You might know him as the twinkle-eyed Brit who starred as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything and will take on the role of swashbuckling magizoologist Newt Scamander in the forthcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but it turns out Eddie Redmayne might have been on our screens last year in a very different kind of role. The actor has revealed he auditioned for the part of the evil Jedi Kylo Ren in JJ Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
“That was really a hilarious moment,” the British actor told Uproxx. “Because it was [casting director] Nina Gold — who I have to thank because she’s cast me in several films — and she was just sitting there and I was trying again and again with different versions of my kind of [Darth Vader breathing sound]. And after about 10 shots she was like, ‘You got anything else?’ I was like, ‘No!’”
At least Redmayne isn’t alone in having missed out on a famous roles. Here are several more celebrated Hollywood parts that were very nearly played by somebody else entirely.
Sean Connery as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings
For a good few years around the turn of the millennium, Connery was Hollywood’s go-to guy for ageing alpha males, playing such roles as King Richard the Lionheart in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, King Arthur (in First Knight) and Allan Quatermain (in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). But the veteran Scot turned down the role of JRR Tolkien’s curmudgeonly sorcerer in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy because, as he told the New Zealand Herald in 2005, he “never understood” the project. Gandalf was ultimately played by Ian McKellen, who was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for the first instalment, 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring. Jackson’s fantasy trilogy went on to make more than $2.9 billion (GBP2.3bn) worldwide, and CNN reported in 2008 that Connery could have earned $400 million for playing the role — as he had been offered a 15 per cent share of box office receipts by Warner Bros.
Tom Cruise as Iron Man
The Top Gun star is rumoured to have been offered the role of Tony Stark and his power-suited alter ego as early as 1998, and was still in the running as late as 2004, when Marvel’s Kevin Feige confirmed discussions were ongoing between studio and actor. “They came to me at a certain point and ... when I do something, I want to do it right,” Cruise told IGN in 2005. “If I commit to something, it has to be done in a way that I know it’s gonna be something special. And as it was lining up, it just didn’t feel to me like it was gonna work.” But boy, did Iron Man work. When the movie eventually arrived in multiplexes four years later, it helped set Robert Downey Jr on his rapid journey from dishevelled tabloid regular to the highest-paid actor in the world — as well as helping usher in a new epoch of popularity for superhero movies.
Russell Crowe as Wolverine
Hugh Jackman will play the comic book hero for the ninth time in next year’s Logan. But in 2012 the Australian actor revealed he might never have got the role if Crowe hadn’t recommended him for 2000s X-Men. “Bryan Singer asked Rusty [Russell Crowe] to do Wolverine,” Jackman told Triple M radio. “And he said, ‘Nah mate, I’ve just done Gladiator, it’s not for me. But you should look at this other guy ...’” It sounds like fans of the Marvel anti-hero might have had a lucky escape. X-Men director Singer told an audience at Fantasia Fest in 2013 that Crowe wanted to play the Wolverine, who often appears on screen with an ornate double-pointed quiff, as a skinhead.
Burt Reynolds as James Bond
Reynolds was offered the chance to play the suave spy in 1970, with producers desperate to find a replacement for George Lazenby, who had quit the role after just one outing (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service). And for his part, the star of Boogie Nights, Deliverance and Smokey and the Bandit believes he could have made a decent Bond. “I think I could have done it well,” Reynolds, an unknown at the time the offer was made, told Good Morning America last year. “In my stupidity I said, ‘An American can’t play James Bond. It has to be an Englishman — Bond, James Bond. Nah, I can’t do it.’ Oops. Yeah, I could have done it.” If that’s not a big enough sob story, the 80-year-old revealed in the same interview that he was also offered the role of Han Solo in Star Wars, but was “too busy” to take it. Harrison Ford was eventually cast in the saga, which stands as the second highest-grossing film franchise of all time.
Warren Beatty as Bill in Kill Bill
The part of the sinister hit man also known as Snake Charmer eventually went to David Carradine. But Tarantino has said the role was originally written for the Bonnie and Clyde star. “It was interesting reading that first draft, because that’s the Warren Beatty version,” the film-maker told IndieWire last year. “He’s much more of a James Bond-type of character — Bond as Blofeld, basically ... Once I cast David Carradine, I did a lot of little rewrites, shifting the character into David’s sphere.” Carradine played the role with restrained, viper-like charm. But might a cat-stroking, revenge-planning Beatty have made for an even better villain?
Jack Nicholson as Michael Corleone
Nicholson told Movieline in 2004 that he turned down the chance to play Vito Corleone’s son because he didn’t feel Italian enough. “Back then I believed that Italians should play Italians,” he said. “There were a lot of actors who could have played Michael, myself included, but Al Pacino was Michael Corleone. I can’t think of a better compliment to pay him.” Francis Ford Coppola also considered Beatty, Carradine, Robert Redford and Martin Sheen for the role, according to Vanity Fair. So Nicholson was hardly the only actor of non-Italian heritage in the running.
Gwyneth Paltrow as Rose in Titanic
Rumours have abounded for years that a pre-Shakespeare in Love Paltrow was offered the role of Rose DeWitt Bukater in James Cameron’s romantic blockbuster. The director has refused to confirm or deny whether Kate Winslet, whose career hit new heights after her performance earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination, was his second choice. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t enjoyed rubbing salt into the wounds of whoever did turn down the role. “They should’ve come whimpering back afterwards and said, ‘I will never second guess you again as long as I live.’ But it’s too late,” Cameron told MTV News in 2012. “You get one chance, that’s it.”
