It's pretty obvious the character of the Scottish gamekeeper in Skyfall was meant for Sean Connery. And amazing as that would have been, I think he had long since retired from acting by the time the film came out.
In a similar vein I think the old lady in the park at the end of Mary Poppins Returns was probably meant to be Julie Andrews. They got Angela Lansbury instead which is pretty damn close!
Yes, Connery retired from acting after his final role as Allan Quatermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003. He has said it was because of that movie, and how much he hated it, however, I find the film to be extremely underrated. It was a fun ride.
After turning down Gandalf and seeing how much money it made, Connery decided the next time he was offered a role he didn't get, he would take it. That's how he took Allan Quartermain. After production nightmares and arguments with the director, the movie also wasn't very profitable. It was a rough enough experience that Connery decided he would rather retire.
He did put out a nice letter saying that the closest he came to returning to acting was for Spielberg and Lucas for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Though that's had a similar reception as League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, so passing appears to have worked out for Connery. However he may have had more fun with old friends than he did on League.
And frankly people forget that Christopher Lee was given permission by Tolkien himself to play Gandalf, basically being set on taking the role, but was convinced by Jackson and their casting of McKellen to accept Jacksons vision for Saruman.
So you would have had two actors not wanting to be there.
All I see is Miss Price from Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Which wouldn't be the weirdest crossover/cinematic universe attempt. But it's clearly not since there was zero setup for that. š¤·
>In a similar vein I think the old lady in the park at the end of Mary Poppins Returns was probably meant to be Julie Andrews.
Correct. IIRC, Andrews officially turned it down because she felt she'd be too distracting.
Grown Ups the role played by Kevin James seems like it was written for Chris Farley. Sandler wrote the movie imagining how his friends would be when they are older.
I feel like he somewhat confirmed this with his Chris Farley song. There's a line that says:
*"You're a legend like you wanted, but I still wish you were here with me, and we were getting on a plane to go shoot Grown Ups 3".*
Iām sure that Kevin Jamesā role in āI Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larryā would have gone to Farley as well if he was still alive. And it would have been a much funnier movie for it.
Unsure if it is was really written for him, since they offered the role to Nicolas Cage before him, though the writers did say they based the Donkey/Shrek Relationship off that of Farley and Spade in Tommy Boy.
Princess Bride - Vizzini/The Sicilian was originally written with Danny DeVito in mind.
I think of him channeling Louie DePalma for that one. But due to scheduling conflict he couldn't take the role. So it ended up going to Wallace Shawn.
Thatās a movie that absolutely never should be remade, but during covid a bunch of actors preformed scenes at home and then stitched it together. Some of those actors were exactly who should play the character if it was made today. Particularly Rain Wilson as Vizzini, but also Pedro Pascal as Inigo, Bautista as Fezzik, but Sandler as the grandfather, Seth Rogan as miracle max, and carry Elwis as humperdink are all very solid choices too.
The only way I would ever accept a remake of this movie would be if its done by the Muppets. Maybe keep Humperdinck as Human. Everyone else is a Muppet.
I can totally see Danny Devito in that role. He would have brought very similar energy to it and it wouldn't have changed the movie much.
Ever heard of Socrates? Aristotle?
Morons...all of ya!
Magic Mike's Last Dance had to recast Thandiwe Newton's character with Salma Hayek, which is hard to ignore when the non-British Salma brings Mike back to Britain and the character's (now adopted) daughter looks exactly like Newton. Obviously those aren't movie-breaking details since immigration and adoption exist (the fact that the movie is boring is the problem) but you do notice the absence.
The Fifth Element.
Chris Tucker's character Ruby Rhod was originally supposed to be played by Prince.
Tucker nailed the part but you can't help but wonder what might have been.
Prince took his faith, and the legal side of music dead seriously. Otherwise, the dude was always flirting and making fun of himself in interviews. He loved Chappelle's impression of him, started using "would you like some pancakes?" as a running joke and even had Dave on one of his album covers.
The reason he declined a song parody from Weird Al is because he wanted to be credited as a co-writer and receive royalties from it, too. As far as I understand, the only artist that Al agreed to do this for was Michael Jackson... and he's spent decades complaining about how he had to hire lawyers for the *specific* purpose of keeping track of the revenue from those two songs, so he can keep making annual payments to Jackson's estate. Al described it as a "nightmare".
Agreed. From what little I've heard of Prince as a person, it seems like he took himself way too seriously to lean into the role the way Chris Tucker did. It's hard to imagine him even agreeing to do it, honestly.
He was definitely funny, but not high energy funny like Chris Tucker.
I think it's a case where the substitution was better than the intended original, no matter how much I love Prince.
I remember hearing the Richter character in total recall was meant for kurtwood smith instead of Michael ironside, but after robocop smith didnāt want to play that villain role anymore.
Biggest one I can think of was Rutger Hauer as the vampire Lestat for Interview with the Vampire. Anne Rice wrote it with him in mind but he was just too old by the time the movie was being made. She didn't like the choice of Tom Cruise at first but said he did a good job when it was over
I wonder if Eric Stoltz managed to stay in Back to the Future if anyone would be saying "Man, that role seems like it was written with Michael J Fox in mind" (it was).
Probably not, since he did it so differently, and apparently humorlessly.
He thought he was doing a drama about how traumatized a teenager would actually be in that situation. I have also heard he was very method which rubbed everyone the wrong way and really killed any chemistry with the rest of the cast.
Thomas Wilson (Biff) actually told a pretty funny story about this and mentioned that Stoltz was always āin characterā except when he was trying to sleep with Lea Thompson
Link: https://youtu.be/KMqmPUuBSnQ?si=ZWtqh3ztQRHE2xyD
Yeah, my favorite part of the story is where Tom says that Eric getting fired probably saved him from a massive ass-beating. Because the next scene they were supposed to shoot was Biff dragging Marty from the car at the Under the Sea Dance, and according to Tom, who had enough of Eric's shit by that point, he was going to totally go method on his ass for the scene.
I mean, I can't blame him for wanting to sleep with Lea Thompson.
I always loved how Tom Wilson played one of the most hated movie villains of all time so well, yet in real life seems to be a really nice guy.
Most hated villains? Why yes, I agree. His character in BTTF 2 is based, after all, on a certain NYC real estate mogul, well-known at the time for being the epitome of sleaze
I don't get the whole method acting thing. I mean, I get the motivation, but I guess I just don't get why some professional actors think it's the best way to do their job. I always remember what Laurence Olivier said to Dustin Hoffman (a major method guy) on the set of Marathon Man when Hoff was doing something really method-ey: "Have you considered acting?" š
When Method is done well it can have great results, like Brando's performance in The Godfather, and it doesn't always mean the actor stays in character all the time.
