Turned Down Movie Roles

Who gets what role in any given film depends upon a lot of factors. Sometimes the producer or the director has a particular celebrity in mind but that actor may not want the role or may be committed to another film project and unavailable. Sometimes they do a lot of screen tests hoping to spot that elusive quality they had in mind. A very famous example of this is the search for the perfect Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind” (1939).

The amazing list of actresses who were considered for the part of the spoiled southern belle included Lucille Ball, Tallulah Bankhead, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck, and a host of others. English actress, Vivien Leigh, won the role of Scarlett and an Academy Award as well.

Can you imagine Queen Latifah as Leticia Musgrove, Halle Berry’s Oscar-winning role in “Monster’s Ball” (2001)? Probably not, but the fact is the roles of Leticia Musgrove and Hank Grotowski were originally supposed to go to Queen Latifah and Robert De Niro. It may have made more sense in terms of Leticia’s son, Tyrell, and his weight problem, but it’s particularly difficult to envision the scene between Buck Grotowski and Leticia with Queen Latifah. Buck is Hank’s bigoted daddy (played by Peter Boyle) who implies, in explicit racist language, that his son’s only interest in seeing Leticia is to have sex with a black woman. Methinks Queen Latifah’s reaction would have been entirely different. And how about the “can you make me feel good” scene with Queen Latifah and Robert De Niro? All “are you talking to me” jokes aside, can you even picture that?

Denzel Washington was offered the role of Ray Charles in the 2004 biopic of the Genius of Soul’s life “Ray.” When he turned it down, the role went to the much younger Jamie Foxx. Jamie gave a tour de force performance that won him the Best Actor Oscar. Denzel was also offered the role of Curtis Taylor, Jr. in “Dream Girls” (2006). Will Smith and Terrence Howard were considered for the role as well. An opinion on who would have done it better isn’t really worth much after the fact, but putting Denzel in the role may have changed the whole dynamic. Curtis would have come off more like a sugar daddy. Will and Terrence are both around Jamie Foxx’ age, but Jamie didn’t accept the role until Eddie Murphy and Beyonce Knowles were connected with the film. Jamie did not win an Academy Award in “Dream Girls.” Jennifer Hudson did for her role as “Effie.” She beat 782 other actresses for the role, including American Idol 2004 winner, Fantasia Barrino. (Jennifer finished 7th the same season).

Denzel Washington has said that the role he regrets passing on the most is that of Detective David Mills in “Se7en” (1995), played by Brad Pitt. He found the film to be too dark and evil at the time. Nobody won an Academy Award in “Se7en,” although it was nominated in the Best Editing category.

From the “all’s well that ends well” files, there’s “The Reader” (2008). Director, Stephen Daldry wanted Kate Winslet for the leading lady role of Hanna Schmiz, but Kate had to turn it down since she was filming “Revolutionary Road” (2008). Marion Cotillard, Juliette Binoche, Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman were all considered for the role. Kidman is the one who accepted it but the producers had to put it off to allow her to complete “Australia” (2008). When the time came around for Nicole to begin filming, she was pregnant and withdrew from the project. Kate Winslet was finished with her other commitment by then and agreed to take over. Kate picked up her Oscar for Best Actress in a leading role in 2009, beating out Angelina Jolie (“The Changeling”), Meryl Streep (“Doubt”), Melissa Leo (“Frozen River”) and Anne Hathaway ( “Rachel Getting Married”). Giving the nod to her fellow actresses, Kate said “… I want to acknowledge my fellow nominees, these goddesses. I think we all can’t believe we’re in a category with Meryl Streep at all. I’m sorry, Meryl, but you have to just suck that up! …”

Finally, we have Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), a film that won no Oscars but will always be famous for spawning the union of co-stars we now know as Brangelina. Nicole Kidman was the first to be cast as Mrs. Smith and Johnny Depp was supposed to be John Smith, but he had to pass. Will Smith was considered when it wasn’t a sure thing that Brad would sign on. Brad did come on board, but when Nicole Kidman left the project, he dropped out as well. Kidman’s role could have gone to Catherine Zeta-Jones or Cate Blanchett. Brad Pitt came back when Angelina Jolie signed on. We can readily see that the fates stepped in to prevent any awkward name combinations like ‘Branic’ or ‘Wilcate.’