I thought this would be about actors coming in to replace other well known actors in 'iconic' roles that derailed their career. Like Maria Bello taking over from Rachel Weisz as Evelyn O'Connel in the Mummy trilogy and the negativity that caused. Most of these we will never know how they could have panned out if the casting had gone with their original choice - maybe the Terminator would have flopped without Arnie and Lance Erikson wouldn't have got the roles he did. You can only look at the impact of changes after they have become synonymous with a certain actor. If they replaced Emilia Clarke now with a well known actress, and that derailed that actresses career then that would be what I expected this to be about.
The only problem I have with this is that they assume a career means starring in blockbusters, being super-famous or being paid big bucks. Some people might simply like to act to the best of their abilities in projects (movies, plays, etc.) they enjoy.
That's what Viggo Mårtensen does, he didn't even want to play Aragorn in the first place: He only took the role because his son was a huge LOTR fan, and now after he became one of the biggest stars in a big franchize he has enough money to live 5 life times and only acts in film he enjoys which are mostly European indie films. With a B list hollywood movie on the list once or twice
Michael J Fox was the first pick for Marty McFly but being on TVs Family Ties meant that the actor wasn't available until it went on hiatus and Stoltz was available at start of production. But he came across as a bit to mature/worldly for McFly and the filmakers decided to wait for Fox even though it meant refilming everything.
Yes, MJF was the original choice but his TV show Family Ties refused to change their schedules to let MJF do the movie. They producers had to start making the movie so they hired Stoltz (who turned out to be a huge pain in the behind.) They started filming with Stoltz thinking MJF was a lost dream. When they heard that MJF's schedule was open and he could finally do the movie, they quickly dumped Stoltz and hired Fox. They re-shot the scenes with Stoltz and the rest is movie making history.
It wasn't that MJF's schedule opened up. Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties creator) finally agreed to let MJF shoot BTTF as long as he fulfilled his Family Ties obligation first. So MJF shot Family Ties during the day and BTTF at night.
@@axisally and that is why many of the scenes in the first two films were shot at night. In BTTF one, the school dance scene and others were filmed at night, and day scenes were shot with Fox during "Family Ties" hiatus. In BTTF II, a lot of the reason it is flashbacks is so that Fox wasn't needed as often, so it took some pressure off his schedule. Fox was filming the final season of "Family Ties" while doing BTTF II and III, so once FT finished up, it freed Fox up to film the days scenes for II (mainly the 2015 scenes) and it is why most of III is in daylight, as Fox was now fully available to film III.
Just because someone could have played a certain role doesn't mean it would have went over the same way. Those actors could have been the reason the same hit bombed if they had been casted.
I was thinking that the whole way through...especially Modine for Cruise. Modine likely would have given more gravitas and less smiley/sexy...who knows if that would have been a hit in the same way.
cafesmitty, but he doesn't care. He didn't seem bothered at all in the video, more like, 'Huh, why are you bringing this up?' He doesn't seems to care Hugh Jackman is more famous because of the role. I don't see the point in that argument. Besides not being as famous is not the point of the video. Derailed basically means that it went downhill, often to the point of having ended entirely. This guy's career never went downhill. Various actors/actresses still make movies. Their careers have not ended. They just work lower-profile compared to A-list Celebrities, and that is something different then a derailed career.
Ian McKellen wasn't really well-known in North America at the time, although as you said, Halle Berry (recent Oscar Winner) and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard) were both pretty big.
You also had Ray Park, fresh off his role as Darth Maul and Anna Paquin off her Oscar winning role in the Piano. While not household names, they were certainly stars on the rise.
For what its worth, Eric Stoltz was reportedly an ass on set. He was one of those that remained in character constantly, on and off set, to the point that he demanded to be called Marty at all times. Christopher Lloyd was reported to have said that he didn't even know what Eric's actual name was until after he was replaced with Micheal J Fox. He was also a method actor and actually bruised Tom Wilson (Biff Tannen) quite badly, something that the latter was obviously very pissed off about and was looking forward to the scene where he was scripted to punch Eric during the Enchantment Under The Sea dance. Sadly, he never got the chance for some payback.