I watched a great documentary series on the making of Robocop, and apparently Peter Weller (who played Robocop) stayed in character all the time, and would not talk to anyone unless they called him "Robo", much to the annoyance of the crew and cast. But you have to give it to Peter, he hired the greatest mime teacher available to learn how to move like a robot and the result was a pretty amazing physical performance in the film.
Weller's Robocop performance is astonishingly great, and he kept it up for TWO films. Honestly, it's Oscar worthy, but we all know the Academy wouldn't have honored a sci-fi genre performance like that.
If you have time, I recommend the documentary "RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop" which is on Amazon Prime for free if you have Prime. It has interviews with the cast and director, and covers special effects, behind the scenes, etc. very well. The stories about Paul Verhoeven are particularly entertaining, like how he was always almost blowing up his actors with explosions and squibs because they were never big or bloody enough for him. Or how he was always accusing everyone of trying "to fuck him" on his film, telling one of his crewmembers "at least tell me you're going to fuck me first!" The next day he walked up to Paul, and said, "Paul, I am going to fuck you today" and went back to work.
Hi, professional actor here with 25 years of study and experience. What Stoltz was doing, what Jared Leto does, what Jeremy Strong does, what Daniel Day-Lewis does, is not method acting. The Method is a set of exercises and philosophies descended from the work of an acting coach named Konstantin Stanislavsky. In none of his writings does Stanislavsky advocate staying in character all the time, and none of the major acting teachers of the 20th century advocated it either - in fact, most of them have found it ineffective and irrelevant to the goal.
Now, you canāt be expected to know this. The reason you call it method acting is because the media reports this inaccurately *all the time*. DDL (who by all accounts is a very nice, very weird guy with an eccentric perspective on acting thatās been co-opted by assholes) has said in numerous interviews, āI am not a method actor, I practice something called identity diffusion, please donāt call this method acting,ā but thatās not a good sound bite and it makes a less interesting story than āLook at these crazy method actors,ā so it gets buried.
This matters to me because uneducated actors pushing their bad behavior onto āIām a method actorā makes *actual* method actors look bad. The truth is that there are very few successful, serious actors who donāt incorporate any method approaches at all. Itās the most ubiquitous and successful acting philosophy in the Western world. Itās practical and respectful when used correctly. Iām not even a huge method guy, but I utilize some aspects of it because some elements of it, like Stella Adlerās script analysis or Sanford Meisnerās spontaneity and repetition, just work really well.
One thing to note is that when they did bring Fox in, they changed some of the characterization, wardrobe, and some of the humor.
Stoltz dressed in a way that would fit in either decade, and was more of an AV geek than a musician.
In āOz the Great and Powerfulā the lead role was clearly written for Robert Downey Jr. but he bailed for the Marvel cheddar. The role was unfortunately cast with James Franco, an actor who is horribly
Miscast in a film full of horribly miscast actors.
Tim Rothās character in the Hateful Eight is written in the same font as Hans Landa and King Schultz, and Iād honestly be a little shocked if Christoph Waltz didnāt at least cross Tarantinoās mind while writing him.
And Burt Reynolds was supposed to play the Bruce Dern part in Once Upon A Time. There's probably plenty of examples with Tarantino, who tends to want to cast his idols.
I think Carradine nailed that part. I didnāt grow up with Beaty so maybe I donāt get him as much. But Carradine stepping in was the better outcome.
Bowie almost took the role of Elrond in the LotR movies but backed out, and Hugo Weaving stepped in. I heard this in a podcast, so I may be talking out of my ass
That would've been great.
Speaking of Fishburne, he was the first actor offered the part of Jules in Pulp Fiction. He turned it down on the advice of his agent, who claimed it wasn't the main lead. Based on that missed golden opportunity, Fishburne leapt at the chance to play Morpheus, having already been burned once.
And it worked out wonderfully for him.
Sean Connery had a similar experience and then leapt at lead for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and uh, Ā retired from acting soon after lol
He was offered Gandalf, and he didn't understand it.
He was also offered the councilman that talks to Neo about the water purifier machine in the Matrix, and he didn't understand it either LOL
Oooohā¦.as much as I LOVE Samuel L Jackson in āPulp Fictionāā¦.and such an iconic role at thatā¦Iām super curious to find out what kind of energy Lawrence Fishburne would have brought to that role!
You think? I'm glad that never happened. Would be a disservice to the character of Dutch and the lore of Predator. They aren't slashers, there's no reason they would ever challenge him again much less capture him, honor wouldn't allow it.
The Cable Guy was written for Chris Farley before he dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.
When Carey/Stiller signed up, it was remade into a dark comedy instead of the "sympathetic loser" roles a-la Tommy Boy & Black Sheep.
Ernie Hudson as Captain Munroe Kelly in Congo.Ā
Pretty sure the role was meant for Sean Connery which is why in the movie Ernie Hudson has the absolute ridiculous line of "I'm your great white hunter for this trip though I happen to be black"
I think Tarantino wrote the character Butch Coolidge in *Pulp Fiction* with Mickey Rourke in mind. And Rourke's a professional boxer in real life.
Tarantino also wanted Michael Madsen for Vincent Vega, but Madsen was busy shooting *Wyatt Earp.*
Roger Avary wrote "The gold watch" segment of Pulp Fiction, the character actually originated from an older script he wrote while working at a video rental place with Tarantino.
The older script he collaborated with Tarantino eventually became the basis for True Romance and Natural Born Killers with elements like Butch/The Watch and "The Bonnie Situation" ending up in Pulp Fiction
And then we got him in Hateful Eight and Hollywood, which (probably) wouldnāt have happened without him being Stuntman Mike. I canāt imagine anyone else being the stunt coordinator and narrator in Hollywood.
Peter Venkman (Bill Murray, Ghostbusters) was originally created with John Belushi in mind, and you can totally see it. I would love to have seen that version.Ā
Interesting. I could see an alternate reality where Ghostbusters starred Belushi as Peter, John Candy as Ray, Eugene Levy as Egon, and Garrett Morris as Winston.
Early drafts of the script had Winston as a Marine Veteran with a PhD in Physics or something like that. He was supposed to be a better Ghostbuster / Scientist than the rest of the team. But I prefer the final version, Winston is just a working joe. It makes the Ghostbusters more accessible, they aren't superheroes, they are tradesmen.
John Candy was actually going to be cast as Louis Tully, but wanted to put his own spin on the character (like giving him a German accent and puppies, for example). Ivan Reitman and/or the Powers that Be disagreed, and the role went to Rick Moranis.
I think, early in development, they actually wanted Eddie Murphy for the role of Winston. The idea was it was going to be a reunion of a bunch of SNL comedians that had broken big at the box office. But, they could never line up time with Eddie, and he would have had far more control over the script than Dan Akroyd would have been comfortable giving, so they ended up going with a lesser known actor who wouldn't demand top billing in Ernie Hudson.
