Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • imagine if these films start the people who the writers actually envisioned.

  • Welcome to watch Mojo.

  • And today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 actors who missed out on roles written for them.

  • For this list, we're looking at specific roles in films which are confirmed, rumored or suspected to have been written with a specific actor in mind, but were ultimately played by someone else, though most of these missed opportunities were the result of the actors in question passing on the roll, we'll also be including actors who couldn't play the roles due to an untimely death or some impediment beyond their control.

  • Number 10.

  • Harrison Ford as Dr Alan Grant, Jurassic Park.

  • In retrospect, it's really hard to imagine anyone other than Sam Neill in the role of the slightly curmudgeonly, cynical Dr Alan Grant, but dissect the character, really break him down to his elemental parts, and you begin to see a whole lot of Harrison Ford you to dig up dinosaurs.

  • Hello, Trent.

  • Fashion sense, for starters, feels very Indiana Jones, as does the attitude that balance of intelligence and resourcefulness that's what four does best scares me.

  • And sure enough, Spielberg who also directed the Indiana Jones films, offered him the role first, but Ford passed on the opportunity.

  • Your choice.

  • But we get wanting to avoid being typecast.

  • And so Sam Neill got the part instead, number nine George Clooney is Jack Frost.

  • Jack Frost.

  • The special effects used to bring the titular snowman to life in Jack Frost were impressive for the time, though not necessarily endearing.

  • He is pure nightmare fuel I'm home, but look a little closer a Jack Frost's face and you begin to see an uncanny resemblance to a certain handsome leading man candidate, Michael Keaton.

  • It turns out that Jim Henson's creature shop had already designed the animatronic to resemble Clooney before the latter jumped ship to star in Batman and Robin Freeze, Clooney dodged a bullet with Jack Frost, only to be hit with a cannonball.

  • Interestingly enough, the lead role in Our Brand is Crisis was also penned with Clooney in mind, but he chose to simply produce, with Sandra Bullock starring instead, You know, once that is gone, there's there's no getting that back.

  • Number eight.

  • Sylvester Stallone is Axel Foley, Beverly Hills cop.

  • Well, this certainly would have made for a very different sort of movie.

  • Eddie Murphy might not be the most natural of action stars, but this movie succeeds first and foremost, thanks to his incomparable comedic jobs.

  • Now, while we find Sly to be plenty charming and charismatic, when a script calls for it a funny guy, he is not just perhaps, why he gave the script such a dramatic rewrite when it was presented to him, effectively leaving all the jokes on the cutting room floor.

  • His vision was far more hard hitting, but also called for a much bigger budget.

  • And so Murphy was called in, and it once again became an action comedy.

  • The rest is cinematic history.

  • You know it doesn't even matter to me, Billy.

  • You know it matters that you guys came down.

  • I'm all choked up.

  • Number seven Richard Pryor is Sheriff Bart Blazing Saddles.

  • Let's start off by acknowledging that Cleveland Little is pitch perfect, a sheriff part.

  • He expertly plays off of Gene Wilder, which is no small feat and is a crucial part of what makes Blazing Saddles the enduring classic it is today.

  • Oh, but considering comedy legend Richard Pryor was one of the writers who helped concoct this unique and zany satirical black comedy Western might not he have been illogical.

  • Star isn't so far fetched to believe that Prior might have been writing that role for himself.

  • How did you do?

  • I don't know, no.

  • In fact, Mel Brooks had always imagined prior in the role.

  • But unfortunately, drug related charges made prior difficult to ensure.

  • And so his role was limited to that of a screenwriter.

  • Job World done but dropped to number six Lindsay Lohan is Jade.

  • The hangover in this unexpected 2009 hit comedy by director Todd Phillips, a wild Bachelor party results in a lot of bad decisions and a whole lot of missing memories.

  • Among other shenanigans.

  • Mild mannered dentists do Price gets married to a stripper and single mother.

  • Jade.

  • You guys were passed out.

  • The room was a wreck, so I just curled up next to Stew, uh, rare.

  • Heather Graham plays the part and plays it perfectly.

  • She is the very definition of the stripper with a heart of gold.

  • Before she owned the role, however, the part was offered to Lindsay Lohan, who reportedly dismissed the opportunity, stating the script quote had no potential.

  • Apparently, she's not the best judge of scripts.

  • The film made of fortune at the box office and even performed well with critics such a klutz.

  • I just get so nervous when I gamble.

  • Silly Number five.

  • Marilyn Monroe as Holly Go lightly Breakfast at Tiffany's, directed by Blake Edwards and adapted from the 1958 Truman Capote novella by the same name.

  • Breakfast A Tiffany's is a classic, and while Audrey Hepburn starred in more than her fair share of famous roles, there is perhaps none more iconic than that of Holly Golightly.

  • Oh, honey, that is you, that is your house president.

  • Something sweet.