I understand the theory behind method acting. But shit, hire someone else to be your punching bag to practice on while off screen. I'd actually like to know if any method actors are douchebags in real life, but their role made them act like the nicest person ever. We only ever hear about the method actors who play douchebags.
It's kinda too bad about Stoltz though. I'm a big fan of the novelization and when I read that I didn't picture Michael J Fox, and learning later that Stoltz was originally cast as Marty, it made perfect sense. For the film though he just doesn't seem to work. I'd love to see more footage of him in the part though.
I thought Stoltz was not the first choice but the studio insisted on him. So they shoot some scenes, still with the plan to later replace Stoltz with Fox, and showed theses scenes to the studio to convinc them, that Fox would be the better choice. And the studio did replace him. Stoltz never had a real chance in the first place.
Jared Leto from Suicide Squad is one. I personally haven't seen the movie, so I can't give an opinion on his acting skills. (Seeing the trailer was enough for me. Almost died from the cringe when Harley goes ''We're bad guys, It's what we do'' like eugh... No thx, ) But I read some reports on people complaining over sick pranks and stuff he did during filming. Or was that Heath Ledger. Ik he did some shit when method acting the Joker. Maybe It's something to do with being the Joker & a Method actor. Being in the mindset of a insane, psychotic sociopath definitely f*cks up your morals & logical thought process.
Method actors are whack. If you cant act like a character without literally becoming the character are you really an actor? Yes their performances are great sometimes (think Daniel Day Lewis) but its borderline psychopathic, like some sort of weird forced dissociative disorder
Fun fact: Megan Fox didn't really disrespect the director. It was someone who wasn't the director (Spielberg) who told the director to fire her, for something Spielberg took offense to. But, had Spielberg directly done the firing, it could have got him into some trouble, were there public backlash, so he ordered Bay to do it. Mature, huh?
I thought it was because she had plastic surgery, leaving her looking nothing like the original character, and combined with her poor attitude there was no reason to keep her.
It was the Hitler comment-her surgery wasn't as extensive then, at least not compared to now. Spielberg called the producers and said 'fire her now!'. She made amends, hence the TMNT movies. Jennifer's Body was meant to be her breakout role, but the behind the scenes interference, and other stuff (plans to do a Q and A on pornhub/ redtube for example) helped end that movie.
Does no one consider that the movies listed here probably wouldn't have been nearly as successful as they were without the change in actors? Terminator without Schwarzenegger probably would have been a massive flop, Top Gun without Cruise would have been completely forgettable, and BTF just wouldn't have been fun without Fox. Mortensen and Jackman also nailed the roles mentioned here.
Folks have to understand that not everybody really wants to be super famous.. Both Henrickson and Modine for example have had great careers and made lots of money.. And I bet they can go places without being mobbed like crazy, so turning down Top Gun and Terminator could ultimately have been the best thing for them.
Yes but if u turn down a movie that could rake in millions u'll wind up being a penniless nobody rather than a rich somebody sometimes u just have 2 take the good with the bad
I had the same thought. It sounds like many of these have a successful career, but manage to keep a low profile. If you look at many actors lives, those who keep a lower profile tend to have happier private lives.
Peter Henry But no though. Lol Walking away while you have a couple hundred thousand instead of a million doesn't mean you'll be penniless. Really, there's plenty that make insane amount of money that actually become the broke ones. Turning down movie roles doesn't mean one can't manage their own finances or run a business.
About Terminator, not only Lance Henderickson past on but even OJ Simpson. James Cameron's reason for passing OJ was that he was already a household name with family friendly ventures and felt that he wouldn't be scary enough. Boy would he be in for a surprise.
Or maybe it's just that OJ Simpson couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. Arnold isn't the best actor either, but compared to OJ he's Oscar material.
Lance Henriksen didn't pass on the Terminator, he wanted the part. Schwarzenegger got involved and that was it, no chance of competing with him. Henriksen is in the movie anyway playing a detective.