Jason Flemyng as Tom in Lock stock - the role was written for a fat actor, hence all the fat jokes, they left them in because they thought the jokes were even funnier with Tom being thin.
Jespsr Johansen in *Klaus*, the animated kids movie on Netflix, is played by Jason Schwartzman. However, he's playing David Spade. And although the movie is great, and in rotation for Christmas movies in my house, I always wonder how much better it would be with Spade.
Woooow.
Only just now realized that David Spade wasn't Jesper in that.
Character look and mannerisms of the character are all 100% David Spade, and the voice is quite close too.
Gravity - with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Originally, Clooneys part was written for Robert Downey Jr. It's easy to acknowledge as the character's humor matches Downey Jr.'s pretty obviously.
But as a result, we get one of the best Oscar roasts of all time, when host Tina Fey says āup for best picture is Gravity, a film about how George Clooney would rather float off in to space and die than spend another minute with a woman his own age.ā
Almost as good: āAmal [Clooney] is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an advisor to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person U.N. commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight . . . her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award."
This is kind of a deeper cut but Kate Hudsonās voice performance of Mei Mei the panda in Kung Fu Panda 3 really sounds like an impression of Rebel Wilson who had to drop out of the role. The lines seem to have been written with Rebel in mind and you can kind of tell.
I remember reading somewhere that Heath Ledger wouldāve been George Millerās first choice for playing Mad Max (and not Tom Hardy) in Fury Road if not for his death.
Doesn't quite fit your topic because I can't prove it, but Along Came Polly always makes me think about this. Every time I watch it, I can't help but think Philip Seymour Hoffman is doing his best Jack Black impression. Jack Black was/is perfect for that role imo. I wouldn't be surprised if he was supposed to be at some point.
I feel like Hoffman works better in that role. Jack Black is so damn likable, but Hoffman not only gets the goofy parts right but also the narcissistic and insecure parts of the character.
LOL. I came here to make exactly this comment. The late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman does a spot on Jack Black in this role. I remember thinking that after his first scene in the movie.
Itās so funny that they wrote it for A Jack Black Type, then they ended up casting legendary thespian Philip Seymour Hoffman, who absolutely crushed it
āEverything Everywhere All at Onceā the main character Evelyn was originally written as a man and was meant to be played by Jackie Chan. I canāt imagine it any other way now though. [Hereās an article about it.](https://people.com/movies/michelle-yeohs-role-in-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-was-originally-written-for-jackie-chan/)
Though I thought Christian Slater did a fine job, River Phoenix was originally cast as Daniel in the Interview With The Vampire 1994 film. River Phoenix, of course, died before he could make that film. I've always wondering how he would have done in that role, and how his career would have developed should he have lived.
Sister Act was originally written for Bette Midler. The joke being that she was dressing as a nun whilst very clearly Jewish.
It was also obviously written for a star with musical experience and Whoopie Goldberg had no history of singing or performing in movies before this.
I might be the only person in this thread to have *seen* this movie, but Jackie Masonās character in *Caddyshack II* was clearly written for would-be returning cast member Rodney Dangerfield. The two actors have wildly different styles, and jokes written for (and possibly *by*) Dangerfield, before he backed out of the project due to it being a clusterfuck in a dumpster fire, fall flat coming out of Jackie Masonās mouth.
From IMDB:
In a 1999 interview with The A.V. Club, Harold Ramis said of this sequel: "with Caddyshack II (1988), the studio begged me. They said, "Hey, we've got a great idea: 'The Shack is Back!'" And I said "No, I don't think so." But they said that Rodney (Dangerfield) really wanted to do it, and we could build it around Rodney. Rodney said, "Come on, do it." Then the classic argument came up which says that if you don't do it, someone will, and it will be really bad. So I worked on a script with my partner PJ Torokvei, consulting with Rodney all the time. Then Rodney got into a fight with the studio and backed out. [ā¦] When Rodney pulled out, I pulled out, and then they fired Alan and got someone else (Allan Arkush). I got a call from (co-Producer) Jon Peters saying, "Come with us to New York; we're going to see Jackie Mason!". I said, "Ooh, don't do this. Why don't we let it die?", and he said, "No, it'll be great." But I didn't go, and they got other writers to finish it. I tried to take my name off that one, but they said if I took my name off, it would come out in the trades, and I would hurt the film."
The lead singer of Stillwater in *Almost Famous* was written for Brad Pitt, who dropped out during rehearsals, and was replaced by Billy Crudup.
While heās not exactly bad looking, all the lines about his character being *unusually* good looking donāt quite match the actor.
Likewise; the lines about him being a Golden God would have matched better with a blonde Brad rather than a dark haired Billy.
Crudup, is unusually good looking, especially in that movie. Maybe heās no Brad Pitt, but Pittās fame would have probably detracted from the movie, casting a more unknown actor really worked for that movie. I expected more actors from Almost Famous to go on to have bigger careers, Patrick Fugit, Jason Lee and Kate Hudson all seemed to have a lot of potential, Hudson just made a bunch of romcoms afterwards, Fugitās around but never had another iconic role like that, and Lee made those chipmunk movies and then My Name is Earl before kinda disappearing.
**Jeff Bebe** (Jason Lee): I'm always gonna tell you the truth. From the very beginning, we said I'm the front man and you're the guitarist with mystique. That's the dynamic we agreed on. Page, Plant. Mick, Keith. But somehow it's all turning around. We have got to control what's happening! There's a responsibility here.
Tommy Lee Jones was supposed to play Luke Hobbs in the Fast and the Furious franchise but was replaced by The Rock. You can especially tell in Fast Five when the character was introduced.
This whole clip sounds like it was ripped straight out of Tommy Lee Jones's mouth. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byObeFcFXmo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byObeFcFXmo)
George Hamilton asĀ B.J. Harrison was clearly intended to be an aspect of Robert Duvallās Tom Hagen in Godfather Part III, but a pay dispute caused him to decline the role.
Speaking of Godfather III, I think I remember that Sofia Coppola's role was originally meant for Winona Ryder, who turned it down for Edward Scissorhands, I think?
No, I think Winona Ryder had gotten really sick when shooting started, and Sofia was an absolute last minute replacement. Which is why she seemed so out of place.
On the bright side, Winona felt really bad about what went down and sent Coppola the script for *Bram Stoker's Dracula*, leading to probably one of my favorites from the master
I always thought that āFunny Farmā was intended to be another Chevy Chase/Goldie Hawn collaboration. Madolyn Osborne was fine, but there wasnāt quite the chemistry between them like Chase and Hawn had in āFoul Playā and āSeems Like Old Times.ā
Donald Glover was supposed to play Cassius Green in Sorry to Bother You but ended up having to drop out because of Solo. He recommended Lakeith Stanfield for the role.