  • Hard though it may be to imagine the role very nearly went to another silver screen legend of Hollywood's Golden age.

  • Marilyn Monroe.

  • Capote himself had always wanted Monroe to play the part, so much so that Holly's description resembles that of the blonde sex symbol.

  • The screenplay was even tailored around her, but Monroe ultimately turned down the role on the advice of acting legend and mentor Lee Strasbourg.

  • Do you think she's handsomely paid?

  • Number four Tom Hanks says Jerry Maguire, Jerry Maguire.

  • This one is really tough to imagine as Jerry Maguire.

  • Tom Cruise strikes a careful balance of fast talking narcissism with just enough heartfelt earnestness to win you back when his ego drives you away.

  • But it turns out that when filmmaker Cameron Crowe began pending the script, he did it with Tom Hanks in mind.

  • The problem.

  • He spent so long working on the script that by the time it was ready, he felt that Hank's had aged out of the world.

  • Wow, thanks.

  • It was offered to Hank's nonetheless, but he ultimately passed.

  • They say.

  • All's well, that ends well.

  • And in the case of casting Jerry Maguire, that's true.

  • Tom Hanks is a living legend, but, ah, hotshot sports agent, not so much.

  • You'll lose.

  • You wanted smaller.

  • I'm over it now.

  • I want all my clients and yours to number three.

  • Matt Damon is Jake Sully Avatar.

  • Boo Lloyd is Matt Damon.

  • Ever know how to pick the wrong movie?

  • He gave up the lead role in Manchester by the Sea, which came out the same year he started the Great Wall.

  • We really do smell, but that wasn't his first missed up.

  • He passed on the starring role in what would go on to become the highest grossing film of its time when pending avatar James Cameron is said to have envisioned Matt Damon Is Jake Sully a role that ultimately went to Sam Worthington?

  • We're ready.

  • So what was Matt's excuse this time?

  • He didn't want to cause problems on the Born Ultimatum here.

  • Enough.

  • You've got to respect his commitment.

  • The rial picker, though Cameron allegedly offered him 10% of the box office profits.

  • This isn't some story in a newspaper.

  • This is real.

  • You understand me?

  • Number two prints as Ruby Rod The Fifth Element.

  • Chris Tucker has played a wide assortment of rolls over the years, but none has come anywhere close to being quite a stranger.

  • Unique as Ruby Rod, this boy is fuelled like fire.

  • So start melting ladies because the boy is hotter than hot.

  • This'll brightly colored, a feminine and flamboyant talk show host.

  • I felt like a strange fit for the typically smart mouth but traditionally masculine actor.

  • But he managed to pull off the transformation, and, as most cinema goers would agree, he does it by channeling his inner prince.

  • You know I have a shoulder when you know so tomorrow from 5 to 7.

  • You please like you have more than a two word vocabulary.

  • Well, as it turns out, Prince is specifically who writer director Luc Besson had in mind when creating the character, which certainly explains Ruby's distinct aesthetic.

  • Unfortunately, while Prince was reportedly on board, his tour dates made scheduling impossible.

  • Our number one on this list is very near and dear to my heart.

  • In fact, it's probably my second favorite movie ever, so I can't decide how I would have felt if it had been made with the original plan cast.

  • But one thing's for sure about it, and pretty much every other entry on this list, it would have been a very different movie.

  • So let's marvel at what could have been through some honorable mentions.

  • And then we'll see what's at the top.

  • You Heather.

  • No, I'm a Veronica Sawyer.

  • Hey, Joe, let me shoot this guy.

  • She you shoot me in a dream.

  • You've been a wake up and apologize.

  • Are you calling me a super here?

  • I'm calling you a killer.

  • Natural born killer.

  • My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates.

  • You never know what you're going to get?

  • Uh huh.

  • What do you people have?

  • Pritikin order to stuff a terrible taste like sisters.

  • Before we continue, Be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.

  • You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.

  • If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.

  • Number one.

  • John Belushi is Peter Blankman, plus John Candy and Eddie Murphy Ghostbusters.

  • This 1984 supernatural comedy is an absolute classic.

  • It's now all but impossible to imagine any other faces rocking those Proton packs.

  • But we very nearly got a totally different crew.

  • Ghostbusters, according to Dan Akroyd, when he was painting the script, it was intended as another collaboration with his friend and SNL co star, John Belushi.

  • Not only that, but Eddie Murphy also reportedly had a key role, which many assume evolved into Ernie Hudson's Winston.

  • Their problem offices.

  • John Candy was offered the role of Louis Tully, but passed sadly.

  • Belushi died of an overdose before the film went into production.

  • In fact, Ackroyd was writing a line of dialogue for Belushi's character when he received the call to tell him about his friends passing.

  • Do you agree with our picks?

  • Check out this other recent clip from Watch Mojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.

imagine if these films start the people who the writers actually envisioned.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it