Top 10 Times Actors Turned Down Big Roles
Specific roles can make or break an actor’s career. Some roles never get the chance to, not because the actor didn’t get it, but because they declined the role. This list will focus on 10 times actors turned down roles that went on to be big. Take note that I don’t think mosts of these actor’s careers were negatively impacted by the lack of these roles, most of these would just be a bolster to the resume.r
Matt Damon as Jake Sully in ‘Avatar’- Somehow ‘Avatar’ managed to become the highest-grossing film ever ($2.923 billion) without a household name in the starring role. No offense to Sam Worthington, he’s cool and all, but if you look at the other actors attached he’s a tad underwhelming. People who auditioned and didn’t get the part include Chrises Pratt, Pine, & Evans, as well as Channing Tatum. Jake Gyllenhaal was offered the part, but declined to focus on ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ (oof). But the first person to turn down the role was Matt Damon, who was approached by Cameron himself. He turned down the role due to his commitment to ‘The Borune Ultimatum’ and the real kicker is not that this movie would be work for years to come because of it’s numerous sequels, but that Cameron offered Damon a whopping 10% of the film’s profits. That would’ve made Damon the highest paid actor for a single credit, in fact it would double the current lead.
Tom Cruise as ‘Edward Scissorhands’- Another role with numerous actors attached, Jim Carrey & John Cusack were considered, William Hurt, Robert Downey Jr., & Michael Jackson (yes, that one) expressed interest, while Tom Hanks & Gary Oldman turned down the role all before Depp was offered the part. Now the reason I chose Cruise over Oldman or Hanks, was because of his reasoning. He wasn’t Burton’s first choice, but was the studios. Cruise wanted a happier ending and had a lot of questions, including wanting to know how the actor would use the restroom. Oh Tom.
Denzel Washington in ‘Michael Clayton’ & ‘Se7en’- I’m hitting a two for here. Denzel first turned down the role of David Mills (would later go to Brad Pitt) in 1995’s ‘Se7en,’ a role that was also turned down by Sylvester Stallone. Denzel also then turned down the titular role in ‘Michael Clayton,’ due to Tony Gilroy being a first time director. George Clooney would take the role and received an Oscar nomination for the part.
Jackie Chan & Awkwafina ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’- This 2022 Best Picture winner almost looked a lot different. Firstly, the script was originally written with Jackie Chan as the protagonist, before the Daniels changed the main role to that of a woman and to make it a husband-wife dynamic, at which point they immediately thought up the role for Michelle Yeoh. It was announced she would be starring as Evelyn alongside Awkwafina as her daughter, Joy. Awkwafina soon left the project due to a scheduling conflict and Stephanie Hsu was brought in. Hsu received an Oscar nomination for the role (losing to co-star Jamie Lee Curtis), while Awkwafina received Nothing Nowhere Never. Gosh that was a bad joke.
Will Smith as Neo in ‘The Matrix’- When The Wachowskis first thought up the idea of this oft confusing movie, they confused someone they wanted to play an integral part of the film. They approached Will Smith in 1996 to play Neo and Smith would explain years later that he turned down the role because the story didn’t make sense to him. Of course the role of Neo went to Keanu Reeves, and Smith also revealed the role of Morpheus was intended for Val Kilmer, though it went to Laurence Fishburne. Smith then when on to make ‘Wild Wild West’ instead which I believe historically is considered just as good as ‘The Matrix’ right?
Rachel McAdams as Andy Sachs in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’- This film of course stars Meryl Streep & Anne Hathaway as Miranda Priestly & Andy Sachs. Other actresses considered for the part of Miranda include Glenn Close, Catherine Zeta-Jones, & Michelle Pfeiffer, but it seems Streep was always the first choice. Meanwhile, Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, & Kate Hudson were considered for this film, but the part was offered to Rachel McAdams. Fresh off of ‘Mean Girls’ & ‘The Notebook,’ McAdams turned down the part, telling the studio she wanted to do some less high profile jobs for a time.
Angelina Jolie & Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Gravity’- When this film entered production in 2010, Angelina Jolie was originally attached to play the lead role. She however dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Other actresses briefly attached were Marion Cotillard (passed for ‘Inception’), Natalie Portman (scheduling conflicts), Blake Lively (scheduling conflicts), & many other high profile stars. Finally, the studio reached out to Sandra Bullock and she accepted and ended up receiving an Oscar nomination for her role (many believe she should have won). Robert Downey Jr. was in discussion for the male lead, but left to pursue Shawn Levy’s ‘How to Talk to Girls,’ which was never made. George Clooney then took the role.
Various Actors as ‘Donnie Darko’- This 2001 film stars Jake Gyllenhaal in the titular role. Before Gyllenhaal was offered the part, it was offered to Vince Vaughn, who rejected because he felt he was too old (he was 30 at the time, compared to Gyllenhaal’s 20), then Mark Wahlberg, but he insisted that the character needed to speak with a lisp. The studio disagree, so Wahlberg declined. The part then went to Jason Schwartzman who accepted and was very excited, before leaving the role for scheduling conflicts.
Josh Hartnett as Batman in ‘Batman Begins’- When Christopher Nolan began his work on his legendary Batman trilogy, many, many actors were interested in the part, because well it is Batman. Henry Cavill (later played Superman), Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger (later played Joker), Cillian Murphy (instead played Scarecrow), & Billy Crudup to name a few. One actor who was not interested was Josh Hartnett, who Nolan met with, but declined. He would later work with Nolan on ‘Oppenheimer’ and has seen a recent career resurgence. And as for Batman, he would of course be played by Christian Bale. Then Ben Affleck. Then Robert Pattinson. And I suppose we’ll see who’s next.
Sylvester Stallone as Axel Foley in ‘Beverly Hills Cop’- I genuinely think no one would ever notice this, but I’m going to address it. There are 11 entries here. But that sounds stupid in my title and I didn’t want to cut any so I apologize for that deception. This is quite the chronicle. Before Eddie Murphy received what is one of his career defining roles, two other actors had the part. Mickey Rourke had the role, but left for another project because the film was taking longer than he thought it would. Then is the saga of Sly. Buckle up. Stallone received the script and gave it DRAMATIC rewrites. He removed all the humor, making it a standard action film. He renamed the character Axel Cobretti, because I assume, well Italian. Stallone said his film would’ve resembled the opening Normandy scene in ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ Okay, sure buddy. Producers were quoted on saying the new version spent a lot of time with Axel ‘soaping down his muscles.’ Stallone eventually left two weeks prior to filming, and used the ideas to make his film ‘Cobra’ which turned out to be just as synonymous as ‘Beverly Hills Cop.’
Glen Powell in ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’- This upcoming film is set to be released summer of 2025 and is not a direct sequel to the Chris Pratt led trilogy, as it features a whole new cast. The film will star an ensemble including Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, & Jonathan Bailey. Johansson’s part was originally considered for Jennifer Lawrence and the hottest (relevancy I mean, but also yes he is hot in that way) man in Hollywood, Glen Powell was offered a role. He declined, and my own assumption is this is the role that went to Bailey.