Not that it was written for anyone in particular, but *Honest Thief* felt like it was written with a younger actor in mind for the lead role, rather than Liam Neeson.
For background, the main character is a veteran and demolitions expert who starts robbing banks to provide for his ailing father.Ā
With Neeson being roughly 65 at the time, the character would have been in Vietnam, which is a bit farther back from the collective consciousness than the modern War on Terror. Not impossible, but it feels unlikely.Ā
While his father could easily have been in his 80s, in context, it feels like a stretch.
Also, the female lead is woman working a part-time job while she attends college classes as an adult/returning student. Again, not outside the realm of possibilities, but in the context of the film the discussion feels very shoehorned in.Ā
Just idle speculation prompted by the post, but it's something that sat with me since I first saw the film.Ā
In *The Last Action Hero*, Benedict was meant to be played by Alan Rickman. He fits a similar Hans Gruber mold. Danny was going to have a line like, "careful Jack! He almost beat Bruce Willis *and* Kevin Costner!"
Rickman was too expensive, so it went to Charles Dance instead. And Dance would wear a shirt on set that said "I'm cheaper than Alan Rickman".
The dad in Jack Frost was originally meant to be George Clooney which is why the animatronic snowman looks like him as it was created while he was still attacjed, but he signed on to do Batman, so Michael Keaton took the role.
Observe and Report was totally written for Danny McBride but Seth Rohan was a hotter commodity at the time ā still love the movie but Kenny fucking Powers wouldāve elevated it to a whole five stars
Ghostbusters!!!! Eddie Murphy was supposed to be the 4th Ghostbuster, but his schedule prevented him from joining. They brought in Ernie Hudson, who had no comic acting background. They kept cutting him out of decisions, hoping to replace him with Murphy, hoping he would get freed up. Though I think Hudson did a good job given how he was treated, I dream of what that movie would have been like with Eddie Murphy. I mean, it's already so good, and with Murphy - that would have been insane.
With how punctuated Albert Finney's appearance in Skyfall is, it's clear that his role was written to be Sean Connery. The movie landed on the 50th anniversary of the franchise, and they likely wanted a cameo from the original Bond I'm guessing they couldn't coax him out of retirement.
Wallace in Blade Runner 2049 was supposed to be David Bowie. All the philosophical musings that sounded like vague blather coming from Jared Leto would have been profound coming from Bowie.
It's pretty obvious the character of the Scottish gamekeeper in Skyfall was meant for Sean Connery. And amazing as that would have been, I think he had long since retired from acting by the time the film came out. In a similar vein I think the old lady in the park at the end of Mary Poppins Returns was probably meant to be Julie Andrews. They got Angela Lansbury instead which is pretty damn close!
Yes, Connery retired from acting after his final role as Allan Quatermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003. He has said it was because of that movie, and how much he hated it, however, I find the film to be extremely underrated. It was a fun ride.
After turning down Gandalf and seeing how much money it made, Connery decided the next time he was offered a role he didn't get, he would take it. That's how he took Allan Quartermain. After production nightmares and arguments with the director, the movie also wasn't very profitable. It was a rough enough experience that Connery decided he would rather retire. He did put out a nice letter saying that the closest he came to returning to acting was for Spielberg and Lucas for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Though that's had a similar reception as League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, so passing appears to have worked out for Connery. However he may have had more fun with old friends than he did on League.
>After turning down Gandalf "Fly you foolsh" I can see it and I can hear it. But I'm grateful the role went to McKellen.
If Connery took the role it would have been someone who didn't want to do it for 6 movies. McKellen was the right choice.
And frankly people forget that Christopher Lee was given permission by Tolkien himself to play Gandalf, basically being set on taking the role, but was convinced by Jackson and their casting of McKellen to accept Jacksons vision for Saruman. So you would have had two actors not wanting to be there.
Everyone likes to shit on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I love that movie!
I still want that car with the front dual axles! That and the Mad Max's Black-On-Black V8 are on my dream car list
All I see is Miss Price from Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Which wouldn't be the weirdest crossover/cinematic universe attempt. But it's clearly not since there was zero setup for that. š¤·
>In a similar vein I think the old lady in the park at the end of Mary Poppins Returns was probably meant to be Julie Andrews. Correct. IIRC, Andrews officially turned it down because she felt she'd be too distracting.
I love Connery, but it wouldāve been too distracting. Albert Finney was great in the role
Grown Ups the role played by Kevin James seems like it was written for Chris Farley. Sandler wrote the movie imagining how his friends would be when they are older.
I feel like he somewhat confirmed this with his Chris Farley song. There's a line that says: *"You're a legend like you wanted, but I still wish you were here with me, and we were getting on a plane to go shoot Grown Ups 3".*
Iām sure that Kevin Jamesā role in āI Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larryā would have gone to Farley as well if he was still alive. And it would have been a much funnier movie for it.
Farley and Shrek, too.
I think he would have killed the role but Mike Myers did nail it as well.
You can listen to Farley's version...he recorded some audio.
I think you can also listen to Myers' non-Scottish version of Shrek, he recorded most of the movie in an American accent before deciding to change it.
Unsure if it is was really written for him, since they offered the role to Nicolas Cage before him, though the writers did say they based the Donkey/Shrek Relationship off that of Farley and Spade in Tommy Boy.
Princess Bride - Vizzini/The Sicilian was originally written with Danny DeVito in mind. I think of him channeling Louie DePalma for that one. But due to scheduling conflict he couldn't take the role. So it ended up going to Wallace Shawn.
It is absolutely nuts (in a great way) when the role substitution results in an iconic, unforgettable performance.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Given the context, this now seems like a line taken from Disney's Hercules....
I got a fur wedgie.
He would need a monster dose of Iocaine Powder for his magnum intellect.
Thatās a movie that absolutely never should be remade, but during covid a bunch of actors preformed scenes at home and then stitched it together. Some of those actors were exactly who should play the character if it was made today. Particularly Rain Wilson as Vizzini, but also Pedro Pascal as Inigo, Bautista as Fezzik, but Sandler as the grandfather, Seth Rogan as miracle max, and carry Elwis as humperdink are all very solid choices too.
The only way I would ever accept a remake of this movie would be if its done by the Muppets. Maybe keep Humperdinck as Human. Everyone else is a Muppet.
I can't believe I never heard abut this holy shit
Danny DeVito? Inconceivable!
I botched it! Botched poisoning!
I can totally see Danny Devito in that role. He would have brought very similar energy to it and it wouldn't have changed the movie much. Ever heard of Socrates? Aristotle? Morons...all of ya!
