12 Movie Stars Who Almost Landed These Iconic Roles

When a director sets out to make a movie, they usually have a particular actor in mind for the lead role. However, the actor might turn down the part, or the casting directors might not be satisfied with their auditions. When this happens, they have to seek out other potential candidates. It’s intriguing to realize that many of our beloved films were initially planned with different actors, but ended up with a new cast due to unforeseen circumstances.

Barbie — Barbie

Amy Schumer was among the numerous women speculated to play the iconic Barbie doll. However, as the Barbie film underwent years of development, the role ultimately went to Margot Robbie. When asked why she exited the Barbie movie six years ago, Schumer revealed the true reason behind her departure. “I think it looks awesome. I think we said it was scheduling conflicts. But it really was just, like, creative differences.”

Rick — The Mummy

There were rumors that Leonardo DiCaprio begged the producers of The Beach movie to postpone the production, so he could film The Mummy, whose script he really loved.

Unfortunately, the producers refused. Meanwhile, The Mummy creators cast Brendan Fraser, who was brilliant in the role.

Amy — Gone Girl

Reese Witherspoon produced the movie and planned to star in it. But her colleagues persuaded her against it. “David Fincher said I wasn’t right for the role, and I actually completely agreed with him,” Witherspoon explained in an interview. Eventually, Rosamund Pike played the starring role.

Rosalind — The Gentlemen

Originally, Kate Beckinsale was cast for the role of the main character’s wife, but she dropped out 2 weeks after shooting began due to family reasons. Luckily, director Guy Ritchie had an excellent replacement in mind, Michelle Dockery, the Downton Abbey star.

Napoleon — The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The elusive agent, Napoleon Solo, could have been played by Robert Pattinson. But Henry Cavill managed to win the part, even though Pattinson had been his competitor for years and was the one who landed some iconic roles Cavill auditioned for.

Cavill wanted to play Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter series and Edward in The Twilight Saga, but he lost to Pattinson. So the starring role in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. became his personal triumph.

Adaline — The Age of Adaline

The role of the never-aging beauty, Adaline, was offered to Natalie Portman, but the actress turned it down without explaining why. So Blake Lively agreed to play this character, and it paid off. She was nominated for a few prestigious movie awards for her performance. And even though she didn’t win any of them, we still can’t imagine anyone else playing Adaline as convincingly as Lively did.

Selina — The Batman

Many young actresses auditioned for the role of Catwoman in the newest Batman movie. One of the potential candidates was Nathalie Emmanuel, who starred in Game of Thrones. But eventually, Zoë Kravitz got the role. It’s worth mentioning that previous Catwoman performers, like Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, and Anne Hathaway, all supported this casting choice.

Kevin — The Devil’s Advocate

Originally, Joel Schumacher was planning to direct the screenplay adaptation of The Devil’s Advocate, and he wanted Brad Pitt to play the young lawyer. But Schumacher was replaced with Taylor Hackford, and Pitt was left outside the project. Eventually, Keanu Reeves got the role of Kevin, who chose to star in The Devil’s Advocate over Speed 2, even though he was promised a nice amount of money for it.

Mary — The Other Boleyn Girl

Jessica Biel auditioned for the role of Mary, but eventually, it went to Scarlett Johansson. It made Biel very upset because she dreamt of playing this character. “Movie directors want that top tier of girls,” she complained in an interview.

Marilyn — Blonde

At the preproduction stage, there were rumors that the starring role would be played by Jessica Chastain. However, as we all know, Marilyn Monroe was portrayed by Ana de Armas. In an interview, Chastain revealed that she’d turned down the role herself. She said that she wasn’t interested in making another Marilyn Monroe biopic.

Lestat — Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

The rights to the screen adaptation of the novel were bought in the 1970s, and John Travolta was supposed to play Lestat. But at some point, the project was put on hiatus because there were too many vampire movies on the market.

But by the time the movie was in preproduction, Travolta had become too old to portray the ever-young vampire, so Tom Cruise landed the role and was remarkable in it.

Furiosa — Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Initially, Furiosa included Killing Eve star Jodie Comer as a potential lead, as confirmed by director George Miller. Additionally, he decided against considering Charlize Theron, who portrayed Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, in the early stages.

“For a long time, I thought we could use CG de-aging on Charlize, but I don’t think we got there yet,” he explained.

Stay tuned and check out our other article featuring actors who turned down roles in movies that later became iconic.