tough in the times to come.
There’s always someone that will take the role.
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