The Original Choice For The Role

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by JozefK, Dec 2, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Francis Coppola originally cast this actor as Sonny Corleone.

    [​IMG]

    Carmine Caridi - Wikipedia

    According to studio executive Robert Evans in his 1994 memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture, Caridi was director Francis Ford Coppola's first choice for the role of Sonny Corleone, but Evans insisted on James Caan because Caridi was too tall to play opposite Al Pacino.​

    According to his friend Danny Aiello, Caridi was actually signed to play Sonny, and paid off when Pacino was cast.

    Caridi later said, "My mother's death wasn't as bad as losing that part".
     
  2. carrick doone

    carrick doone Whhhuuuutttt????

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    That quote is truly passionate commentary.
     
  3. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    John Kerr

    [​IMG]

    In a widely publicized decision in 1956, Kerr declined to play the role of Charles Lindbergh in The Spirit of St. Louis because he did not respect Lindbergh's early support of the Nazi regime in Germany prior to America's entry into World War II. "I don't admire the ideals of the hero", Mr. Kerr told The New York Post. The part went to James Stewart.​
     
  4. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    In 1957 Fox intended to cast contract player Tony Randall in The Young Lions with Brando and Clift. However the agency representing the latter two insisted that in order to get them, Fox would have to give Randall's role to another of their clients, Dean Martin.

    This little-remembered incident is actually a very significant event in Hollywood history, as it showed how power had shifted from the studios to the agents.
     
  5. GeetarFreek

    GeetarFreek Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montana
    Stuart Townsend was Aragorn in LOTR filmed 4 days and was recast, oy that had to hurt
     
    Frozensoda likes this.
  6. Duke Fame

    Duke Fame Sold out the Enormodome

    Location:
    Tampa, FL
    I have a third stringer for you.

    American Gigolo - Started with John Travolta, girlfriend passed away so he dropped out. Offered to Christopher Reeve, he turned it down. Finally landed on Richard Gere, which prompted the studio to demand the budget be cut in half.

    Also, Sly Stalone was the original choice for Beverly Hills Cop. Stalone did a rewrite on the script but Paramount said it would be too expensive and Stalone didn't want to cut the budget.
     
    a customer likes this.
  7. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Actors who were replaced during production

    I understand there will be overlap but I hope to keep the threads separate as much as possible
     
  8. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Mel Brooks' first choice for the Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles
    [​IMG]

    Brooks sent him the script and received the reply, "I won t do it, but I'll be the first in line to see it!
     
  9. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Perry Mason - Fred MacMurray

    Have Gun, Will Travel - Randolph Scott

    Rawhide - Joel McCrea

    The Wild Wild West - Rory Calhoun

    Murder, She Wrote - Jean Stapleton

    Bewitched - Tammy Grimes
     
  10. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Fred and Ethel Mertz - Gale Gordon and Bea Benadaret
     
    Keith V likes this.
  11. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    The Untouchables -- apparently offered first to Van Heflin, then to Van Johnson (an old friend of the Arnazes, Desilus's owners). Johnson actually accepted, but was talked out of it by his wife -- a decision that probably cost him in the seven figures.

    When asked about his (now ex) wife a few years later, Johnson replied, "I don't know where she is, and I don't care".
     
  12. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Norman Lear first offered the role of Archie Bunker to Mickey Rooney, who turned it down, insisting the show would be a huge flop.

    Shortly afterward Rooney was offered the role of Oscar Madison on the Odd Couple sitcom. He was the first choice of Tony Randall (they had done the play together in Las Vegas). But Rooney turned that down too.
     
    a customer likes this.
  13. Keith V

    Keith V Forum Resident

    Location:
    Secaucus, NJ
    Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones
     
  14. Anthology123

    Anthology123 Senior Member

    For West Side Story, Jerome Robbins wanted Carol Lawrence to play the film Maria (she played the Broadway Maria), but after screen tests, they agreed she was too old for the role. Elvis was offered the role of Tony, but Colonel Tom Parker turned it down.
     
  15. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    I presume the hangup with Elvis was over the music publishing, which he and the Col always insisted on getting a piece of.

    Again presumably this is the same reason he didn't do the Hank Williams biopic, or cut a Chuck Berry tribute album, as was rumored to be under consideration.
     
  16. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Peter Sellers was the first choice to play Dr Strangelove.

    However...

    President Merlin Muffley - Bob Newhart

    [​IMG]

    Group Captain Mandrake - Terry-Thomas

    [​IMG]

    Major Kong - Dan Blocker

    [​IMG]

    Columbia Studios would only finance the film if Sellers played multiple roles, as he had done in The Mouse That Roared. So Sellers would take on the extra parts -- although he later dropped the role of Major Kong, and was replaced by Slim Pickens.
     
    Ignatius and Dudley Morris like this.
  17. charlie W

    charlie W EMA Level 10

    Location:
    Area Code 254
    Beverly Hills Cop. James Caan was offered the role but turned it down. It went to Eddie Murphy. Apocalypse Now: Francis Ford Coppola wanted Harvey Keitel but he was not available so he settled on Martin Sheen.
     
  18. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Coppola first offered AN to Steve McQueen, who accepted but then decided he didn't want to spend six months in the steaming Philippine Jungle. So he said he'd take the smaller role Brando eventually played, which would only require a few weeks of shooting -- but he wanted the same money. Coppola said no.

    It was then offered to virtually leading man star in Hollywood, all of whom turned it down for reasons similar to McQueen. Which is how it ended up with Keitel (who actually shot some scenes before being fired) and Sheen.
     
  19. Duke Fame

    Duke Fame Sold out the Enormodome

    Location:
    Tampa, FL
    Caan wasn't offered the part. He was considered.
     
  20. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Who'd they go to next - Van Morrison? Van McCoy? Van Halen?
     
  21. Combination

    Combination Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    I thought Keitel actually filmed some stuff for a few days, and then it was quickly realized that he wasn't going to work out?
     
  22. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    Caan was offered Apocalypse Now and (BION) Superman, the latter leading to the following classic exchange:

    BRANDO: "C'mon Jimmie, do it -- we'll have a lot of laughs."

    CAAN: "You don't have to wear the suit."
     
  23. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Dixie
    After Van Johnson they asked Howard Johnson, then Dr Samuel Johnson.
     
  24. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Buddy Ebsen for the Tin Man Wizard Of Oz...
    [​IMG]
     
    Matthew Tate likes this.
  25. carrick doone

    carrick doone Whhhuuuutttt????

    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    I can just see Mel laughing when he sent it. Like, "He'll never do it but think of his face when he reads it!"
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine