9 iconic film and TV roles that almost went to someone else: from Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt being asked to star in Brokeback Mountain, to Amy Schumer leading Barbie and Gwen Stefani in Mr & Mrs Smith
It’s impossible to think of anyone other than Matt LeBlanc playing Joey in Friends, or Kate Winslet as Rose in Titanic. But casting is a long and arduous process, with several interested parties in the filmmaking process all vying for their personal choice of actor or actress to play a particular role.
And sometimes actors just fluff their audition. Eddie Redmayne called his attempts to win the part of Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as “catastrophically bad”, telling Uproxx that after several failed goes at nailing the character’s voice in front of famed casting director Nina Gold, he admitted defeat: “After like 10 shots she’s like, ‘You got anything else?’ I was like, ‘No’.” The part eventually went to Adam Driver.
So who else missed out on some of the most iconic parts in film and TV history, and do they regret it? Here are some of our favourite could-have-been moments.
1. Gwyneth Paltrow as Rose in Titanic
When asked about rumours she’d turned the part down by radio host Howard Stern, the actress said: “I think I was really in contention for it. I was one of the last two,” adding that though she’s regretted some choices over the years. “There’s a universal lesson here. What good is it to hold onto roles?”
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2. Henry Cavill as James Bond
According to an interview in The Guardian with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, her team “haven’t even begun” casting the new 007 yet. So while it will be a while before we know who is replacing Daniel Craig, we know it’s not likely to be Henry Cavill … or do we?
Cavil said on a podcast that the last time the Broccolis auditioned the role it came down to him and Craig, but that he was the younger choice and “probably wasn’t ready” for the part at the time. So does this mean he’d be their go-to now he’s older? Or the opposite? Only time will tell.
3. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in Brokeback Mountain
There’s no denying that in 2005, a script like Brokeback Mountain’s would still have been viewed as a risky choice for many mainstream actors, and before Ang Lee was asked to direct, it was Gus Van Sant (of Good Will Hunting fame) who was set to helm the film.
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4. Emma Watson as Mia in La La Land
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5. Vince Vaughn as Joey in Friends
6. Gwen Stefani as Jane Smith in Mr & Mrs Smith
“It was between me and Angelina Jolie, and I’m like, ‘Oh, great. I got a shot here,” she told Vogue in 2008. “The whole acting thing really feels like something I could do. Whenever I’ve done it, whenever I had moments where it works, it’s just like performing.”
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7. Amy Schumer as Barbie
“The studio definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it,” she told the Reporter, revealing that she’d wanted her Barbie to be an inventor. According to BuzzFeed, the final straw came when the studio sent her a pair of Manolo Blahnik heels to celebrate her casting. “The idea that that’s just what every woman must want, right there, I should have gone, ‘You’ve got the wrong gal’.”
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8. Matt LeBlanc as Phil Dunphy in Modern Family
If there’s one word that sums up both Ty Burrell (who actually got the part) and Matt LeBlanc, it’s lovable. And we can see why the man better known for playing Joey in Friends was originally offered the part. However LeBlanc turned it down, telling USA Today that in the end he was just too lazy to do it.
“I remember reading it thinking, this is a really good script, [but] I’m not the guy for this,” he said of the show – which debuted in 2009, five years after Friends left the air. “I’d be doing the project an injustice to take this. I know what I can do, I know what I can’t do. Plus, I’m having too much fun laying on the couch.”
9. Timothée Chalamet as Oliver Quick in Saltburn
Considering the number of shocking scenes in 2023’s viral hit Saltburn - including full-frontal nudity, nonetheless! - it’s no surprise that it’s made an overnight star out of Irish actor Barry Keoghan. But in a recent joint interview with his A-list co-star Jacob Elordi in British Vogue, Elordi revealed that director Emerald Fennell originally had another A-lister in mind for the role of Oxford student Oliver Quick: Timothée Chalamet.
Elordi claimed it was he who then suggested Keoghan for the role – and the rest is now history. While Chalamet went on to star in 2023’s Wonka instead, we can’t help but wonder what the Call Me By Your Name actor would’ve brought to the raunchy Saltburn instead ...
- Gwen Stefani as the lead in Mr & Mrs Smith, Vince Vaughn as Joey in Friends or Emma Watson as Mia in La La Land seem odd choices in hindsight – but to casting directors at the time, they made sense
- Beloved shows like Modern Family and iconic films Titanic, Barbie and Star Wars would have been very different had Matt LeBlanc, Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Schumer or Eddie Redmayne been involved