From missing a game to getting married: the bizarre reasons why actors turned down roles (2024)

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Henry Winkler- Henry Winkler revealed in an interview with CNN's Chris Wallace that he still regrets missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime: playing the lead role of Danny Zuko in 1978's musical film 'Grease.' Winkler said the role—which helped cement John Travolta as a Hollywood star—made him worry about being "typecast" as he felt the character was too close to that of his 'Happy Days' character, Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, which he played from 1974-1984. At the time, Winkler thought, "'I've played the Fonz, I don't wanna do it again ... it has already happened. I'm already typecast.'"

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Henry Winkler-

When Winkler recalled that he was offered the role of Danny Zuko, Wallace asked his guest, "Are you a damn fool?" and Winker replied, "Yes. I am." The actor added, "I should've just shut up and had a really good time making that movie. Now, I go home, I say no, and I have a Diet co*ke. John Travolta goes home, and has done the movie, and buys a plane." To be fair, 'Grease' casting director Joel Thurm told People that while Winkler was considered, he was never officially offered the role, and Paramount Pictures only agreed to distribute the film due to Travolta's casting anyway.

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Liam Neeson- Liam Neeson was one of the actors in line to play James Bond in 'GoldenEye' (1995), but he refused for a very strange reason: his fiancée wouldn't marry him if he took the part.

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Liam Neeson-

"My wife-to-be said, 'If you play James Bond we're not getting married'. And I had to take that on board because I did want to marry her," said Neeson. Pierce Brosnan famously played agent 007 in the movie instead.

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Tom Cruise-

The Hollywood star could have played Edward Scissorhands in Tim Burton's 1990 classic. But Cruise had too much of a rational approach to the character, and had way too many concerns about it.

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Tom Cruise-

"[Cruise] wanted to know how Edward went to the bathroom... He was asking the kind of questions about the character that can't be asked for this character! Part of the delicacy of the story was not answering questions like, 'How does he go to the bathroom? How did he live without eating all those years?' Tom Cruise was certainly unwilling to be in the movie without those questions being answered," explained screenwriter Caroline Thompson. Johnny Depp played the iconic character instead, and the rest is history!

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Sean Connery- Sir Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf in 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy because he didn't quite understand the script.

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Sean Connery-

"I read the book. I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don't understand it," Connery said. The role was eventually played by Ian McKellen.

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Al Pacino- We could have seen the actor as Han Solo in 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' (1977), but he didn't quite get the script.

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Al Pacino-

"Star Wars was mine for the taking but I didn’t understand the script," Pacino said. In the end, Harrison Ford was the man for the job.

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Pierce Brosnan-

The actor turned down the opportunity to play Batman in Tim Burton's 1989 movie 'Batman' because he "couldn't take it seriously."

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Pierce Brosnan-

"I went and met with Tim Burton for the role of Batman. But I just couldn’t really take it seriously, any man who wears his underpants outside his pants just cannot be taken seriously. That was my foolish take on it. It was a joke, I thought. But how wrong was I? Don’t get me wrong, because I love Batman, and I grew up on Batman. As a kid in Ireland, we used to get our raincoats and tie them round our neck and swing through the bicycle shed," said the actor. Michael Keaton took the role instead.

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Ewan McGregor- The Scottish actor was first choice to play Patrick Bateman in 'American Psycho' (2000), but turned it down because, well, Christian Bale asked him to!

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Ewan McGregor-

Bale was on a mission to get the part. "I phoned a few people and let them know my commitment, let me tell you! I called them all and told them it was my role. Don't touch. Step away. Or if you're not going to step away, understand what you're up against," said Bale, who eventually did get to play Bateman.

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Laurence Fishburne- The actor was Quentin Tarantino's first choice to play Jules Winnfield in 'Pulp Fiction' (1994). But Fishburne turned the role down because he wasn't happy about the way heroine use was glamorized in the film.

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Laurence Fishburne-

"I just had a problem with the way the heroin use was dealt with... I just felt it was a little cavalier, and it was a little loose. I felt like it made heroin use attractive... It was about the way in which the heroin thing was delivered. And the whole thing with the hypodermic and the adrenaline shot? No," Fishburne said. Samuel L. Jackson played the character instead, and did so very successfully!

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Anne Hathaway- The actress turned down the protagonist role in 'Knocked Up' (2007) because the birth scene was too explicit.

