davidb

ive already mentioned elsewhere that the original choice as jimmy in quadrophenia was johnny rotten ,until the original financers of the film pulled out and the new ones vetoed him .we all know that the original choice to take over from roger moore as james bond was pierce brosnan ,until the tv studios tied him up with various clauses in his contract and it went to timothy dalton .[ that probably worked out for the best in the long run ] what other stars were wanted for starring roles and lost out because of various reasons ,perhaps even rejecting the role themselves , then have had to sit on the sidelines ,while the film becomes a smash hit and think " it should have been me "

Wicked Lady

Richard Todd should have been the first James Bond.

batman

Marlon Brando rejected these two .....

The Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia

jamesharris

tom selleck as Indiana Jones

Gary Cole as Crockett in Miami Vice

John Gavin as 007 in DAF
Dave Warbeck as 007 in Moonraker

batman

Anthony Andrews as Bodie in The Professionals

SirOllyBolly

Oliver Reed in Jaws and The Sting

SirOllyBolly

"What fresh lunacy is this?"

Marky B

Which character would he have played?
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

batman

Ollie was second choice ahead of Robert Shaw to play Quint (first choice was Sterling Hayden)... he turned it down. He also turned downed down Shaw's part in The Sting.

Pam1927

I bet the TV cast of 'Up Pompeii' were pretty hacked off not to be used in the feature film (apart from Frankie Howerd, of course). I remember going to see it and being rather annoyed not to see the actors that I'd enjoyed so much on the telly. I don't know why the powers that be thought it was a good idea to recast for the film. I loved Elizabeth Larner, Kerry Gardner, Jeanne Mockford and Wallas Eaton (preferred him to Max Adrian as Ludricrus Sextus); the film cast were nowhere near as good IMHO.

Pam

It's nice to be nice...

batman

Ditto the film of Doomwatch ... they didn't recast for the film but the TV cast were downgraded to supporting Ian Bannen as a new character.

Wicked Lady

Good Lord!...........Can you imagine it??


Miranda Richardson knocked back Glen Close's part in Fatal Attraction.

Olivia de Havalliand didn't want to be Blanche du Bois and John Garfield refused to be overshadowed by the leading lady in Streetcar Named Desire.

christoph404

Lee Marvin was Spielbergs first choice for Quint in "Jaws" Marvin turned him down. Harvey Keitel was starring in "Apocalypse Now"......well he was for a few weeks filming until he was fired due to "creative issues" with Coppola and was replaced with Martin Sheen which meant more or less starting the film again with re-shoots. Terence Stamp turned down just about every iconic film of the sixties but managed to appear in a few and the one he wanted most he didn't get, "Blow Up". Stamp was offered the part by Antonioni, he said yes and the next thing he heard through the press was that shooting was about to start with Hemmings in the role, Stamp was understandably a little upset that Antonioni didn't bother to inform him of his change of mind. Stamp also turned down the role of "Harmonica"in "Once Upon A Time in The West" leaving the way clear for Bronson. I think Stamp and Brando would share top prize in bad career choices though they did at least appear in one film together.....which was? Don't all shout the answer at once!

batman

Superman.

Re Quint .... as I mentioned earlier Sterling Hayden was the first person to be offered the part but turned it down. Ollie Reed was approached but also turned it down. Marvin was never actually offered the role, Spielberg said Marvin was the 'ideal' Quint but was found to be too expensive so they had to look elsewhere. Most ridiculous casting idea for Quint (according to Spielberg) was Gregory Peck .... a Universal suit thought that as he had been Ahab (miscast IMHO) the public would accept him as Quint.

wadsy

Montgomery Clift turned down the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard !

batman

Brando and Clift both turned down East of Eden rightly claiming to be too old for the part. Paul Newman was turned down by Kazan for the part of Dean's brother in the same film in favour of Richard Davalos! Clift was also considered for On the Waterfront after Brando initially turned it down. Frank Sinatra was eventually cast but dumped when Brando changed his mind. Sinatra and Brando did not get on at all, not surprising after the OTW incident, but it got worse when Sinatra was ousted from the role of Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls in favour of Brando ... who couldn't sing! Sinatra played Nathan Detroit instead.