The Original Choice For The Role

Didn' t much care for ' American Gigolo ' but Christopher Reeve?
As for Stallone in ' Beverly Hills Cop',,,.forget about it !

 

Terry Southern claimed he was offered the role of Major Kong.

If that even happened (which I doubt) there is no way he would have accepted, and no way Kubrick would have expected him to.

 

Brad Dourif was Tim Burton's choice for the role of Joker, but Warner wanted it to go to a bigger star.

 

John Wayne -- All The King's Men

Wayne was also offered Shane, which he turned down and then did his own variation, Hondo.

I once read that Shane was originally offered to -- another BION moment -- Montgomery Clift. I find that hard to believe. Shane must be middle aged, and a bit broken down. Clift was only 7 years younger than Alan Ladd, but looked about 20.

 

Yeah, his rewrite for BHC ended up turning into "Cobra". Guess they dodged a bullet there, so to speak.

 

For which role on "Rawhide"? The Gil Favor (aka Eric Fleming) role?

 

Hey, the second choice was Gig Young, who was actually there the first day, but collapsed during filming due to being drunk as a skunk. Brooks and Young agreed he needed to leave and get help, and Brooks called his friend Gene Wilder, who stopped him before he could ask him to fly to LA from NY and just said, "I'll be there in the morning." And they did one take on the scene in the jail cell (the first one filmed), and Brooks said, "I can't believe I was so stupid not to hire Gene in the first place."

 

I don't know if this counts because it's voice acting but Chris Farley was the original voice of Shrek from the Shrek movie, he passed away before completing it and they ended up going with Mike Myers

 

Ebsen had an allergic reaction of some kind to the makeup so he was out.
But ! If he had played the role his career may have taken a different spin and we might not have seen him as Jed Clamped, an iconic role.

 

From Wikipedia...
A long-time friend of Lucille Ball, Barbara Pepper was considered for the role of Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy, but was passed over due to the fact that she was reportedly a drinker. William Frawley("Fred Mertz") was, likewise, reportedly, a drinker and was already cast. It was felt that having two drinkers in the cast might eventually cause difficulties so they auditioned and found Vivian Vance to play Ethel instead.

Barbara went on to play Doris Ziffel on Green Acres.

 

I believe for the Barbra Streisand A Star Is Born, Kris Kristofferson was Babs's third choice after Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger.

 

Yes.

Originally the role was to be a middle aged veteran of the trail drives, while Rowdy was to be a cocky upstart in his early 20s -- similar to Joe Cartwright.

For some reason they cast Fleming and Eastwood, who were only five years apart in age -- changing the surrogate dynamic from father-son to older/younger brother.

 

FWIW, Young's leaving was not voluntary (I once heard some audio tapes he made describing the incident) and he regarded Brooks' behavior as less than considerate toward him. Young was cast over Brooks' objections, and Mel was not terribly kind to him on the set.

At some point the role was offered to Dan Dailey (I believe after Young), who accepted, then immediately backed out.

As can be seen from the casting offers, the part was intended to be played by a grizzled old timer, somebody like Neville Brand, not Gene Wilder -- which is why I think Wilder was totally miscast. Apparently I am the only person on Earth who thinks this.

 

I know Hitchcock offered the Farley Granger role in Strangers on a Train to someone else (Bill Holden?).

 

He wanted Burt Lancaster but the studio forced him to use Granger (and Ruth Roman)

 

Not true. Keitel was actually used for the initial weeks of filming but Coppola wasn't happy with his performance and decided to replace him with Martin Sheen (who the director had liked in casting sessions).

 

A related thread that might be of interest:

POLL: Which actor(s) considered for James Bond would you have liked to see play the role?

 

Mel resisted putting Wilder in that part for months, because he felt the comic actor was too young for the part. But after the first take, he shook his head, gave Wilder a hug and apologized, saying, "you were right -- you are the Waco Kid."

 

John Belushi as Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters?

 

yes, that is correct...allergic reaction...I think it turned out well for all concerned...he was destined to play Jed! LOL!

 

Also for Blazing Saddles, Brooks wanted Richard Pryor but the studio wouldn't agree and it wound up going to Cleavon Little.

Jerry Van Dyke was offered the lead in Gilligan's Island and turned it down.

 

Amongst other roles, George Raft turned down the leads in 'The Sea Wolf' (John Garfield was cast in his place); 'High Sierra' (Bogart); 'The Maltese Falcon' (Bogart); and perhaps (there is some disagreement as to whether he was actually offered the role) 'Casablanca' (Bogart).

 

Ray Bolger was originally cast as the Tin Man and Ebsen as the Scarecrow. Bolger preferred and lobbied for the role of the Scarecrow. Ebsen amiably agreed to the switch only to suffer what had been up until then an unknown allergy to the aluminum makeup required for the Tin Man. Ebsen was forced out of the role when he was hospitalized for the severe reaction he was suffering. Jack Haley replaced him.

 

FATE took the right turn all were perfect in their roles...

 

Also Double Indemnity