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Anne Hathaway-

"My issue with it was that having not experienced motherhood myself, I didn't know how I was gonna feel on the other side about giving birth. And by the way, I could pop a kid out and think, 'Oh, well, I really should have done that movie,'" Hathaway said. The role was then famously played by Katherine Heigl.

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Evangeline Lilly-

In an interview on the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast, Evangeline Lilly revealed that she has said no to multiple offers for major roles over the years. Back in 2011, Hugh Jackman propositioned her about joining the 'X-Men' franchise while they were working on the movie 'Reel Steel' together. The honest answer was that it didn't interest her, although she felt awkward delivering that message to Jackman... "I’m talking to an X-Men! The X-Men! And I’m telling him, ‘No that doesn’t appeal. Like, what?!’ I felt so rude!”

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Evangeline Lilly-

That wasn't her first time turning down a huge opportunity to become a superhero. Joss Whedon had approached her about starring as Wonder Woman in a movie that never ended up getting made, and even that wasn't enough to entice Lilly. “I am way too authentic for my own good. I mean, it’s not good. If I am not impressed, you’ll know. And maybe you shouldn’t know sometimes," she reflected.

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Jason Momoa-

The actor could have played Drax the Destroyer in the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movies, but turned down the role. Why? Because he didn't want to take off his shirt...again.

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Jason Momoa-

"It didn't really fit in my time because I've done so many things where I don't say much and I'm colored up and I have my shirt off again... I was on 'Stargate: Atlantis' for four years playing a similar character called Ronon, who was an alien who didn't say much and grunted. I've been there and done that, whether people have seen it or not. You want to stretch," he said. The role went to Dave Bautista, who fit the character perfectly!

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Steve McQueen- The "King of Cool" turned down the role of Roy Neary in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977) because he couldn't cry on cue.

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Steve McQueen-

Luckily, Steven Spielberg found an actor who could shed some tears on demand: Richard Dreyfuss.

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Charlize Theron-

The actress turned down the role of Hippolyta, the mother of Diana in 'Wonder Woman' (2017), because she felt she was too young to play the character.

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Charlize Theron-

"This is a great of example of how Hollywood slaps you in the face when you start aging... So somebody had said to me, 'Oh, there's action on this thing, 'Wonder Woman' - we just want to make you aware of it.' And I was like, 'I'm just not familiar with it… I mean, what does Wonder Woman do?' And this person said, 'No, it's for Wonder Woman's mom.'" The Amazon queen was played by Connie Nielsen instead, who's 10 years older than Theron.

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Jack Nicholson- The actor turned down the role of inventor Allie Fox in 'The Mosquito Coast' (1986) because he didn't want to miss an LA Lakers game!

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Jack Nicholson-

The role would require Nicholson to travel to Belize to film on location for several months, and that was just too much for the actor. The character was played by Harrison Ford instead.

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Jet Li-

The famous actor and martial artist was supposed to play Seraph in the second and third films of 'The Matrix' trilogy, but rejected the role. Why? Because he didn't want Hollywood to digitally capture his moves and "steal" them.

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Jet Li-

"It was a commercial struggle for me... I realized the Americans wanted me to film for three months but be with the crew for nine. And for six months, they wanted to record and copy all my moves into a digital library. By the end of the recording, the right to these moves would go to them... I was thinking: I've been training my entire life. And we martial artists could only grow older... Yet they could own [my moves] as an intellectual property forever. So I said I couldn't do that," said Li. The role was taken on by Taiwanese martial artist Collin Chou instead.

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Mark Wahlberg- Mark Wahlberg has turned down a number of roles, all for quite weird reasons.

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Mark Wahlberg-

He could have starred in 'Brokeback Mountain' (2005), but wasn't too happy about the intimate scenes, so he turned it down.

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Mark Wahlberg-

And he could have played Donnie in 'Donnie Darko' (2001) instead of Jake Gyllenhaal, but Wahlberg thought the character should have a lisp (and the director disagreed).

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Gale Sondergaard-

Sondergaard was offered the role of The Wicked Witch of the West in 'The Wizard of Oz' (1939), but turned it down because she originally thought the character would be more attractive.

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Gale Sondergaard-

"In those days I was not about to make myself ugly," she explained. Margaret Hamilton replaced Sondergaard just a few days before shooting began.

Sources: (WhatCulture) (Express) (The Independent) (The Guardian) (Allure)

See also: Actors who almost turned down their most iconic roles

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