In 2023, Michael J. Fox appeared on “The View” with “Ghost” star Whoopi Goldberg, who asked him about turning down the lead role. Fox stated that after he read the script, he had his doubts about the film. When “Ghost” was a critical and box office hit, Fox called himself an “idiot” and regretted not working with Goldberg then. Hollywood is built on gambles, and every once in a while, an actor makes a decision that changes cinema history. Sometimes these choices haunt them forever. Other times, they walk away with zero regrets, understanding that what works for one performer might have fallen flat in their hands.
Tom Cruise Nearly Wore the Iron Man Suit Before Robert Downey Jr.
In the newly released “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios,” it’s explained that a then 34-year-old Cruise “flirted with the idea of playing [Tony] Stark.” According to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Cruise’s asking fee at the time was more than even a profitable studio like Fox was willing to risk on an untested superhero property. Before the acquisition of the MCU by Disney, the franchise did not have a benefactor willing to provide the money needed to hire an A-list star like Cruise. In another interview, Tom Cruise shared, “They came to me at a certain point, and when I do something, I wanna do it right. If I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know will be something special. And as it was lining up, it just didn’t feel like it would work.”
Will Smith Rejected Neo in The Matrix for Wild Wild West
In 1996, the Wachowskis pitched the role of Neo to Will Smith. Smith explained on his YouTube channel that the idea was for him to be Neo, while Morpheus was to be played by Val Kilmer. He later explained that he did not quite understand the concept and he turned down the role to instead film Wild Wild West. Let’s be real, that was probably one of the costliest mistakes in modern Hollywood. The film Wild Wild West was panned by critics and audiences alike, while the bold style of The Matrix led the film to be a critical and commercial success. Smith later admitted, “Keanu was perfect. Laurence Fishburne was perfect. If I had done it, because I’m Black, [Fishburne’s character] Morpheus wouldn’t have been Black because they were looking at Val Kilmer [for] Morpheus. So I probably would have messed The Matrix up. I would have ruined it. I did y’all a favor.”
Sean Connery Said No to Gandalf and Nearly Half a Billion Dollars
Sean Connery was Peter Jackson’s first choice to play the iconic wizard, and the Scottish icon was offered a staggering $30 million, plus a 15% stake of the box-office earnings for the series. Connery was offered $10 million per film plus 15% of the trilogy’s gross for the role of Gandalf. He turned it down, reportedly due to “not understanding the story.” Had he accepted, he would’ve earned a total of $210 million. “I read the book. I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don’t understand it,” Connery disclosed in an interview years later. New Line Cinema executive Mark Ordesky explained: “We did make an offer to Connery but he said no. We never got an answer until years later, but apparently he read the material and just didn’t get it.”
Michelle Pfeiffer Turned Down The Silence of the Lambs Over Its Dark Tone
Director Jonathan Demme’s first choice for the role of Clarice Starling was Michelle Pfeiffer, with whom he had just collaborated on Married to the Mob (1988). Pfeiffer turned it down, later saying, “It was a difficult decision, but I got nervous about the subject matter.” In a new interview, Michelle told The New Yorker that she was uncomfortable with the film’s “evil” message and ending. “With Silence Of The Lambs, I was trepidatious. There was such evil in that film. It was that evil won in the end, that at the end of that film evil ruled out. I was uncomfortable with that ending. I didn’t want to put that out into the world.” Foster was ultimately awarded the role due to her passion for the character. Jodie Foster went on to win the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of FBI agent Clarice Starling in the 1991 thriller, a role that earned Jodie her second Best Actress Oscar.
Christina Applegate Regrets Passing on Legally Blonde
In a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair, Applegate passed on starring in the 2001 comedy because it felt too similar to her sitcom work. “I wouldn’t toy with the idea of Legally Blonde because it felt too fresh getting out of Married… With Children. It was very similar on paper,” Applegate said, before she colorfully called that decision “a big f-cking mistake.” Reese Witherspoon went on to define her career with that bubbly pink portrayal of Elle Woods. The role became so iconic that it spawned a sequel and even a Broadway musical. Applegate herself acknowledged this reality with characteristic honesty.
Matt Damon Missed Out on Avatar’s Massive Payday
In a 2023 interview with Entertainment Tonight, A-lister Matt Damon expressed regret passing on James Cameron’s 2009 epic Avatar, calling it “the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting.” He told Chris Wallace in 2023, explaining that he couldn’t do it because he was “in the middle of shooting the Bourne movie.” To add insult to injury, he was offered 10% of the box office, and, considering that Avatar remains the highest-grossing movie of all time, it’s fair to say he missed out on quite the payday ($250 million, to be exact). That’s genuinely difficult to comprehend. A quarter of a billion dollars for one movie. Still, Damon has built an incredible career without it.
Rachel McAdams Walked Away from Five Major Roles Including Iron Man
In a 2023 profile with Bustle, Rachel McAdams talked about her break from acting in the 2000s, during which time she turned down five pretty major roles in movies that went on to be very successful: The Devil Wears Prada, Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible III, Iron Man, and Get Smart. Notably, she was apparently Jon Favreau’s first choice to play Pepper Potts in Iron Man, which would have made her a part of the MCU from the very beginning. McAdams commented on her brief time away from the business in a 2023 profile on Bustle, saying: “I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given, because I knew I was in such a lucky spot … But I also knew it wasn’t quite jiving with my personality and what I needed to stay sane. There were definitely some anxious moments of wondering if I was just throwing it all away, and why was I doing that?” Here’s the thing though. McAdams made a choice for her mental health, and you can’t put a price on that.
Billy Crystal Regrets Turning Down Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story
Imagine the beloved “Toy Story” franchise with the role of Buzz Lightyear being voiced by, not Tim Allen, but by Billy Crystal. Well, we nearly had that. The “Toy Story” creators even came up with a test clip of Buzz saying Crystal’s lines in “When Harry Met Sally.” Sadly, Crystal passed on the part before he even saw it. When he appeared on “The Graham Norton Show” in 2024, the actor admitted that if he’d seen the clip, he would’ve grabbed the role before his agent convinced him not to. Crystal called the 1995 film “genius,” and described himself as a “dope” for missing the opportunity. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine Buzz without Tim Allen’s voice now, yet Crystal’s regret led him to jump at the chance to voice Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc.
What do you think about it? Would any of these movies have been better with the original casting choices, or did everything work out exactly as it should have? Sometimes the universe has a funny way of putting the right people in the right roles at the right time.
