Original Desmond

But if they had a choice, wouldn't have done the movie


First one which springs to mind is Edward Norton in the Italian Job

I didn't think it was that bad a film to be associated with

DonnachaOne

Charlton Heston in Touch Of Evil
... so I'm told.

And Norton was right to want to keep away from that film!

tanman

I heard there was some kind of deal that reeled Mike Meyers to make that schlop Cat in the Hat.

DonnachaOne

[UNSUPPORTED RUMOR] Imagine Entertainment wanted Myers to make a Dieter movie. Myers, after writing said script, refused to do the film (he was unhappy with the script. Um...) So much legal threatening was made, and it's believed that Imagine let Myers out of the contract as long as he promised to star in an upcoming film of theirs - in this case, the Cat movie. [/UNSUPPORTED RUMOR]

Mondo Kane

Val Kilmer said he didn't want to do Top Gun, but it was the last of his 3 picture deal with Paramount...Whose DVD cover-art for the previous 2 films have now become legend.

tanman

why?

Groucho

DonnachaOne

AAAAGHHHH!!!!!!

(Curiously enough, RG isn't Paramount though. What was the third film we had t do? Hmmm... I guess Paramount never will release Twikoff...)

PopcornTreeCt

I heard Christopher Nolan directed Insomnia just so Warner would finance his next movie. And I guess they did..Batman Begins.

marty888

Didn't Francis Cord Coppola basically blackmail Paramount, agreeing to do a Godfather sequel only if they would finance The Conversation ..... that was a Win/Win combo!

jdpatri

Man, that Twikoff movie is such a classic. It's a crime against humanity that Val Kilmer's finest performance has been completely ignored on the DVD format.

Guess we'll have to wait until HD-DVD....

Crocker Jarmen

This one's weird: At the 2001 Toronto Film Festival, Keanu Reeves claims that the reason he did The Watcher was because someone had forged his signature on the contract, and so he decided he'd just do the movie instead of going to court.

wendersfan

I've never heard that at all. The story I heard was that Heston signed on when he heard Welles was going to be in it, assuming that Welles would naturally direct. When Heston found out Welles was only supposed to act in the film, he strongarmed the studio into letting him direct, too.

fryinpan1

I remember reading that Norton was not motivated at all for that movie. I still thought his acting was very good in the film.

nemein

I believe Jackie Chan had to do a couple because of contracts. The Prisoner is the only one that comes to mind off hand though...

DonnachaOne

Well, if we're including these, then the Wachowski brothers adapted their own script of Bound just so they could prove to Joel Silver that they could direct their own film, The Matrix.

Artman

I think Bruce Willis had to do 'The Kid' for Disney.

Pants

wendersfan-

Sorry to get off topic but did I really say this? That's pretty funny if I do say so myself. I don't remember saying it.

Update: Well I did a search. Coming at ya' from June 2003 http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ohnny+Mnemonic
I can't believe I forgot, that was a great thread.

digidoh

Whoopi Goldberg in Theodore Rex.

Pat Boone, in one of his biographies, says there was one movie (which he wouldn't name), in which his character would have an implied sexual relationship with a character who was not his wife. I'm figuring this was the 1962 version of State Fair. In it, Boone is walking around shirtless, arguing with Ann-Margaret, having romanced her in previous scenes.

Bill Murray supposedly agreed to do the first Ghostbusters movie, if Columbia would let him star in a remake of The Razor's Edge (Murray also co-authored the screenplay).

A TV Movie: Eddie Albert did not want to do Return to Green Acres when he read the final script. But he'd already signed on.

Edit-MAY 2014: Re: Pat Boone. I was working from memory when I mentioned Boone's movie. Although the book (A New Song) didn't give the film's title, Boone did state that his co-star was Nancy Kwan. That makes it The Main Attraction (1962). Although his character was "an amoral drifter" (Boone's description) who has had several affairs, he was supposed to be redeemed by resisting temptation by not sleeping with the virginal innocent Kwan. During filming, the script was changed, so Boone and Kwan go to bed together, pre-marriage. Boone wanted out, but he was threatened with a lawsuit, so he begrudgingly finished the movie. He said people stayed away in droves.

NavinJohnson

IMDB trivia for The Devil's Own states that Brad Pitt wanted out of the production when the script was changed multiple times.

Drexl

It might not be true, but I read somewhere that the Beatles did Yellow Submarine to fulfill their contractual obligation for a third film, and it was animated so they wouldn't have to show up for the shoot.

wendersfan

Good times, good times...

I actually used that quote in a thread a few weeks ago, where somebody posted that they don't watch foreign language films because they'd heard they were all too 'arty'.

scott shelton

That and ARMAGEDDON to settle a contract with Disney when they bought out his film, THE BROOKLYN BRAWLER that was - I think - 8 weeks into shooting, but was going horribly.

Robert

James Cameron agreed to a 2 picture deal with FOX on the condition that he would not have to cut ALIENS down to a 2 hour movie.

NitroJMS

Didn't this happen to the Superman movies also? I remember the cast being extremely upset over the Richard Donner firing during Superman 2. The bigger stars (Hackman and Brando) were able to bail out because of their status, but Reeve, Kidder, etc. had to stick around because they couldn't break their deals.

I remember reading that Margot Kidder was actually bashing the producers of the films for the mess they caused, which led to her having essentially a cameo in Superman 3.