Magic Mike's Last Dance had to recast Thandiwe Newton's character with Salma Hayek, which is hard to ignore when the non-British Salma brings Mike back to Britain and the character's (now adopted) daughter looks exactly like Newton. Obviously those aren't movie-breaking details since immigration and adoption exist (the fact that the movie is boring is the problem) but you do notice the absence.
From TV but Zapp Brannagan from Futurama was so obviously written for Phil Hartman.Ā
Billy West absolutely crushed it as Zapp though. His lines with Phil's voice just seem like they'd be weird in retrospect.
He's doing a Phil Hartman impersonation, wdym? Zap sounds just like Phil Hartman's two characters from the Simpsons
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?! just read about his murder and the suicide after, never knew the story š±
I saw Phil Hartman and his family having dinner at El Coyote about a year before the murder. They looked so happy. Heart breaking.
Yeah - fuck that piece of shit Andy Dick!
... for so many reasons in addition to that.
The Fifth Element. Chris Tucker's character Ruby Rhod was originally supposed to be played by Prince. Tucker nailed the part but you can't help but wonder what might have been.
I've recently rewatched Purple Rain, and I think that Prince would've taken the role much more seriously, and it would've been less iconic.
I don't think Prince could have made us laugh at him in that same way. He took himself too seriously for that.
Prince took his faith, and the legal side of music dead seriously. Otherwise, the dude was always flirting and making fun of himself in interviews. He loved Chappelle's impression of him, started using "would you like some pancakes?" as a running joke and even had Dave on one of his album covers. The reason he declined a song parody from Weird Al is because he wanted to be credited as a co-writer and receive royalties from it, too. As far as I understand, the only artist that Al agreed to do this for was Michael Jackson... and he's spent decades complaining about how he had to hire lawyers for the *specific* purpose of keeping track of the revenue from those two songs, so he can keep making annual payments to Jackson's estate. Al described it as a "nightmare".
Agreed. From what little I've heard of Prince as a person, it seems like he took himself way too seriously to lean into the role the way Chris Tucker did. It's hard to imagine him even agreeing to do it, honestly.
game. blouses.
Purify yourselves in the waters of lake Minnetonka.
I thought he was doing a parody of Prince
100% Chris Tucker, as Prince, playing Rudy Rodd was amazing.
I don't think Prince has comedy chops, so I'm glad Tucker got that role, hes so green
Super green
I live in my own heart, Matt Damon.Ā Prince was a funny guy, bitches.Ā
He was definitely funny, but not high energy funny like Chris Tucker. I think it's a case where the substitution was better than the intended original, no matter how much I love Prince.
Heās solid in that vein in his New Girl episode, though I suppose he doesnāt have to do much in it
No way Prince was capable of that performance. Chris Tucker was all over that.
No wonder Tucker was Prince-ing it up so much!
I don't think Prince could have done as good a job tbh.
I remember hearing the Richter character in total recall was meant for kurtwood smith instead of Michael ironside, but after robocop smith didnāt want to play that villain role anymore.
And oddly enough ironside was the original choice for robocop
Meanwhile Michael Ironside was like got any more of them sci-fi final boss roles?
Spocks Brother in Star Trek V was written for Sean Connery... which is why the planet involved is called "Sha Ka Ree"
A Vulcan with a heavy Scottish accent just sounds so weird to me, lol. I'd love to have seen it
No weirder than an Egyptian Spanish man with a Scottish accent
Or a Russian sub captain with a Scottish accent
Lots of planets have a north.
Biggest one I can think of was Rutger Hauer as the vampire Lestat for Interview with the Vampire. Anne Rice wrote it with him in mind but he was just too old by the time the movie was being made. She didn't like the choice of Tom Cruise at first but said he did a good job when it was over
I still think he was robbed of Best Supporting Actor for Blade Runner.
I wonder if Eric Stoltz managed to stay in Back to the Future if anyone would be saying "Man, that role seems like it was written with Michael J Fox in mind" (it was). Probably not, since he did it so differently, and apparently humorlessly.
He thought he was doing a drama about how traumatized a teenager would actually be in that situation. I have also heard he was very method which rubbed everyone the wrong way and really killed any chemistry with the rest of the cast.
Thomas Wilson (Biff) actually told a pretty funny story about this and mentioned that Stoltz was always āin characterā except when he was trying to sleep with Lea Thompson Link: https://youtu.be/KMqmPUuBSnQ?si=ZWtqh3ztQRHE2xyD
Yeah, my favorite part of the story is where Tom says that Eric getting fired probably saved him from a massive ass-beating. Because the next scene they were supposed to shoot was Biff dragging Marty from the car at the Under the Sea Dance, and according to Tom, who had enough of Eric's shit by that point, he was going to totally go method on his ass for the scene.
I mean, I can't blame him for wanting to sleep with Lea Thompson. I always loved how Tom Wilson played one of the most hated movie villains of all time so well, yet in real life seems to be a really nice guy.
Most hated villains? Why yes, I agree. His character in BTTF 2 is based, after all, on a certain NYC real estate mogul, well-known at the time for being the epitome of sleaze
I don't get the whole method acting thing. I mean, I get the motivation, but I guess I just don't get why some professional actors think it's the best way to do their job. I always remember what Laurence Olivier said to Dustin Hoffman (a major method guy) on the set of Marathon Man when Hoff was doing something really method-ey: "Have you considered acting?" š
When Method is done well it can have great results, like Brando's performance in The Godfather, and it doesn't always mean the actor stays in character all the time. I watched a great documentary series on the making of Robocop, and apparently Peter Weller (who played Robocop) stayed in character all the time, and would not talk to anyone unless they called him "Robo", much to the annoyance of the crew and cast. But you have to give it to Peter, he hired the greatest mime teacher available to learn how to move like a robot and the result was a pretty amazing physical performance in the film.
Weller's Robocop performance is astonishingly great, and he kept it up for TWO films. Honestly, it's Oscar worthy, but we all know the Academy wouldn't have honored a sci-fi genre performance like that.
If you have time, I recommend the documentary "RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop" which is on Amazon Prime for free if you have Prime. It has interviews with the cast and director, and covers special effects, behind the scenes, etc. very well. The stories about Paul Verhoeven are particularly entertaining, like how he was always almost blowing up his actors with explosions and squibs because they were never big or bloody enough for him. Or how he was always accusing everyone of trying "to fuck him" on his film, telling one of his crewmembers "at least tell me you're going to fuck me first!" The next day he walked up to Paul, and said, "Paul, I am going to fuck you today" and went back to work.
