Brooke Shields’ problematic relationship with her mother and manager Teri Shields is well known by now but back then, she was a young actress under the thumb of her mother who convinced her to turn down the part of Elvira in Scarface (1983) for the part of Dale in Sahara (1983). Scarface (1983) was a critical and commercial success and launched Michelle Pfeiffer’s career while the second movie has largely been forgotten.
Kevin Costner turned down the role of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) to fund and act in Waterworld (1995), which bombed both with critics and at the box office. Although the latter movie earned some nominations at the Oscars, they were all for the technical categories and it instead won a slew of awards at the Razzies and The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards with Kevin Costner winning ‘Worst Actor’ at both. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) has gone on to become one of the most acclaimed movies of all time.
Christina Applegate was offered the part of ‘Elle Woods’ in Legally Blonde (2001) but turned it down as it was too similar to the part of ‘Kelly Bundy’ which she had played on Married with Children (TV Series 1986–1997) for eleven seasons. Reese Witherspoon played Elle to perfection and parlayed it into a successful film career.
Julia Roberts turned down two roles which Sandra Bullock took in successive years, the first The Blind Side (2009) which won Sandra Bullock her Oscar. Julia Roberts opted to do Valentine's Day (2010) instead and the following year, she turned down The Proposal (2009) which made Sandra Bullock the highest paid actress in Hollywood.
Brad Pitt turned down the role of Jason Bourne which has given Matt Damon a bonafide action hero status. Pitt has instead turned his attention towards producing other people’s movies including hit ones like 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Selma (2014), the first of which won him an Oscar for Best Picture.
Will Smith was offered the role of Neo in The Matrix (1999) which he turned down to do Wild Wild West (1999). Keanu Reeves took up the role which has since become iconic and paved the way for his superstardom. Smith also turned down the role of Django in Django Unchained (2012) when Quentin Tarantino wouldn’t let him play the role as he wanted to and he did After Earth (2013) instead with his son. Tarantino’s movie won awards and was a box office smash but the science fiction fantasy flick he did with his son bombed both with the critics and at the box office.
Speaking of Will Smith, he did make it good when he starred in Men in Black (1997) as Agent J, which was initially given to David Schwimmer who turned it down to star in the romantic comedy The Pallbearer (1996). Men in Black (1997) did so well that it spawned a trilogy and recent reboot. David Schwimmer has instead turned his attention to directing, most notably the movie Run, Fat Boy, Run (2007) and he would later garner some success as the voice of Melman The Giraffe in the animated movie Madagascar (2005).
Jean Reno turned down the part of ‘Agent Smith’ in The Matrix (1999) to act in Godzilla (1998) as he didn’t want to move to Australia for the duration of the film shoot. The latter movie didn’t do well at the box office and was lambasted by the critics as well. His loss was Hugo Weaving’s gain.
Eddie Murphy was offered the role in of Carter in Rush Hour (1998) which he turned down in favour of Holy Man (1998). Rush Hour (1998) spawned a trilogy and earned millions at the box office while Holy Man (1998) barely made a blip.
Michael Madsen turned down the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction (1994) to star as Virgil Earp in Wyatt Earp (1994). His refusal of the role strained his relationship with Quentin Tarantino and it especially stung when Pulp Fiction (1994) turned out to be the cinematic icon that it has become whereas Wyatt Earp (1994) failed critically and commercially. When Tarantino offered him the role of ‘Budd’ in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), he was wise to learn his lesson and accepted the role.
Then, there are actors who turned down the roles which they felt weren’t right for them and found no regrets in them even though the movies all became successful.
Matt Damon turned down the role of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight (2008) which was ultimately played by Aaron Eckhart. It was a scheduling conflict with his movie Invictus (2009) which forced him to turn down the role but he didn’t regret it.
“Look, Aaron is a great actor, so the movie didn’t suffer for it. Every once in a while you get [an acting opportunity] and you can’t do it.”
Emily Blunt was supposed to have played the Black Widow in Iron Man 2 (2010) which was then played by Scarlett Johansson. While she cited the timing as a reason, it has also been speculated that she backed out due to the unsatisfactory pay she would have received. Either way, she didn’t regret it and hasn’t ruled out doing a superhero movie in the future.
