- 1 year ago
Not the reasons you'd think! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the strangest, funniest and most surprising reasons actors turned down a role.
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00:00There was a dream that was wrong
00:03Shall be realized
00:05These are the wishes of Marcus Aurelius
00:07Welcome to watch mojo and today
00:10We're counting down our picks for the strangest funniest and most surprising reasons actors turn down a role
00:22Number 10 Warren Beatty thought he could play Dirk Diggler boogie nights
00:28I I know I know Warren I got to know Warren
00:32Many years ago about 20 years ago when I was going to do boogie nights
00:36I sent him the script and asked him to be in it before Burt Reynolds was cast in the role of Jack Horner in boogie
00:43Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson had wanted Warren Beatty for the parts
00:47He sent him the script and it seemed like he was interested in doing it
00:58Really
01:00Except a couple of weeks into their discussion
01:02PTA realized that Beatty thought he was being asked to play the role of late teen Dirk Diggler in the film
01:09The role that eventually went to Mark Wahlberg
01:12He thought that I was asking him to play Dirk Diggler
01:19You're 60
01:21No, I know I know but I think I could do it. Oh Anderson quickly cleared up the miscommunication
01:26Explained that the 60 year old was too old for the Diggler role and asked him to play Horner
01:32Beatty was no longer interested. That's my dream
01:37to make a film
01:40That is true
01:43Right
01:46Number nine Mark Wahlberg wanted to give a character a lisp Donnie Darko
01:51If you've seen Donnie Darko
01:53You know
01:54It's a pretty strange film with falling jet engines and a mysterious stranger in a rabbit costume
02:01Well writer and director Richard Kelly was obviously open to taking the film down some wonderfully different paths
02:08Giving the main character a lisp
02:10Wasn't one of them and although Jake Gyllenhaal the guy who played Donnie in the film was obviously okay with that
02:17Mark Wahlberg was not what's this got to do with me, huh?
02:21Why are you pretending to be a cop you see Wahlberg was one of the actors Kelly approached to play the title character?
02:27But Wahlberg for some reason felt strongly that he wanted to play Darko with a lisp
02:33And as we all know he didn't end up playing the part
02:37You want to serve the Commonwealth? This is your chance
02:42We need you pal number eight Jet Li didn't want Hollywood to steal his movies the Matrix reloaded
02:49You do not really know someone until you fight them
02:54Come there are few martial artists as good as Jet Li
02:58So it's no wonder the Wachowskis wanted him for the role of serif in the Matrix reloaded the third film and the franchise
03:06However, it was also because of Lee's own impressive skills that he turned it down
03:11The role was going to require more than just performing for the camera
03:19Wow
03:23Production wanted Lee for nine months
03:26Six of those months would involve working with a digital capture team to record and copy his moves
03:31Which they would own the rights to Lee couldn't accept that so he passed
03:38There will be many men number seven Tom Cruise had too many questions about Edward Scissorhands
03:46Edward Scissorhands
03:48What happened to you?
03:50I'm not finished
03:52Although he wasn't Tim Burton's first choice for the part
03:55The studio insisted that he meet with Tom Cruise for the titular role in his 1990 film Edward Scissorhands
04:02Given that Cruise had the studio behind him had he wanted it. There's a good chance. The role would have been his
04:09Bartender with the mind for everything the bartender
04:13the highest evolution of the species
04:16Who's s New Yorkers, but he had too many questions
04:21questions that couldn't be answered like how did Edward use the restroom or
04:26How did he stay alive for so long without eating? Yes, these are legit questions
04:31But not for this character in an interview
04:34Screenwriter Caroline Thompson stated that not answering those kinds of questions was part of the delicacy of the story
04:40How do you know he's still alive I
04:45Don't know not for sure, but I
04:50Believe he is number six Liam Neeson's fiance wouldn't let him be James Bond
04:57Goldeneye, I worked for the government, you know that
05:02You're really good spy
05:05Liam Neeson married Natasha Richardson in
05:091994 but perhaps that wouldn't have happened had he accepted the role of James Bond in Goldeneye to replace Timothy Dalton in the
05:16Next Bond film the producers asked a number of actors if they'd be interested in playing
05:21007 before signing on the dotted line with Pierce Brosnan
05:25What words do you live by?
