Actor turning down roles
#1
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Actors turning down roles
Any actors who turned down a role, because they didn't think they were talented enough to pull it off?
Last edited by Yeti4623; 03-07-14 at 12:51 AM.
#2
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Actor turning down roles
How about actors who turned down roles because of arrogance or indifference? One has to wonder if George Raft regrets turning down High Sierra. Similar to Bogart, Eastwood's career was built off of Charles Bronson turning down The Man With No Name trilogy and John Wayne turning down Dirty Harry.
Speaking of Wayne, he also turned down Blazing Saddles. So they went with Cleavon Little instead.;-}
Speaking of Wayne, he also turned down Blazing Saddles. So they went with Cleavon Little instead.;-}
#3
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Re: Actor turning down roles
I heard Angelina Jolie turned down Bullock's role in Gravity...
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Re: Actor turning down roles
Quickly you do "what if this what if that" route but then learn it doesn't really matter , everything work out anyway , it makes sense in time. So i was bummed Liam Neeson didn't get Lincoln, but in retrospect Lincoln kind of sucked aside from DDL himself, so instead we got to see Neeson actually spearheading the action genre spiffily. While Lincoln will go down as the biggest example of Spielberg's stale direction.
#6
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Re: Actor turning down roles
Don't know if it qualifies as a 'great role' but Charlie Hunnam backing out of 50 Shades might qualify. Of course, that's assuming that he wasn't forced out due to complaints. EW reported that Hunnam said that he didn't have time to 'adequately prepare'; evidently Sons doesn't allow enough belt whuppins to the club skanks.
(Later on, Hunnam said that he wanted to spend more time with family)
dugan's reposting of an earlier related thread makes for good reading; didn't have time to go through it all, but there's a bunch of examples listed. Always fun to see the 'what-might-have-beens, epecially with iconic roles.
(Later on, Hunnam said that he wanted to spend more time with family)
dugan's reposting of an earlier related thread makes for good reading; didn't have time to go through it all, but there's a bunch of examples listed. Always fun to see the 'what-might-have-beens, epecially with iconic roles.
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#10
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Re: Actors turning down roles
Considering that "The Love Guru" got made, that script must have been pretty bad.
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Re: Actor turning down roles
I think this begs the question, did the actor that played the role make it great or was the role itself "great" and any actor could have filled it. When I look at great roles, my belief is that the actor makes the role great not that it is an inherently great role.
Case in point, I am not a great fan of Tom Arnold but I can't picture a better actor in the role he played in True Lies. In my opinion, he helped make that a great movie and the role he played in it was great because he played it. Just my opinion.
On the flip side, I like Willem Dafoe as an actor. He has done some great things but having read most of Tom Clancy's books, Dafoe was a disappointment to me as John Clark in Clear And Present Danger. I think he was miscast and as a result, what should have been a great role turned out to be adequate at best.
Case in point, I am not a great fan of Tom Arnold but I can't picture a better actor in the role he played in True Lies. In my opinion, he helped make that a great movie and the role he played in it was great because he played it. Just my opinion.
On the flip side, I like Willem Dafoe as an actor. He has done some great things but having read most of Tom Clancy's books, Dafoe was a disappointment to me as John Clark in Clear And Present Danger. I think he was miscast and as a result, what should have been a great role turned out to be adequate at best.
Last edited by MScottM; 03-07-14 at 09:23 AM.
#13
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Actor turning down roles
I don't think you'll find too many examples of what you want. Most actors, I assume, wouldn't want to admit they didn't think they were good enough for a role, and many actually enjoy challenging themselves.
Although this does remind me of an article I read in EW a while back about the attempts to get a new Fletch movie off the ground. It said that several prominent actors have turned down the role, in the fear that they could not hope to match Chevy Chase's "iconic" performance. I knew it had kind of a following, but I had no idea the film (or especially Chase's performance) was held in such high regard. It's not as if it would even be a true remake, but rather an adaptation of the books.
Here's the article if anyone is interested: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20342679,00.html
Although this does remind me of an article I read in EW a while back about the attempts to get a new Fletch movie off the ground. It said that several prominent actors have turned down the role, in the fear that they could not hope to match Chevy Chase's "iconic" performance. I knew it had kind of a following, but I had no idea the film (or especially Chase's performance) was held in such high regard. It's not as if it would even be a true remake, but rather an adaptation of the books.
Here's the article if anyone is interested: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20342679,00.html
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Re: Actor turning down roles
I think this begs the question, did the actor that played the role make it great or was the role itself "great" and any actor could have filled it. When I look at great roles, my belief is that the actor makes the role great not that it is an inherently great role.
Case in point, I am not a great fan of Tom Arnold but I can't picture a better actor in the role he played in True Lies. In my opinion, he helped make that a great movie and the role he played in it was great because he played it. Just my opinion.
On the flip side, I like Willem Dafoe as an actor. He has done some great things but having read most of Tom Clancy's books, Dafoe was a disappointment to me as John Clark in Clear And Present Danger. I think he was miscast and as a result, what should have been a great role turned out to be adequate at best.
Case in point, I am not a great fan of Tom Arnold but I can't picture a better actor in the role he played in True Lies. In my opinion, he helped make that a great movie and the role he played in it was great because he played it. Just my opinion.
On the flip side, I like Willem Dafoe as an actor. He has done some great things but having read most of Tom Clancy's books, Dafoe was a disappointment to me as John Clark in Clear And Present Danger. I think he was miscast and as a result, what should have been a great role turned out to be adequate at best.
#15
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Re: Actor turning down roles