I'm never regretful about not doing something; I didn't do it at the time because it wasn't the right time and I was contracted to do something else. But Scarlett [Johansson] has done such a phenomenal job — she's it! Like why even reminisce about what could've been? She's it and she nailed it, and I love 'The Avengers,' I really found it to be really good fun."
Nicholas Cage turned down the role of Aragon played by Viggo Mortensen in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy but insists that he doesn’t regret it.
I don't really have any regrets. I think regret is a waste of time. I try to always move forward as opposed to dwelling on the past or the movies that might have happened. There certainly were movies that I probably would have benefited from if circumstances in my life allowed me to make them. Lord of the Rings. That trilogy. Aragorn. Or The Matrix. But the thing is about those movies, I can watch them. I can enjoy them as an audience member. I don't really watch my own movies. And so I genuinely do have the joy of watching these—especially with Lord of the Rings.
Ian McKellen was offered the role of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movie series after Richard Harris passed away but he had an interesting insight to passing up the role which was eventually played by Michael Gambon.
"People say to me, 'Don't you wish you'd played Dumbledore?' I say no! I played Gandalf! The original. There was a question as to whether I might take over from Richard Harris but seeing as one of the last things he did publicly was say what a dreadful actor he thought I was, it would not have been appropriate for me to take over his part. It would have been unfair."
Molly Ringwald turned down the role which made Julia Roberts famous in Pretty Woman (1990) but doesn’t regret passing up the role.
I think I saw an early draft and it was called "$3,000". I don't specifically remember turning it down. The script was okay but I gotta say, Julia Roberts is what makes that movie. It was her part. Every actor hopes for a part that lets them shine like that.
John Travolta turned down several roles, some of which were taken up by Tom Hanks like Forrest Gump (1994), Splash (1984) and Apollo 13 (1995).
"If I didn't do something Tom Hanks did, then I did something else that was equally interesting or fun. Or if I didn't do something Richard Gere did, I did something equally well. But I feel good about some I gave up because other careers were created."
Liam Neeson turned down the James Bond role for the movie GoldenEye (1995) as his wife, Natasha Richardson, told him she wouldn’t marry him if he took it. He hasn’t regretted it though and why would he since he has become a bonafide action star himself?!
Precious (2009) director Lee Daniels told The Daily Show that Helen Mirren was originally lined up to play Carey’s role of Mrs Weiss the counsellor but cancelled days before shooting, citing Mirren’s words as:-
“I can't do it; I have a real job, a paying job.”
Mirren’s career hasn’t been affected by this whatsoever so it doesn’t seem she regretted passing the role up which was filled by an unrecognisable Mariah Carey who earned critical acclaim for her performance.
Tom Hanks turned down the titular role in Jerry Maguire (1996) in lieu of his directorial debut with That Thing You Do! (1996) and doesn’t regret it.
"I think you look at it now and it couldn’t have been anybody other than Tom Cruise,” Hanks told "Access Hollywood." “It’s the way the movie’s operated. I don’t think anybody would look at that now and say, ‘That movie was not perfect.’”
Mark Wahlberg turned down the role of Linus Caldwell in Ocean's Eleven (2001) which was then played by Matt Damon but he doesn’t regret it.
“People tell George Clooney it's great, but we all know it sucked. I made two bad movies instead - Planet of the Apes (2001) and The Truth About Charlie (2002)— but doing that was better than sitting with Brad (Pitt) and George, telling the press how great everybody is! ‘We were in Europe, George was funny, then we had some wine ...’ — that's not for me. I do love those guys, but I had to step out on my own.”
He also turned down the role of Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain (2005) which went to Jake Gyllenhaal.
“I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive – the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing. I told Ang Lee, ‘I like you, you’re a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more.’ Thankfully, he didn’t. I didn’t rush to see Brokeback, it’s just not my deal. Obviously, it was done in taste — look how it was received.”
The second part of my answer above is copied from another thread:-
Image source:-
16 Times Actors Turned Down Amazing Roles (And Took Atrocious Ones Instead)
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