There are many reasons why some actors turned down roles in Blockbuster films, some wanted to pursue their own passion project, other didn’t want to get typecast by playing similar roles, and there are also some actors who didn’t accept the role because they didn’t understand the script. Below are some actors who rejected an iconic or box office success blockbuster hit for a variety of reasons.
Kevin Costner is a 2-time Academy Award-winning actor who started his success in 1987’s The Untouchables as Eliot Ness, he gained further acclaim in Dances with Wolves (he won 2 Oscar), JFK, The Bodyguard (with Whitney Houston), and A Perfect World. Costner was offered the role of Andy Dufresne in the universally-acclaimed adaptation of Steven King’s The Shawshank Redemption, which consistently sat at the top spot of many “best movies of all time” list. Costner turned down this iconic role for Waterworld, his personal passion project that he both produced, starred in and directed (Kevin Reynolds was still credited as the director, but Costner and Reynolds didn’t get along), the film was a critically and commercial bomb, it was the most expensive film ever made at the time (the record was broken 2 years later by James Cameron’s Titanic), and unlike Cameron’s Titanic, Waterworld gained fame for all the wrong reasons: the production was delayed during a hurricane in Hawaii, Costner nearly died in one of the scenes, and Costner was doing back-seat driver director and practically replaced the real director. Although The Shawshank Redemption isn’t a blockbuster smash hit either, Tim Robbins did gain international fame for playing Andy, something Costner definitely needed as Waterworld was one of the films that ended his A-list status. Still, a universally acclaimed box office flop is better than a critical and commercial disaster.
Christina Appelgate is an American actress with an established career in film and television, she’s best known for starring in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and its sequel. Christina Applegate was the first choice to play Elle Wood in 2001 Legally Blonde, a film that launched Reese Witherspoon to superstardom. Applegate didn’t want to play Elle because she didn’t want to play another ditzy blonde character, as she thinks the character is similar to her character in the Sitcom Married with Children, instead of Legally Blonde (which is considered a cult classic, and critical and commercial success), she filmed a remake of the French film Les Visiteurs (Just Visiting in English), which just happen to a box office bomb.
Brad Pitt, the Brad part of Brangelina was known for leading roles in Se7en, 12 Monkeys, cult classics like Fight Club, the heist franchise Ocean’s series, Mr & Mrs. Smith, and World War Z. Before his success into A-list circles with Troy and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, he missed a huge opportunity that ultimately launched one of his costars in Ocean’s series into superstardom, that guy is Matt Damon. Brad Pitt was offered to play the part of Jason Bourne, who basically changed spy action hero for the better. Instead of Jason Bourne in the Bourne franchise, he made Spy Game with Robert Redford, which is a box office bomb.
Will Smith, after double successful hits in Independence Day and Men in Black, Will Smith would’ve cemented his A-list status if he just chooses the right film. Smith was the one of Wachowskis Brother (now Sister)’s top choice to play Neo in the Matrix franchise, but Smith wasn’t sure about Matrix’s planned special effect. What did he choose instead? Wild Wild West, a steampunk action-western disaster with an equal amount of special effects, the film was a critical and commercial bomb, the film was nominated with 8 Razzie, and won 5, including Worst Original Song (Wild Wild West) by Smith. Keanu Reeves got the role and the rest is history, Smith missed the role of a lifetime and a 256 million dollar paycheck.
Eddie Murphy, this guy was unstoppable in comedy in the 80s and 90s with a series of blockbuster hits like 48 Hrs, the Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places, the Nutty Professor, Doctor Doolittle, and voice roles in Mulan (Dragon) and Shrek (Donkey). He would’ve stopped his career from going downhill if he just picked the right film, Eddie Murphy was offered the role of Det. James Carter in Rush Hour, but he turned down the role and a chance to stop his career downward spiral. He made Holy Man instead, and that film was basically the beginning of the end for Murphy, he followed the box office disaster Holy Man with Norbit, Meet Dave, and The Adventure of Pluto Nash. After this series of bombs, Eddie Murphy is now reserved more for supporting characters, occasion voice acting success as Donkey in Shrek, and being nominated by Razzies for Worst Actor (He got 6 Razzies for Worst Actor since 2002).
