Yeti4623

Have there been any other movies where the lead filmed a decent amount of footage, before they were replaced?

FinkPish

The longest is probably Apocalypse Now. Harvey Keitel was Willard for 2 weeks before he was replaced by Martin Sheen.

Stuart Townsend was originally Aragorn in LOTR, but I think that was only for about 3-4 days of shooting. James Remar was Hicks in Aliens for a few days before he was replaced by Michael Biehn.

rennervision

Harvey Keitel was also replaced by Sydney Pollack in Eyes Wide Shut. Similar thing happened with Jennifer Jason Leigh getting replaced in the same movie as well.

Dr. DVD

I agree. I'm just saying Stoltz looked too serious in the role. To look at him one would think he was in more of an action/sc-fi .

William Fuld

Woody Allen's September

Daytripper

Although I haven't seen the footage with Stoltz, the Yahoo News story yesterday said "Original 'Back to the Future' star revealed". And first thing I thought was, huh!? This is not news. I heard about this the year the movie was released. And that he filmed for several weeks.

nickdawgy

Yeah, any true BTTF fan knows about Stoltz's lost footage.

Daytripper

Poor Stoltz though. He really is a good actor. And definitely had the look. But apparently not the comedic acting style required. I can only imagine what he went through watching the film's success when released. And to this day, considered a classic.

My Other Self

He was really upbeat in the interview about it. He was bummed but it seems time has healed those wounds.

I'm just surprised we're finally seeing footage. I've been waiting forever to see anything besides the couple of stills that were out there.

Daytripper

I imagine Tom Selleck feels the same about the "Indiana Jones" movies. Even though he only turned down the role and wasn't fired. And did nicely on his own with "Magnum P.I" and "Three Men and a Baby".

lamphorn

Now there's some footage I would really really like to see. Unfortunately, Kubrick probably had it burned.

Jackskeleton

Or anyone who's from an alternate dimension that doesn't use pens.

Eric D.

Generally, but that's not always the case. Since that part of the production has been kept so secret, there is no telling if maybe they decided to lighten it up early on in production. A lot of times there are re-writes on set if a scene isn't working correctly and the fact that Zemeckis was one of the writers makes that quite easy to do. I just can't see how they cast Stoltz knowing full well it was going to be a light/comedic role and then dump him a few weeks later after wasting all that time and money. It just seems to make sense that he wasn't able to adapt to the new tone of the film and that's why he got dropped.

This has always been one of those Hollywood stories that I've wanted to know the whole truth to.

brainee

"Fitzcarraldo" finished about 40% of shooting with Jason Robards as the lead and Mick Jagger in a main supporting role. Robards had to leave because of illness, and Jagger couldn't work past the planned shooting schedule because of music obligations. So Herzog recast the lead with Kinski and rewrite the script to remove Jagger's character. Only a snippet of the Robards/Jagger footage remains (Herzog destroyed most of it). Even though the recasting wasn't artistically driven, you'd think it ultimately made the movie better. It's hard to imagine anyone but Kinski doing the role.

Daytripper

And then there's "Exorcist: the Beginning". Where several actors were replaced and the movie refilmed.

dhmac

Those were replacements done simply because the director (Kubrick) was taking too long in making the movie and they had to leave for other commitments. So it's more akin to quitting instead of being fired.

devilshalo

From the world of television....

Michael Corvin

Wasn't there a substantial role in Eyes Wide Shut recast/filmed after a few months work?

Trevor

You mean besides the ones mentioned several times in the last several posts?

heebiejeebie

Didn't Selleck get (and want) the part, but he was contractually obligated to Magnum P.I.?

gmanca

He was encouraged to stick/honor his contract with Magnum P.I. but there was enough of a break in shooting due to weather that "Raiders" could have fit in the shooting schedule. As a consolation prize, he did the mega-hit "High Road To China."

nando820

Wasn't this a tread about Eric Scoltz footage?

Yeti4623

I think Eric Stoltz would've been interesting in this movie. Not as funny, but I think, interesting.

Michael Corvin

I was skimming the thread on my phone.

Rubix

how come stoltz is wearing different clothes than fox in the same scene? that makes no sense.

selleck was picked to do indiana jones, but when whoever had him under contract for a tv series (cbs?) got wind that he would be in a spielberg/lucas movie they then all the sudden decided to make magnum pi. basically they forced him to not be able to do indiana jones. it's mentioned in rinzler's making of indiana jones book.