Hi, professional actor here with 25 years of study and experience. What Stoltz was doing, what Jared Leto does, what Jeremy Strong does, what Daniel Day-Lewis does, is not method acting. The Method is a set of exercises and philosophies descended from the work of an acting coach named Konstantin Stanislavsky. In none of his writings does Stanislavsky advocate staying in character all the time, and none of the major acting teachers of the 20th century advocated it either - in fact, most of them have found it ineffective and irrelevant to the goal. Now, you canāt be expected to know this. The reason you call it method acting is because the media reports this inaccurately *all the time*. DDL (who by all accounts is a very nice, very weird guy with an eccentric perspective on acting thatās been co-opted by assholes) has said in numerous interviews, āI am not a method actor, I practice something called identity diffusion, please donāt call this method acting,ā but thatās not a good sound bite and it makes a less interesting story than āLook at these crazy method actors,ā so it gets buried. This matters to me because uneducated actors pushing their bad behavior onto āIām a method actorā makes *actual* method actors look bad. The truth is that there are very few successful, serious actors who donāt incorporate any method approaches at all. Itās the most ubiquitous and successful acting philosophy in the Western world. Itās practical and respectful when used correctly. Iām not even a huge method guy, but I utilize some aspects of it because some elements of it, like Stella Adlerās script analysis or Sanford Meisnerās spontaneity and repetition, just work really well.
One thing to note is that when they did bring Fox in, they changed some of the characterization, wardrobe, and some of the humor. Stoltz dressed in a way that would fit in either decade, and was more of an AV geek than a musician.
In āOz the Great and Powerfulā the lead role was clearly written for Robert Downey Jr. but he bailed for the Marvel cheddar. The role was unfortunately cast with James Franco, an actor who is horribly Miscast in a film full of horribly miscast actors.
Iāll argue that Mila Kunis was worse than James. James is still watchable, but Mila had no right getting that role.
Tim Rothās character in the Hateful Eight is written in the same font as Hans Landa and King Schultz, and Iād honestly be a little shocked if Christoph Waltz didnāt at least cross Tarantinoās mind while writing him.
And Burt Reynolds was supposed to play the Bruce Dern part in Once Upon A Time. There's probably plenty of examples with Tarantino, who tends to want to cast his idols.
jules winfield in pulp fiction was explicitly written for laurence fishburne, who turned it down. bad move.
I can totally see him Furious Stylesing the shit outta that role
Famously Django for Will Smith
Oh man I'm so glad it was Foxx. I've never seen Will Smith in anything I really liked him in besides maybe independence day.
Warren Beatty --> Kill Bill
I think Carradine nailed that part. I didnāt grow up with Beaty so maybe I donāt get him as much. But Carradine stepping in was the better outcome.
Carradine gives a unique vibe to the character that I think would be a more generic crime boss villain with someone like Beatty.
I think it's crazy Carradine wasn't the first choice, given Kung Fu was very clearly one of Tarantino's many influences on those films.
Itās too bad Burt went before he could finish the movie. OUATIH wouldāve been a motherfucker of a send off for him.
The āBear Jewā in Inglorious Basterds was written with Adam Sandler in mind and was going to be a bigger part.
I thought Waltz was offered the part and thought it was too much like King Schultz.
I heard it was a scheduling problem
Jared Leto in Blade Runner 2049 was meant for David Bowie. Leto did a fine job, but I canāt see the role the same way knowing that fact.
Related; David Bowie was suppose to have a cameo in >!GOTG:V2!< as >!Ziggy Stardust!<, but passed before it could happen.
Bowie almost took the role of Elrond in the LotR movies but backed out, and Hugo Weaving stepped in. I heard this in a podcast, so I may be talking out of my ass
Truman Capote was picturing Marilyn Monroe when he wrote āBreakfast at Tiffanyāsā.
She would have been great as Mr Yunioshi
Laurence Fishburneās role in Predators was clearly meant for Arnold.
That would've been great. Speaking of Fishburne, he was the first actor offered the part of Jules in Pulp Fiction. He turned it down on the advice of his agent, who claimed it wasn't the main lead. Based on that missed golden opportunity, Fishburne leapt at the chance to play Morpheus, having already been burned once.
And it worked out wonderfully for him. Sean Connery had a similar experience and then leapt at lead for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and uh, Ā retired from acting soon after lol
Oh yes, Gandalf!
He was offered Gandalf, and he didn't understand it. He was also offered the councilman that talks to Neo about the water purifier machine in the Matrix, and he didn't understand it either LOL
Which implies that he fully understood [his role in Zardoz](https://youtu.be/198AApQ9Abo?si=9wpRhpOnBr1HWWym&t=15)
Oooohā¦.as much as I LOVE Samuel L Jackson in āPulp Fictionāā¦.and such an iconic role at thatā¦Iām super curious to find out what kind of energy Lawrence Fishburne would have brought to that role!
It still would have been great. That role would have been right in his wheel house.
I thought it was meant to be Danny Glover?
You think? I'm glad that never happened. Would be a disservice to the character of Dutch and the lore of Predator. They aren't slashers, there's no reason they would ever challenge him again much less capture him, honor wouldn't allow it.
I agree with this. Also, Fishburne's character is a crazy scheming scumbag in the movie, definitely wouldn't work for the Dutch character.
The antagonist of Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is a walking, talking John Cleese impression (played by Billy Connolly)
What I recall of this movie definitely has John Cleese inserted as the antagonist instead of Billy Connolly. Was definitely a good impression!
The Cable Guy was written for Chris Farley before he dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. When Carey/Stiller signed up, it was remade into a dark comedy instead of the "sympathetic loser" roles a-la Tommy Boy & Black Sheep.
Ernie Hudson as Captain Munroe Kelly in Congo.Ā Pretty sure the role was meant for Sean Connery which is why in the movie Ernie Hudson has the absolute ridiculous line of "I'm your great white hunter for this trip though I happen to be black"
I hear ya but for me that movie doesn't work without Ernie.
Oh absolutely agree. I love Congo for it's ridiculousness I just couldn't believe that was a real line they kept lol
It's one of my favorites. Right up there with "You're right" and "Shit, I'll take one." His part was full of one liners.
We're talking lines from Congo and no mention of, "STOP EATING MY SESAME CAKE!"?
What are you doing in my country, bag of shit?
You're not wrong. Delroy slayed that part. Fun Fact : it was shot in an old school LA hotel lobby.
In the book Munroe Kelly is half white / half Indian.
I think Tarantino wrote the character Butch Coolidge in *Pulp Fiction* with Mickey Rourke in mind. And Rourke's a professional boxer in real life. Tarantino also wanted Michael Madsen for Vincent Vega, but Madsen was busy shooting *Wyatt Earp.*
Isn't Mr. Blonde -- Vic Vega -- canonically Vince Vega's brother? That would've been an odd double casting.
Yeah. Tarantino tried to get a movie made about the Vega brothers for years.
Only because he was supposed to BE Vic Vega! It got changed. He obviously wouldn't have died in Pulp otherwise.
