16 Famous Roles That Were Almost Cast Differently And Would've Changed The Characters Completely

Emily Blunt is amazing but as Black Widow? That would have been a sight to see.

Liezel

• Published in Film & TV
• May 29, 2022

Sometimes, an actor is just too good at bringing a character to life that they become cemented in people's minds as the only person who could have pulled off that role. Other faces in their roles would have just been absurd or bizarre to see.

Take Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man or Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. We can't imagine anyone else filling in their shoes.

While there are plenty of other talented actors who could have given life to the characters they've played, how they played their characters has really stayed in people's hearts and minds. They've really given justice to their casting and to the characters they've played.

There are also occasions, however, when the world finds out the what-could-have-beens that happened behind the casting curtains that would make people go, "Okay, that actually would have been pretty cool to see." This isn't always because the original actor was bad at their role per se but because it just would have actually been interesting to see.

Different actors bring different things to a role and maybe what the other actor would have brought to the table would have been entirely different.

When the question "Which role almost got cast with an actor that you wish you'd been able to see?" was posted on Reddit, a lot of people came up with pretty interesting responses. Here are some of the best ones.

1. Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody

According to IndieWire, the film was actually a long-running passion project for Cohen. "It started as an idea from The Crown creator Peter Morgan and courted the likes of David Fincher, Tom Hooper, and Stephen Frears to direct. The latter director ultimately landed the job."

According to Vulture, the reason why the Baron Cohen film didn't push through is that he and Queen's co-founders really didn't agree with the movie's direction. Roger Taylor and Brian May wanted to approach the movie with a certain amount of caution to preserve Mercury's legacy while Cohen wanted more of an R-rated tell-all film about the singer.

The role ended up with Rami Malek who went on to win the Best Actor Oscar for his amazing performance of the iconic late singer.

2. Hugh Grant as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Hugh Grant almost became a part of the Harry Potter family when he was almost cast as the less-than-genius wizard Gilderoy Lockhart. In a report published by the Guardian, Grant's agent confirmed that the actor gave up that chance to star in Two Weeks Notice alongside Sandra Bullock.

The role ultimately went to British stage and screen star Kenneth Branagh who played Lockhart effortlessly well.

3. Adam Sandler as Sergeant Donny Donowitz "The Bear Jew" in Inglorious Basterds

Believe it or not, director Quentin Tarantino actually approached Sandler for the role. Speaking to RTE.ie in 2008 though, Sandler revealed that he was going to be shooting another movie at the same time so he had to turn it down.

"Sandler added he was disappointed to have to leave the project, and that he had known Tarantino for a long time, and had even talked about working together for a while."

Eli Roth landed the role and brought the grisly character to the big screen.

4. Toshiro Mifune as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977)

According to Hollywood Reporter, legendary actor Toshiro Mifune who starred in the Akira Kurosawa film Hidden Fortress (which actually inspired Star Wars) turned down the iconic role because he was worried it would look cheap.

Mifune's daughter Mika revealed it an an event in Tokyo with Steve Wozniak saying, "I heard from my father that he was offered the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he was concerned about how the film would look and that it would cheapen the image of samurai, on which George Lucas had based a lot of the character and fighting style."

Now, a lot of people see no one but Sir Alec Guinness in the role of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

5. David Bowie as Niander Wallace in Blade Runner 2049

Talking with Metro, director Denis Villeneuve said, "Our first thought [for the character] had been David Bowie, who had influenced Blade Runner in many ways."

"When we learned the sad news, we looked around for someone like that," he added.

The role ultimately went to Jared Leto who starred in the highly anticipated 2017 film.

6. Emily Blunt as Black Widow in Iron Man 2

According to Entertainment Weekly, "Emily Blunt was the original choice for the Avenger superspy, who first appeared in 2010's Iron Man 2. Blunt reflected on the situation [on Howard Stern]: 'I was contracted to do Gulliver's Travels. I didn't want to do Gulliver's Travels,' Blunt admitted, explaining how her involvement in the film meant she was contractually obligated to an 'optional picture deal' with 20th Century Fox. Despite the fact that Blunt speaks fondly about her time on set with 'a lot of really lovely people who were heaven to work with,' the actor still harbors emotions about the decision. 'It was a bit of a heartbreaker for me. I take such pride in the decisions that I make, and they mean so much to me, the films that I do.'"

By now though, there is only one Black Widow everyone knows and that's Scarlett Johansson.

7. Winona Ryder as Mary Corleone in The Godfather: Part III

According to Insider, Ryder had actually taken the role but suddenly left the movie "following what was later diagnosed as a nervous collapse."

According to Andy Garcia who played Vincent, "[Ryder] was on another movie so she wasn't even in the original week of rehearsals we did in Napa when we first started. But Sofia was there and she sat in and read the part even back then. So when Sofia was cast I was like, 'Let's go. I'm all in.'"

After Ryder's exit, the role went to director Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, Sofia Coppola.

8. Antonio Banderas as the Phantom of the Opera in The Phantom of the Opera

Back in 2001, three years before the film came out, it was already confirmed that Banderas would be playing the Phantom. A couple of years later, Playbill reported that director Joel Schumacher refused Banderas and other actors like Hugh Jackman to play the role in search of someone younger.

