45 replies to this topic

[al-x]

Hello:

The Miscast thread makes me wonder of the rumors,
stories, and legends of casting in films. Hindsight is
20/20, and it is easy to say now that the casting was
a hit or a miss in a movie but the following
was what we could have had in some movies...

Imagine:

Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back to the Future

Dougray Scott as Wolverine in the Xmen movies

James Caan as Michael Corleone in the Godfather movies

Winona Ryder in Godfather 3 (although anyone would have
been better than Sofia Coppola)

Marlon Brando in Butch and Sundance (the studio did not
really want a young, unproven Redford at the time IIRC)


If you know of more stories, fill us in.


Al...

[craggy]

Josh Hartnett was supposedly offered the lead in Superman Returns and the story read said that it was because he didn't want to be typecast in that role. I assume he meant the creepy stalker, deadbeat dad role.

[James L. Sarandis]

Will Smith as Neo in the Matrix.

[craggy]

wasn't Sean Connery offered The Matrix as well (presumably as Morpheus)?
I wonder how he and Will Smith would have pulled it off?

[Rory Abel]

wasn't Sean Connery offered The Matrix as well (presumably as Morpheus)?
I wonder how he and Will Smith would have pulled it off?

Yes he was, and turned it down because he didn't "get" the script (it's the same reason he turned down Gandalf in Lord of the Rings). Smith has been on record as saying that he's glad that he turned down the Matrix because he feels he would have ruined the movie (because he would have pushed for his character to be funnier).

Stallone at one point was going to star in Beverly Hills Cop (though it would have acted as a sequel to Cobra rather than being the comedy it became).

Belushi, and I believe John Candy, were originally going to be in Ghostbusters. I think Belushi was supposed to be Venkman but can't remember now.

Edited by Rory Abel, 09 April 2012 - 12:55 AM.

[garjones]

Stallone at one point was going to star in Beverly Hills Cop (though it would have acted as a sequel to Cobra rather than being the comedy it became). .

Cobra came out 2 years after Beverly Hills Cop.

[John Brook]

Simon Pegg was supposed to be Lt Hicox in Inglourious Basterds, but he dropped out because of a scheduling conflict. I love Pegg, and I would love to see him in a Tarantino flick... But I don't see how he would have pulled off Hicox. Hicox was a smooth talker, and quite the charmer. Fassbender was brilliant in that part, and I don't see how Pegg would have been effective in that part.

Also, at one point Leonardo Dicaprio was rumoured for Hans Landa in Basterds. I don't see it at all, but then Christoph Waltz gave such an amazing performance in that film.

Fassbender was supposed to play Ricky Starr in Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, but he had to drop out. He was replaced by Tom Hardy. I can see how Fassbender would have worked, but I loved Hardy in the film.

Cobra came out 2 years after Beverly Hills Cop.

The part about the film being a Stallone vehicule is true though, I read it on many websites.

Die Hard was originally conceived as a Commando sequel from what I remember. Stallone was also attached at one point, but dropped out. Bruce Willis was a TV star back then, and he was then cast as John McClane. The rest is history... What made Die Hard so special is the everyman quality of Willis(back then.) McClane got hurt, he was tired, and it felt like he was playing against the odds. the conflict wouldn't have been the same if Arnold or Sly were the lead role.

Edited by John Brook, 09 April 2012 - 01:17 AM.

[craggy]

it's strange that he didn't get The Matrix or Lord Of The Rings, since, Morpheus and Gandalf are both basically the same character as Ramirez in Highlander.

[Rory Abel]

Cobra came out 2 years after Beverly Hills Cop.

Yeah, looking it up, Beverly Hills Cop was originally going to be Cobra, not a sequel to Cobra.

Beverly Hills Cop

According to producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the role of Detroit detective Axel Foley was first offered to Mickey Rourke, but when his contract to do another film was expiring, he had to back out and the part was offered to Sylvester Stallone. Although Danilo Bach wrote the original story seven years earlier, the script went through major changes with Stallone on board, and it is said there were as many as six different possible scripts.
Then, just two weeks before principal filming was to begin, it was announced that Stallone was out and Eddie Murphy was in (with its original storyline, when Sly departed, both Al Pacino and James Caan were considered good possibilities before Murphy was cast). Blending together many ideas from all the different scripts whenever they seemed to be at an impasse, Eddie Murphy was perfect at improvising dialogue and even helped create totally new scenes. Two years later, many of the Stallone-suggested ideas, which he took with him upon leaving, became the more serious 1986 actioner Cobra.

it's strange that he didn't get The Matrix or Lord Of The Rings, since, Morpheus and Gandalf are both basically the same character as Ramirez in Highlander.