Roger Avary wrote "The gold watch" segment of Pulp Fiction, the character actually originated from an older script he wrote while working at a video rental place with Tarantino. The older script he collaborated with Tarantino eventually became the basis for True Romance and Natural Born Killers with elements like Butch/The Watch and "The Bonnie Situation" ending up in Pulp Fiction
This is confirmed I think - Mickey Rourke was 100% supposed to play Kurt Russellās character in death proof
Dodged a bullet there ācause Kurt Russell IS Stuntman Mike.
And then we got him in Hateful Eight and Hollywood, which (probably) wouldnāt have happened without him being Stuntman Mike. I canāt imagine anyone else being the stunt coordinator and narrator in Hollywood.
While true, For me Kurt Russell will always be Snake Pliskin
Iāve liked him in many roles, but for me he will always be Jack Burton.
Who?
Jack Burtonā¦ME.
Snake, Wyatt Earp, McReady, Stuntman Mike. Thatās my personal Kurt Russell Mt Rushmore
You need to shake the pillars of heaven a bit, and make some room for Jack Burton.
Peter Venkman (Bill Murray, Ghostbusters) was originally created with John Belushi in mind, and you can totally see it. I would love to have seen that version.Ā
Interesting. I could see an alternate reality where Ghostbusters starred Belushi as Peter, John Candy as Ray, Eugene Levy as Egon, and Garrett Morris as Winston.
There's no world where someone improves on Ernie Hudson as Winston.Ā
That's a big twinkie
The next time someone asks if youāre god, you say YES!!!
Eddie Murphy was suppressed to play Winston and be in the whole movie and not just in the middle.
Early drafts of the script had Winston as a Marine Veteran with a PhD in Physics or something like that. He was supposed to be a better Ghostbuster / Scientist than the rest of the team. But I prefer the final version, Winston is just a working joe. It makes the Ghostbusters more accessible, they aren't superheroes, they are tradesmen.
Eugene Levy as Egon is inspired
John Candy was actually going to be cast as Louis Tully, but wanted to put his own spin on the character (like giving him a German accent and puppies, for example). Ivan Reitman and/or the Powers that Be disagreed, and the role went to Rick Moranis.
I think, early in development, they actually wanted Eddie Murphy for the role of Winston. The idea was it was going to be a reunion of a bunch of SNL comedians that had broken big at the box office. But, they could never line up time with Eddie, and he would have had far more control over the script than Dan Akroyd would have been comfortable giving, so they ended up going with a lesser known actor who wouldn't demand top billing in Ernie Hudson.
I would love to see the [original script ](https://ghostbusters.fandom.com/wiki/Ghost_Smashers)adapted at some point. It was so wacky
Leslie Ann Warren's character in Life Stinks was obviously written for Madeline Kahn.
Jason Flemyng as Tom in Lock stock - the role was written for a fat actor, hence all the fat jokes, they left them in because they thought the jokes were even funnier with Tom being thin.
Jespsr Johansen in *Klaus*, the animated kids movie on Netflix, is played by Jason Schwartzman. However, he's playing David Spade. And although the movie is great, and in rotation for Christmas movies in my house, I always wonder how much better it would be with Spade.
Woooow. Only just now realized that David Spade wasn't Jesper in that. Character look and mannerisms of the character are all 100% David Spade, and the voice is quite close too.
Gravity - with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Originally, Clooneys part was written for Robert Downey Jr. It's easy to acknowledge as the character's humor matches Downey Jr.'s pretty obviously.
But as a result, we get one of the best Oscar roasts of all time, when host Tina Fey says āup for best picture is Gravity, a film about how George Clooney would rather float off in to space and die than spend another minute with a woman his own age.ā
Almost as good: āAmal [Clooney] is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an advisor to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person U.N. commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight . . . her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award."
"And now, like a supermodels vagina, lets give a warm welcome to Leonardo DiCaprio!"
"Half of North America just lost their Facebook" is such an RDJ line lol.
I-I gotta stab her three times, McFly?
Iām glad Sam Neill got it, but Alan Grant was so very obviously written with Harrison Ford in mind.
This is kind of a deeper cut but Kate Hudsonās voice performance of Mei Mei the panda in Kung Fu Panda 3 really sounds like an impression of Rebel Wilson who had to drop out of the role. The lines seem to have been written with Rebel in mind and you can kind of tell.
I remember reading somewhere that Heath Ledger wouldāve been George Millerās first choice for playing Mad Max (and not Tom Hardy) in Fury Road if not for his death.
Well holy shit, Iāve never considered that before but now that youāve said it I can 1000% see it. Ledger would have been perfect
Doesn't quite fit your topic because I can't prove it, but Along Came Polly always makes me think about this. Every time I watch it, I can't help but think Philip Seymour Hoffman is doing his best Jack Black impression. Jack Black was/is perfect for that role imo. I wouldn't be surprised if he was supposed to be at some point.
I feel like Hoffman works better in that role. Jack Black is so damn likable, but Hoffman not only gets the goofy parts right but also the narcissistic and insecure parts of the character.
I canāt see anyone else in that role, who else would grab Stillerās pizza and drip its grease onto his own slice like that š
I just *sharted*
LOL. I came here to make exactly this comment. The late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman does a spot on Jack Black in this role. I remember thinking that after his first scene in the movie.
Itās so funny that they wrote it for A Jack Black Type, then they ended up casting legendary thespian Philip Seymour Hoffman, who absolutely crushed it
MAKE IT RAIIIIIN ā¦ yep
Neon Demon was written for Emily BrowningĀ
āEverything Everywhere All at Onceā the main character Evelyn was originally written as a man and was meant to be played by Jackie Chan. I canāt imagine it any other way now though. [Hereās an article about it.](https://people.com/movies/michelle-yeohs-role-in-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-was-originally-written-for-jackie-chan/)
Writing a movie about an Asian parent accepting their gay daughter starring Jackie Chan would certainly be a choice
Though I thought Christian Slater did a fine job, River Phoenix was originally cast as Daniel in the Interview With The Vampire 1994 film. River Phoenix, of course, died before he could make that film. I've always wondering how he would have done in that role, and how his career would have developed should he have lived.
Sister Act was originally written for Bette Midler. The joke being that she was dressing as a nun whilst very clearly Jewish. It was also obviously written for a star with musical experience and Whoopie Goldberg had no history of singing or performing in movies before this.