Fortunately, there is still something for those who wanted Banderas to play the role. In their appearance in Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Royal Albert Hall Celebration back in 1998, Banderas actually sand the Phantom of the Opera duet with Sarah Brightman.

In search of that younger cast, the production went with Gerard Butler whose first big onscreen role is that of the Phantom in the Broadway musical's big-screen debut.

Glenn Howerton as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy

During a Q&A on one of his Instagram lives, director James Gunn revealed that it was actually Howerton who came a millimeter close to landing the Star-Lord role. He said,  "When asked about who else had auditioned for the role, he replied: 'I would never share who auditioned & didn’t get the role unless they shared it first – many people know @glennhowerton auditioned & was my 2nd choice for the role.'"

Now, most people can only think of Chris Pratt's face when they think of the beloved Star-Lord from The Guardians of the Galaxy.

10. Yvonne Strahovski as Captain Marvel in Captain Marvel

This is way more rumor than actual fact but allegedly, there was a time when Strahovski was in the lead for the Captain Marvel role. In 2011, Screen Rant even reported about the said rumors.

The information source was a fan site claiming "to have inside word from 'a protected source inside Marvel' who names Strahovski as the actress being cast as Carol Danvers."

As we all know though, the role is and continues to be in the hands of Oscar winner Brie Larson.

11. Chris Farley as Shrek in Shrek (2001)

Before Mike Myers was known as Shrek, his SNL co-star and friend Farley was actually in line first to play Shrek.

According to Yahoo Entertainment, "Chris’s brother Kevin Farley (in a 2015 interview) said the Saturday Night Live and Tommy Boy star had recorded nearly all of Shrek’s dialogue before he died of a drug overdose in 1997. And Farley’s version of the character would have been markedly different from the one we all know, ultimately voiced by his SNL costar Mike Myers, who gave the character a distinctly Scottish brogue. Originally, the Shrek character was a little bit more like Chris, like a humble, bumbling innocent guy."

Now, Myers' name is forever tied to the name of everyone's favorite ogre.

12. Michael K. Williams as Django in Django Unchanged

Best known for his performances on The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, Williams was actually the first choice for Django. He even met with Quentin Tarantino for the role.

He said, "The rumors of me being considered for the lead role in Django are very true. I was in meetings with Quentin, QT as I call him. It came down to Jamie and I."

In the end, the role went to Jamie Foxx who took up the mantle of Django in the revisionist Western.

13. Nicholas Cage as Superman in the almost-made Superman Lives

Superman Lives was originally set in to be released in the 90s and was set to star Cage with a script by Kevin Smith and Tim Burton as the director. Sadly, the project was canceled.

Apparently, the reason this project never came to life is because Warner Bros. wasn't happy with the performance of Mars Attacks! which bombed at the box office.

In an interview with Inverse, Jonathan Gems said, "They [Warner Bros.] punished Tim. He had this wonderful project, with Nicolas Cage going to play Superman. The script was absolutely brilliant. They had incredible ideas for it. And then Warner Bros. dumped it and never gave a reason."

14. Carrie Fisher as Miss Scarlet in Clue (1985)

Fisher actually got the role but in 2013, a BuzzFeed article revealed that a week before rehearsals, director Jonathan Lynn got a call telling him that Fisher was in rehab.

Lynn explained, "I was very naive. I didn't know what she was talking about. When I met her at a restaurant, she had actually fallen over a chair, but I had just thought she was shortsighted or something. She sniffed a lot, and she said she had hay fever, which of course I believed."

Lesley Ann Warren went on to play the femme fatale in the classic whodunnit film.

15. Bob Hopkins as Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987)

According to a report by The Metro, in an interview with Absolute Radio, Hoskins said, “Brian De Palma sent me a script for The Untouchables and said, ‘Look at Al Capone.’ I went to meet him at his hotel, and he said, ‘Really, I want Robert De Niro to play him.’ And I thought, Well great, what am I doing here? He then said, ‘But if he doesn’t do it, would you sort of step in?’ and I said, ‘Yeah of course I will.' Anyway, months went by, and I read the papers and saw De Niro was doing it. I’d sort of forgotten all about it, and then Linda — my Mrs. — was opening the post one morning and said, ‘What’s that?’ and it was a check for £20,000. It said, ‘Thanks for your time, Bob. Love, Brian.'"

Robert De Niro did do a great job starring as the famous mobster Al Capone in the Academy Award-nominated film.

16. Prince as Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element (1997)

Entertainment Weekly reported that Prince was supposed to play the role. Unfortunately, given his tour schedule at the time, he was unable to star in the sci-fi film.

In the days after Prince's death, Luc Besson shared a sketch of the icon in costume (from a Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit) on Twitter.

Chris Tucker filled in to play Ruby Rhod in the iconic fashion-forward sci-fi flick.

At first, it might be weird picturing these people in the roles they could have gotten given that the actors who went on to take the roles actually did absolutely great jobs but if you give it a minute, it might have been worth the watch. Who knows?

Maybe some of them could have made their characters far more iconic.

Liezel