Iconic Movie Characters That Other Actors Almost Played

Prepare to discover the jaw-dropping beloved movie roles that were almost snatched up by actors other than the ones we’ve come to know and love. So sit back, relax, and get ready to have your mind blown by these tantalizing possibilities that could have changed the cinematic playbook. 

He claimed that the movie’s concept was confusing and uninteresting to him at the time. So, instead of The Matrix, he appeared in Wild Wild West.

Brad Pitt and Matt Damon were also approached for roles, but declined. It’s interesting to think about how different the picture may have been with these big-name performers. In the end though, Ledger and Gyllenhaal did an excellent job.

As a result, he missed out on a hefty salary of roughly $450 million! It’s mind-boggling to consider how much money he could have made if he had taken the part.

When Blunt declined, Johansson was given another chance and eventually secured the role in the film.

Hunnam himself acknowledged it as the worst professional experience of his life. In an interview with VMan in 2015, he stated it was the most emotionally damaging and difficult thing he had ever dealt with in his career.

According to Sonnenfeld in an interview with The Guardian in 2018, the studio wanted Cher to play Morticia, but he had a different vision. Instead, he wanted to put relatively unknown performers in the picture.

Keaton remarked that the character reminded him of the witty, cynical, and glib young men he had previously played. He later admitted that Bill Murray’s representation in the film was so excellent that he couldn’t have done it any better.

In an interview with Newsweek in 2002, she revealed she refused the role because she felt it perpetuated a stereotype about Black women and their sexuality. Bassett made a decision not to accept the role due to her concerns about the portrayal.

The specific reason Monroe did not end up starring in the picture is unknown. According to some sources, Capote was not a fan of Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of Golightly.

However, Claire apparently has zero regrets about her decision, although the role remains timelessly iconic. She goes on to say that she just wasn’t at the place to have that soring stardom catapult her into that spotlight which is exactly what happened to Dicaprio after doing such a film.

Despite being a good friend of director Karel Reisz who also happened to be directing the film, he decided to cast Jessica Lange instead. Meryl was heartbroken, but I guess you can’t really have it all.

We aren’t entirely sure how it happened, but according to Moore, the original director of the film, Nicole Holofcener, fired her from her role in the film. Either way, we think both actresses are quite qualified to play Lee, how different it would have been though.

Although Christina ultimately turned down the role she is happy with how everything ended up. She is quoted praising Reese for her performance and that she isn’t sure she could have done as well as she did if she ended up in the role herself. We love this woman supporting woman moment.

Although Jack Nicholson was almost set to play this iconic role but turned it down because he believed that quote on quote “Indians should play Indians and Italians should play Italians…” He has no hard feelings though, since feels Al Pacino truly embodied Michael Corleone.

While Hanks did a phenomenal job in the role, John Travolta could have ended up playing it instead. Travolta has reportedly said that giving up the role of Gump was a big mistake. You shouldn’t feel too bad for him though he went on to make waves in a different but equally iconic film that same year, Pulp Fiction. They even went up against each other for the Oscar for ‘Best Actor’ in a film.

Although she was considered for the role it ultimately came down to director, Todd Phillips, deciding that she may be a bit too young for the type of material talked about at the time, being only 20 years old. They say, you grow up fast in Hollywood but we guess Phillips would disagree. The role went to Heather Graham in the end who did a fantastic job, no hard feelings for Lindsay though.

Depp has praised Matthew in the role and there are no animosities. We can only imagine how different the film would have turned out with this switch but we are certain it would have been equally iconic.

While at the BFI London Film Festival, George mentioned that both himself and Newman almost joined the cast of the beloved 2004 film based on the book of the same name by  Nicholas Sparks. According to Clooney he was going to play a younger version of Noah’s character while Newman was to play the older.

“We were going to do The Notebook together,” Clooney said, according to Deadline. “Basically, I was going to play him as a young man, and it was funny. We met and said, ‘This is it. It’s going to be great.’ ”

However, Clooney said he got cold feet after he went home and watched a number of Newman’s iconic films.

“He’s one of the handsomest guys you’ve ever seen. We met up [again] and I said, ‘I can’t play you. I don’t look anything like you. This is insane,’ ” Clooney recalled. “We just wanted to do it because we wanted to work together, [but] it ended up being not the right thing for us to do.”

Gosling went on to play Noah Calhoun with James Garner playing the older version. Rachel McAdams starred opposite Gosling as Allie Hamilton and Gena Rowlands acted opposite Garner.

Later on, Kidman revealed that she once again missed out on playing alongside Grant in the film ‘Love Actually,’ too. Talk about a missed connection, we are noticing a pattern here, but we are happy they still got the opportunity to work together eventually.

Even though this holiday staple only came out in 2003, the script came almost 10 years before with Carrey all set for the role, but by the time filming was underway he unfortunately or fortunately went on to other roles. This left the role open to Ferrell, giving us the Buddy we all know and love.

Apparently, Marshall was not into having Theron playing the famous, or rather infamous Roxie Hart. There is no use to dwell on what could have been since Zellweger did a phenomenal job. We think both ladies are perfectly capable of carrying a tune. There may be more to this story than we’ll ever know.

Paul does give us some pretty iconic moments in the film after all, have you ever paid close attention to his sandwich scene? Rudd awkwardly puts the mayo on the meat instead of the bread and it still haunts him to this day, but it does give all of us a nice easter egg to look out for while watching.

It is interesting to note that instead of Elizabeth Berkley, Madonna almost played Cristal Connors. She allegedly wasn’t hired because of her desire to have a full overhaul of the film’s script.

Hanks going through a divorce at the time reported that played a big factor in not accepting the role. It also didn’t hurt that Crystal and Meg Ryan hit it off right away. This pair made for some major on-screen chemistry, giving some pretty iconic scenes like the one with the sandwich. Don’t know what we are talking about? You should start watching now.

As If! Alicia will always be our Cher although according to director Amy Heckerling, Witherspoon was indeed considered for the role before Silverstone for the project. Apparently, Kerry Washington was almost Dionne as well. Wow, what a movie! Alternate remake anyone?

Ryan Phillippe was already cast in the film, he was dating Reese at the time, and director Roger Kumble asked him if she would be interested in the role. Ultimately these two helped each other, both begging her to play the part when they took her out to dinner, the rest is film history. She just couldn’t say no.

McKellen was still insulted by a remark Harris had made saying that McKellen was, “technically brilliant, but passionless.” There may be a bit of a grudge here but we don’t want to speak ill of the dead. We will leave you with Sir Michael Gambon, who stepped into the role and filled it perfectly.

All in all, things worked out because Kevin Bacon completely transformed the role and was without a doubt up for the task of dancing his heart out and helping all of us fall in love at the theater.

It was no other than, Jessica Simpson, apparently, it was down to two girls when it came down to casting the role of Jaime Sullivan, Mandy, and Jessica. West recalls not being too keen to have Simpson in the role so he is happy that it ended up going to Mandy, only because he thought it was a better fit.