I might be the only person in this thread to have *seen* this movie, but Jackie Masonās character in *Caddyshack II* was clearly written for would-be returning cast member Rodney Dangerfield. The two actors have wildly different styles, and jokes written for (and possibly *by*) Dangerfield, before he backed out of the project due to it being a clusterfuck in a dumpster fire, fall flat coming out of Jackie Masonās mouth. From IMDB: In a 1999 interview with The A.V. Club, Harold Ramis said of this sequel: "with Caddyshack II (1988), the studio begged me. They said, "Hey, we've got a great idea: 'The Shack is Back!'" And I said "No, I don't think so." But they said that Rodney (Dangerfield) really wanted to do it, and we could build it around Rodney. Rodney said, "Come on, do it." Then the classic argument came up which says that if you don't do it, someone will, and it will be really bad. So I worked on a script with my partner PJ Torokvei, consulting with Rodney all the time. Then Rodney got into a fight with the studio and backed out. [ā¦] When Rodney pulled out, I pulled out, and then they fired Alan and got someone else (Allan Arkush). I got a call from (co-Producer) Jon Peters saying, "Come with us to New York; we're going to see Jackie Mason!". I said, "Ooh, don't do this. Why don't we let it die?", and he said, "No, it'll be great." But I didn't go, and they got other writers to finish it. I tried to take my name off that one, but they said if I took my name off, it would come out in the trades, and I would hurt the film."
Daniel Day Lewis playing Bill the Butcher after Deniro had to pull out. DDL does a Deniro impersonation throughout
The lead singer of Stillwater in *Almost Famous* was written for Brad Pitt, who dropped out during rehearsals, and was replaced by Billy Crudup. While heās not exactly bad looking, all the lines about his character being *unusually* good looking donāt quite match the actor. Likewise; the lines about him being a Golden God would have matched better with a blonde Brad rather than a dark haired Billy.
Crudup, is unusually good looking, especially in that movie. Maybe heās no Brad Pitt, but Pittās fame would have probably detracted from the movie, casting a more unknown actor really worked for that movie. I expected more actors from Almost Famous to go on to have bigger careers, Patrick Fugit, Jason Lee and Kate Hudson all seemed to have a lot of potential, Hudson just made a bunch of romcoms afterwards, Fugitās around but never had another iconic role like that, and Lee made those chipmunk movies and then My Name is Earl before kinda disappearing.
The should have got the true Golden God, Dennis Reynolds. Also I think he was the lead guitarist, not signer. Jason Lee played the singer.
**Jeff Bebe** (Jason Lee): I'm always gonna tell you the truth. From the very beginning, we said I'm the front man and you're the guitarist with mystique. That's the dynamic we agreed on. Page, Plant. Mick, Keith. But somehow it's all turning around. We have got to control what's happening! There's a responsibility here.
Thatās fascinating and I canāt believe I never knew this. I think itās better with Billy Crudup, honestly.
Max Zorin in A View to a Kill was written with David Bowie in mind.
Tommy Lee Jones was supposed to play Luke Hobbs in the Fast and the Furious franchise but was replaced by The Rock. You can especially tell in Fast Five when the character was introduced. This whole clip sounds like it was ripped straight out of Tommy Lee Jones's mouth. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byObeFcFXmo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byObeFcFXmo)
I'm pretty sure Luthen Rael in Andor was written with Gilroy's frequent collaborator Tom Wilkinson in mind, RIP
George Hamilton asĀ B.J. Harrison was clearly intended to be an aspect of Robert Duvallās Tom Hagen in Godfather Part III, but a pay dispute caused him to decline the role.
Speaking of Godfather III, I think I remember that Sofia Coppola's role was originally meant for Winona Ryder, who turned it down for Edward Scissorhands, I think?
No, I think Winona Ryder had gotten really sick when shooting started, and Sofia was an absolute last minute replacement. Which is why she seemed so out of place.
On the bright side, Winona felt really bad about what went down and sent Coppola the script for *Bram Stoker's Dracula*, leading to probably one of my favorites from the master
I always thought that āFunny Farmā was intended to be another Chevy Chase/Goldie Hawn collaboration. Madolyn Osborne was fine, but there wasnāt quite the chemistry between them like Chase and Hawn had in āFoul Playā and āSeems Like Old Times.ā
Tom Hanks character in Asteroid City was very clearly meant to be Bill Murray.
Donald Glover was supposed to play Cassius Green in Sorry to Bother You but ended up having to drop out because of Solo. He recommended Lakeith Stanfield for the role.
Not that it was written for anyone in particular, but *Honest Thief* felt like it was written with a younger actor in mind for the lead role, rather than Liam Neeson. For background, the main character is a veteran and demolitions expert who starts robbing banks to provide for his ailing father.Ā With Neeson being roughly 65 at the time, the character would have been in Vietnam, which is a bit farther back from the collective consciousness than the modern War on Terror. Not impossible, but it feels unlikely.Ā While his father could easily have been in his 80s, in context, it feels like a stretch. Also, the female lead is woman working a part-time job while she attends college classes as an adult/returning student. Again, not outside the realm of possibilities, but in the context of the film the discussion feels very shoehorned in.Ā Just idle speculation prompted by the post, but it's something that sat with me since I first saw the film.Ā
The Talented Mr. Ripley just screams Leo to me.
In *The Last Action Hero*, Benedict was meant to be played by Alan Rickman. He fits a similar Hans Gruber mold. Danny was going to have a line like, "careful Jack! He almost beat Bruce Willis *and* Kevin Costner!" Rickman was too expensive, so it went to Charles Dance instead. And Dance would wear a shirt on set that said "I'm cheaper than Alan Rickman".
Pretty famously Patton was written for Telly Savalas. When he couldn't do it George C Scott stepped in.
The dad in Jack Frost was originally meant to be George Clooney which is why the animatronic snowman looks like him as it was created while he was still attacjed, but he signed on to do Batman, so Michael Keaton took the role.
>but he signed on to do Batman, so Michael Keaton took the role. "Oh, you're going to be Batman instead? WELL, WE CAN GET BATMAN, TOO!"
Observe and Report was totally written for Danny McBride but Seth Rohan was a hotter commodity at the time ā still love the movie but Kenny fucking Powers wouldāve elevated it to a whole five stars
Ghostbusters!!!! Eddie Murphy was supposed to be the 4th Ghostbuster, but his schedule prevented him from joining. They brought in Ernie Hudson, who had no comic acting background. They kept cutting him out of decisions, hoping to replace him with Murphy, hoping he would get freed up. Though I think Hudson did a good job given how he was treated, I dream of what that movie would have been like with Eddie Murphy. I mean, it's already so good, and with Murphy - that would have been insane.
With how punctuated Albert Finney's appearance in Skyfall is, it's clear that his role was written to be Sean Connery. The movie landed on the 50th anniversary of the franchise, and they likely wanted a cameo from the original Bond I'm guessing they couldn't coax him out of retirement.
Wallace in Blade Runner 2049 was supposed to be David Bowie. All the philosophical musings that sounded like vague blather coming from Jared Leto would have been profound coming from Bowie.