Actors who turned down major roles or who were strongly considered

[MidniteJay]

Jake Gyllenhaal was supposed to be Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks but his parents turned the role so he could focus on school. He was tight about it at the time.

Harrison Ford was considered to play Commander Adama in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series and he really wanted it but they couldn't meet his price even when he offered a pay cut. Ed Harris also tried out for the role.

If Meryl Streep's boyfriend didn't die at the time, she probably would have been Alien's Ellen Ripley.

Detective McNulty (Dominic West) was considered for Game of Throne's Littlefinger. Tom Hollander was offered the role but he turned it down and later regretted it.

 

[AquaCityBoy]

Denzel Washington turned down Cypher in Fast & The Furious series

What?

 

[AnonymityX1000]

They originally wanted Lorraine Bracco to play Tony's wife on the Sopranos but she would not do it because she is still too connected to being Henry Hill's wife in Goodfellas and requested to play the psychiatrist.

 

[TreySav]

Will Smith turned down Neo in The Matrix

Robert Deniro turned down Sal in Do The Right Thing

Nas turned down Derek in Save The Last Dance

Donald Glover turned down Cassius in Sorry To Bother You

Will Smith turned down Django in Django Unchained

Denzel Washington turned down Cypher in Fast & The Furious series


Angela Bassett turned down Leticia in Monster’s Ball

Kanye West turned down Chiraq in Chiraq

More black women need to turn down these cac toilet roles. I didn’t start noticing it until I saw Aaliyah in Queen of the damned

 

[WesCrook]

They originally wanted Lorraine Bracco to play Tony's wife on the Sopranos but she would not do it because she is still too connected to being Henry Hill's wife in Goodfellas and requested to play the psychiatrist.

Ray Liotta was supposed to play Tony Soprano

 

[AnonymityX1000]

Ray Liotta was supposed to play Tony Soprano

Yeah, also, Stevie Van Zandt and Michael Rispoli the guy who played Jackie Aprile were up for Tony as well.

 

[cheek100]

Jim Kelly turning down the role of Sho'nuff in The Last Dragon.

So crazy bc he was playing in the usfl during that time. Who knows how the bills would’ve turned out the following years. Shonuff could never lose the big game consecutively.

 

[Bruce LeRoy]

Lenoardo Di Caprio turned down Patrick Bateman/American Psycho

 

[Peter Popoff]

Marlon Wayans as Robin in Tim burtons Batman.

Billy dee Williams as 2 face.

Mel Gibson was suppose to play the cop in Golden Child.

Nicolas Cage Armie Hammer was suppose to play superman.

Loki was suppose to play Thor.

DMX was suppose to do a Crow sequel.

 

[Knights89]

7 Amazing Roles That James Caan Rejected

James Caan

French Connection
Cuckoo's Nest
Close Encounters
Star Wars--Han Solo
Apocalypse Now--either Sheen of Ford's role
Kramer vs Kramer
Superman

 

[Knights89]

Denzel Washington has been mentioned, but he also turned down Se7en and Michael Clayton

Laurence Fishburne-Pulp Fiction

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

Wesley Snipes wanted mega bucks for a joint role with Jackie Chan for a project called Confucius Brown circa 1995/96, the deal was not to be made.
Later down the line the script got refreshed with a new working title called RUSH HOUR..

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

Eddie Murphy in Ghostbusters.
Muhammad Ali turned down the role of Guess who comes to Dinner and Cotton Comes to Harlem.

 

[GPBear]

Not on the same level as others, but I recently found out Fred Willard was slated for the lead role in "Airplane" which would've been interesting but he turned it down.

Will for Neo, did WWW instead

the matrix could've been Will Smith and Sean Connery

I don't know if the world was ready for that

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Tom Cruise could have been:

Edward Scissorhands
Andy in The Shawshank Redemption
John Nash in A Beautiful Mind
Iron Man



Leonardo DiCaprio could have been:

dikk Diggler in Boogie Nights
Neo in The Matrix
Brokeback Mountain
Talented Mr. Ripley
American Psycho
Spiderman



Brad Pitt could have been:

Neo in the Matrix
Brokeback Mountain
Damon's role in the Bourne movies
Damon's role in The Departed