05:29Trick is to quit while you're still here
05:32That's one trick. I've never learned perhaps will show me how it's done. One of those actors was Liam Neeson
05:37However, Neeson was engaged to Richardson at the time and she basically gave him an ultimatum
05:43Become the next James Bond or marry me
05:49Neeson claimed in an interview with Rolling Stone that Richardson meant it
05:53So he chose her and they had 15 years together before her sad passing in 2009 love over bond
06:01We think he made the right choice. There isn't just one person for each of us
06:08It was for Kate and Leah
06:10There was for you number five
06:13Bette Midler didn't like the idea of inflicting pain on someone's foot
06:18Misery, I'm our number one fan
06:24The scene in the 1990 film misery when Annie breaks both of Paul Sheldon's ankles with a sledgehammer
06:30It's one of the most memorable scenes from film and from 90s cinema in general
06:36However, it's also quite visceral and difficult to watch
06:45And for Bette Midler it was reportedly even hard to read
06:49Partly due to the violent nature of that particular scene Midler didn't take the role of Annie Wilkes
06:55I mean, why would somebody like me do such a pathetic thing?
06:58It was a decision that she later expressed regret about in a New York Times interview in a more recent interview with variety though
07:05Midler explained that she didn't want any part of such a cruel character with a lack of redeeming qualities
07:13perfect a
07:16Perfect perfect thing number four
07:19Steve McQueen wouldn't cry on screen close encounters of the third kind. I know what this is
07:26This
07:33Means something Richard Dreyfuss was great in the lead role of Roy Neary in Steven Spielberg's
07:401977 classic close encounters of the third kind, but he wasn't the director's first choice
07:46That honor went to the great Steve McQueen the role would have been his that he wanted it McQueen really liked the script
07:53But it had an emotional crying scene. Well, I guess you've noticed
07:58Something
08:00little strange with dad
08:03He told Spielberg he wouldn't be the right fit to properly embody the character because he doesn't do that
08:09Though many media outlets incorrectly reported McQueen said he couldn't cry on cue
08:15Spielberg would correct that in a
08:172024 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival interview were it more
08:22And you the dedication I was led to believe
08:25You believe what you want?
08:27He clarified that McQueen said he wasn't interested in breaking down crying on camera. Not that he couldn't do it at all
08:34You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine number three Eddie Murphy didn't understand animation and live actors
08:42Working together who framed Roger Rabbit
08:51Problem officers there were few if any bigger comedy stars than Eddie Murphy in the 80s
08:57From stand-up to Saturday Night Live to the movies Murphy was a hit machine. Well, you ain't got nothing to worry about them
09:04I don't know what y'all think. I am some kind of fool
09:07But he just didn't understand who framed Roger Rabbit Eddie Murphy didn't understand animation and live actors
09:14Working together. So when the filmmakers came calling including executive producer Steven Spielberg
09:21Murphy turned them down
09:22You were gonna be in that. Yeah, I was gonna be that Bob Hoskins dude, and I was like
09:27What animation and people that sound like bullshit?
09:31He later expressed regret about that decision
09:33Admitting on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon that he felt like an idiot every time he saw the film
09:43Number two Jack Nicholson isn't Italian-American the Godfather
09:49Clemenza can figure a way to have a weapon planted there for
09:58Then I'll kill them both
09:59Why does it matter that Jack Nicholson isn't Italian-American?
10:03Because that was the reason he turned down the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. That's my family
10:09It's not me
10:13In a 2004 interview
10:16Nicholson expressed his belief that just as Indians should play Indians
10:21Italians should play Italians
10:23You'd think that he would regret missing out on this iconic character in one of the greatest movies ever made
10:28But even decades later Nicholson seemed quite at peace with his decision
10:33Al Pacino was Michael Corleone said and added that he couldn't think of a better compliment to play him
10:39I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way
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10:59Number one Russell Crowe didn't want to be Wolfie X-Men
11:09I
11:14Saved your life
11:16It's almost impossible to picture anyone else in the role of Wolverine
11:20Su Jackman has defined the film character for over 20 years now
11:24However, the truth is that Russell Crowe was director Brian Singer's first choice to play the dark superhero
11:31For the first X-Men movie that came out in 2000
11:40But
11:43Crowe had just come off of gladiator in which his character has a pet wolf and he didn't want to become
11:49Typecast as a guy who could only do movies that have something to do with wolves
11:55So he turned it down and recommended his Aussie countryman
11:59Jackman at my signal
12:02Unleash hell
12:03Which of these actors would you have most liked to see take the role?
12:07They turned down let us know in the comments. Oh, no. No, we're not ready for you yet, sir
12:11Will you please go back out wait with the others?
12:13Did you enjoy this video?
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