Who Else Almost Got the Role Part 2
Submitted on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:21:47 +0100 - Commented on 0 timesMaking a movie these days is more often than not a very big, expensive, and complicated goal. You have literally hundreds of people working together in various parts of the project from the astute and goal oriented Director of the film, all the way down to the coffee getting Production Assistant who gets shit on and verbally assaulted every day. It’s those type of people, the Production Assistants, the Set Decorators, The Grips, the Lead Carpenters: they all have just as important a role to play in the creation of a film that is equally important as any other job. But… you know… f**k them, we came to see some of those assholes that we see in the tabloids. They sell the movie as we all know (and hate to admit), so hows bout me and you take a journey down an alternate road of history where some of our favorite characters were played by completely different actors. That’s right kiddies, we’ve got another addition of "who almost got the role". It’ll be fun, I promise.
Beetle Juice (Dir: Tim Burton - 1989) Situation: Tim Burton wanted Sammy Davis Jr. to play Beetle juice.
It has been said that Sammy Davis Jr. was an icon to a young Tim Burton and this was supposed to be the project that united Tim Burton with one of his idols in Sammy Davis Jr. However, the studio didn’t want to go in this direction and they wanted someone a little bit younger. Michael Keaton got the role at a point in his career when he was being relegated to comedies like Mr. Mom and low budget horror films like Night Watch. After Keaton showed his acting chops in Beetle Juice playing an iconic horror character that is insane, focused, and full of black humor, he went on to land a career-making role as Batman in… Tim Burton’s Batman. I guess you could say that this was an extremely important step on the ladder to making Michael Keaton an A-List star. It was the right call to make over Sammy Davis Jr., but still that would have been pretty interesting to watch.
Escape From New York (Dir: John Carpenter – 1981) Situation: The studio wanted Charles Bronson to play Snake Plisskin.
No one is arguing the fact that Charles Bronson isn’t a bad ass. I mean, for crying out loud he played the title character in one of the most awesome vigilante justice films of all time (Death Wish). The studio wanted Bronson for the role because he was well known as a tough guy, and Kurt Russell, the man that John Carpenter wanted had only had one starring role as Elvis Presley in a TV movie (which John Carpenter directed). Eventually, John Carpenter was able to convince the studio that a 60 year old man running around in leather pants and an eye patch wouldn’t be the best idea. Again, this worked out for everyone considering that it helped bond the film relationship between John Carpenter and Kurt Russell and also led to collaborations with The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China. I don’t want to live in a world where these three movies don’t exist.
Gremlins (Dir: Joe Dante – 1984) Situation: Emilio Estevez was considered for the role of Billy.
Now, I don’t often like to refer to simply role "considerations" because they are so vague. I mean, a consideration could just be a passing sentiment between two producers at a cocaine party spouting off such sentiments as "hey how bout Arnold as the 90 year old woman in that buddy cop movie we’re working on?" and then someone calls the guy stupid and it’s all over. I added this one because the idea of a young Emilio Estevez, or for that matter, anyone that isn’t Zach Galligan as Billy seems absolutely insane. Galligan nailed the role perfectly of an innocent and dough eyed all American boy in a town that practically craps Americana. No strikes against Emilio, but I mean c’mon, this is the guy who was in Men at Work and the bad ass punk from Repo Man. It would have taken Gremlins into a new direction of a ridiculous black comedy and turned it into a… ridiculous black comedy. You know what, I kinda would want to see the train wreck that this would have become. It may have been a glorious train wreck, like Starship Troopers.
28 Days Later (Dir: Danny Boyle – 2003) Situation: Ewan McGregor and Ryan Gosling was offered the main role of Jim before Cillian Murphy.
Danny Boyle’s well received zombie infected movie 28 Days Later is well known for not only helping to revive the zombie genre to a new generation of horror fans but also by gaining a lot of critical acclaim for the performance of Cillian Murphy as the main character of Jim. It’s not clear why Ewan McGregor didn’t take the role, but the only reason that Ryan Gosling didn’t have the spot was because of a scheduling conflict. I’m not sure exactly what project caused the scheduling conflict but I see three movies made around that time that it could possibly be. It could have been The Believer, The Slaughter Rule, or Murder by Numbers. Good call Gosling, well actually The Believer was pretty good, but still was it worth not taking a project from the man who did Trainspotting and would go on to win an Academy Award for best director? I guess gosling wouldn’t have known that at the time, but I mean… c’mon now…. It’s Danny Boyle.
The Terminator (Dir: James Cameron – 1984) Situation: OJ Simpson was considered to play the lead role of The Terminator.
They didn’t select OJ Simpson as the Terminator because producers thought that he was "too nice" and would never be taken seriously as a killer.I swear that is true and not just a sick joke I made up
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