Matt Damon is famous in Hollywood for picking the right film, but he did stumble on rare occasions. Matt Damon and John Krasinski had brainstormed about a film about a guy who is emotionally handicapped because of a tragic accident, and Damon insisted the director Kenneth Lonergan to direct Manchester by the Sea, and Damon himself would star in the film. Damon eventually dropped out of the production because of scheduling conflicts, and he passed the role to Casey Affleck, brother to Damon’s bromance Ben Affleck. Casey Affleck ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for Manchester by the Sea, and Matt Damon ended 2 box office flop in Suburbicon and Downsizing.
Tim Roth, before the late Alan Rickman stepped into the shoes and flowing robes of Severus Snape, Tim Roth was supposed to be the guy to play the anti-hero Potion Master in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Roth thought he could double-dip by playing both Tim Burton’s reboot of Planet of the Apes and Severus Snape, he was wrong, and he chooses to worst of the two. Although Tim Burton’s remake of the 1968 version was a financial success, the film was a critical disaster noted for confusing plot and ending, and despite Tim Roth playing the main baddie and getting a financial success, it was nowhere near the level of financial success the first Harry Potter film had brought, and Fox although didn’t continue the Tim Burton remake, instead they revamped the whole series with the Rise of the Planet of the Apes franchise.
Jean Reno was a well-known French actor to the mainstream American audience, he was best known for playing the hitman in Leon: The Professional and starring in the first Mission Impossible movies. His career could’ve grown to even bigger heights, if he didn’t turn down a very iconic and menacing villain role, that role was Agent Smith in The Matrix. Reno didn’t want to move to Australia to film The Matrix, despite being one of the first choices to play Agent Smith. Reno made the abysmal 1998 Godzilla movie, although the film made more than twice amount of its budget, it was a box office disappointment and critically panned by critics, the original Godzilla actor thought the 1998 Godzilla look like an iguana with frog-like limbs and body. Godzilla reduced Jean Reno to supporting roles in The Pink Panther and The Da Vinci Code.
Brooke Shields was well-known for paying controversial roles when she was just a teen, she garnered critical acclaim at 12 when she played a child prostitute in a New Orleans brothel in 1978’s Pretty Baby, at 14 she played the borderline teenager incest film The Blue Lagoon (1980). In 1983, she was offered the role of Elvira in Brian De Palma’s Scarface, and she didn’t follow through with this very iconic film. Shields listened to her mother and starred in the critically panned and major box office bomb known as Sahara, where she disguised herself with a mustache, and she earned a lot of disgrace and a Razzie for worst actress.
Will Smith strikes again, this time when he turned down a chance to play the titular character in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. This blood-filled western would’ve saved Will Smith’s tumbling career, but it instead launched Jamie Foxx to A-list status. Will Smith made a box office flop with his son Jaden Smith in After Earth, with both Smiths winning Worst Actor (Jaden) and Worst Supporting Actor (Will) Razzies.
Sean Connery, this Scottish actor was renowned for playing 7 James Bond films, a Support Actor Oscar in The Untouchable, box office success in Finding Forrester, Highlander, Michael Bay’s The Rock, The Hunt for Red October, and playing Indiana Jone’s dad in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Connery had made some questionable film choices in the late 1990s with box office bombs like First Knight (1995), Just Cause (1995) and The Avengers (1998), but he would’ve continued to act if he just accepted the role of Gandalf. Before Ian McKellen wowed the audience with an iconic “YOU SHALL NOT PASS,” Connery was offered 15% of the worldwide box office receipts to play Gandalf, which if he had accepted, would give him 400 million for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Connery declined the role because he “did not understand the script,” he also cites the “didn’t understand the script” as a reason for turning down Morpheus in The Matrix. The massive financial and critical success of two films he turned down because he didn’t understand the script caused him to automatically jump on the wagon with the next script he didn’t understand. That film happened to be the 2003 steampunk-dieselpunk superhero mess known as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (promoted as LXG), it’s a comic book adaptation of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s comic of the same name. Think the film as a failed literary version of Marvel’s The Avengers, because many of the characters (although well known in their own series, are not well known enough to the general public) consisted of works from H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Ian Fleming, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mark Twain. Marvel studios correctly avoided the mistakes of LXG by introducing the main cast of The Avengers in individual feature films, instead of meshing them together. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen effectively sends Connery to retirement.
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