The funny part is that his lack of understanding of those roles led directly to him making League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Edited by Rory Abel, 09 April 2012 - 01:49 AM.

[craggy]

The funny part is that his lack of understanding of those roles led directly to him making League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Which no-one else understood the point of!

[Robert B]

Nick Nolte's audition tapes for Han Solo are out there somewhere. I think they're on the "making of" DVD that accompanied the trilogy when it was first released on DVD.

[Nicholas Taggart]

Eddie Murphy was going to play the 2-th century human who helps the crew of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Voyage Home instead of the love interest marine biologist character. He was going to play a UFO obsessed college professor.

[Rory Abel]

Nick Nolte's audition tapes for Han Solo are out there somewhere. I think they're on the "making of" DVD that accompanied the trilogy when it was first released on DVD.

Not Nolte but...

Eddie Murphy was going to play the 2-th century human who helps the crew of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Voyage Home instead of the love interest marine biologist character. He was going to play a UFO obsessed college professor.

And Tom Hanks was originally going to play Zephram Cochrane in First Contact.

[Christian U]

Nick Nolte's audition tapes for Han Solo are out there somewhere. I think they're on the "making of" DVD that accompanied the trilogy when it was first released on DVD.

Looking for that led me to this:

[steveuk]

<SNIP>

Die Hard was originally conceived as a Commando sequel from what I remember. Stallone was also attached at one point, but dropped out. Bruce Willis was a TV star back then, and he was then cast as John McClane. The rest is history... What made Die Hard so special is the everyman quality of Willis(back then.) McClane got hurt, he was tired, and it felt like he was playing against the odds. the conflict wouldn't have been the same if Arnold or Sly were the lead role.

'Die Hard' is one of those projects with a very complicated history.

The novel was a sequel to a book that had been made into a movie with Frank Sinatra. If he'd have chosen to make it as a sequel it would've been quite a different film.

I think the official/unofficial line is that every established star who'd ever held a gun was offered the part of John McClane and everyone turned it down, which is why they pad Willis $5m and, as a result, every agent in LA set about renegotiating the salaries of their established movie actor clients.

The whole film was chucked together very fast and there are quite a few stories about it, Alan Rickman auditioned via videotape from New York where he was in a play, Argyle, the chauffeur got his name from the socks the producer Joel Silver was wearing in a meeting, etc.

Edited by steveuk, 09 April 2012 - 06:58 AM.

[Nicholas Taggart]

John Travolta seems to have been the first choice for pretty much every role that ended up going to Richard Gere.

Robert De Niro seems to have been pretty close to playing John Rambo in First Blood.

The novel was a sequel to a book that had been made into a movie with Frank Sinatra. If he'd have chosen to make it as a sequel it would've been quite a different film.

Sinatra was really good in that movie (The Detective).

[steveuk]

<SNIP>

Sinatra was really good in that movie (The Detective).

Sinatra was pretty good in everything he did. He doesn't seem to have liked making movies though, all the stories I've heard paint him as an impatient and catankerous presence on the set.

Edited by steveuk, 09 April 2012 - 12:13 PM.

[Nicholas Taggart]

Sinatra was pretty good in everything he did. He doesn't seem to have liked making movies though, all the stories I've heard paint him as an impatient and catankerous presence on the set.

Must have been rough on the set of Guys and Dolls since he was so pissed about Brando being cast as Sky Masterson rather than him. He was great as Nathan Detroit though. Much better part for him.

But it is hard to watch the scene where Brando sings Luck Be a Lady after hearing Sinatra's version. Which is probably why Sinatra made it one of his standards.

[Christian U]

Just had a look to see what you're talking about and yeah, Brando hasn't got much of a voice there, does he?

[Rory Abel]

Must have been rough on the set of Guys and Dolls since he was so pissed about Brando being cast as Sky Masterson rather than him. He was great as Nathan Detroit though. Much better part for him.

But it is hard to watch the scene where Brando sings Luck Be a Lady after hearing Sinatra's version. Which is probably why Sinatra made it one of his standards.

And rightly so since the director wanted to cast Sinatra as Masterson and the studio forced him to go with Brando instead.