I don't see this as derailing a career. Nobody knows what the actors would have done with those roles had they gotten them or not been fired from this or that. Just because the person who replaced some of them became hugely successful doesn't mean that the reverse would have been true. Modine stuck to his principles and probably had the career that he wanted.
And IMO Modine was absolutely right about his verdict about Top Gun. The fact that this indeed is just a propaganda movie for the US military isn't even remotely veiled. I definitely get his point not to become a poster boy for leading new cannon fodder to the slaughter.
Just like the big IT companies that start from nothing (facebook, google, etc)... nobody talks about the 100's of failed ones along the way. "hindsight is 20/20".
Exactly. It takes some of the credit from the actors who did end up getting the roles and became superstars to make it seem like the exact same thing would have happened to the actors who were originally supposed to play those parts.
This is so it for me. There are so many roles that almost had someone else instead. Take the movie Fightclub. Tyler Durden was almost played by Russell Crowe while David Fincher's first choice for Marla Singer was Janeane Garofalo and the studio was pushing Fincher to cast someone like Matt Damon or Sean Penn for the narrator. None of them are bad actors; quite the opposite, but I doubt the film would have been as amazing as it was with that alternate cast.
OMG thank you for your comments about Mathew Modine. I have loved his work since I saw 'Birdy'. I saw a talk show interview he did and clearly being an high profile A list actor didn't matter to him if it never happened. In many of his films his character moved me in some way. The fact that he cares so much about the planet is also a plus. The man also loves his family. Let me add that bigger is often is not better. His film 'Bye Bye Love' was 10 xs better than 'Parenthood' which had similar subject matter.
1) While LOTR definitely hurdled Viggo into the spot light of later lead roles, don't think you can say he was an "unknown" prior to LOTR.... Carlito's Way, Crimson Tide, GI Jane, A Perfect Murder, 28 Days, Psycho etc.... 2) Jonah Hes is wildly underrated (I'm probably alone on this one lol)
@@LittleTreeX Cruise couldn't act his way out of a paper bag and has zero true craft skills (unlike "that Modine guy"), but as long as he has the money to keep looking somewhat young, can stay strong enough to continue those running sequences that seem required for everyone of his films, and he can continue to find his camera angle and smile, he should do fine -- that's all that's ever really expected of him.
This Monday morning quarterbacking is kind of ridiculous. Some of these movies may have failed if they hadn't recast, while with others, it wouldn't have made a difference who had been cast. Some actors become huge despite missing the "role of a lifetime". Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were the leads in Star Wars, but what had they really done since? Kurt Russell auditioned for Han Solo, yet he's done pretty well for himself.
Should point out that they always wanted Michael J Fox for Marty McFly from the very beginning. Scheduling issues meant that he couldn’t take it. Eric Stoltz got it afterwards but he really didn’t fit the role of what the directors wanted so he got fired. Then I think they begged really hard for Michael J Fox to come and he did - and worked his ass off juggling all his roles with little sleep too. Basically Back to The Future wouldn’t have worked with Eric anyways, no disrespect to him.
The premise of this video is flawed. It assumes that having the role alone was responsible for the actors fortunes. Yes, I will grant you that those movies were big but it was the actors talent, charisma, and performances that ultimately made them successful.
John Travolta may be the only person to really embody what they are suggesting. His career really was at an end, and his interest in acting all but gone. He got a serious save in Pulp Fiction. Helped to shrug of his typecasting (for the most part) even though he did dance...
They forgot to mention that Stuart Townsend was actually in attendance at The Oscars the night that The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King famously swept The Academy Awards. He was dating Charlize Theron at that time who also won that very night for her leading role in Monster. For him to sit there the whole time & see his almost co-stars & almost co-workers go up there thru out the entire night collecting Oscar after Oscar after Oscar than top it all off with Steven Spielberg himself awarding Peter Jackson & company the Best Picture Oscar, it must have felt like a death by a thousand cuts for poor Stuart.
Movie Games that makes no sense she did tons on the Tudors as king Henry wife lots of sex and her nude dont beleave me go check and she was doing grate on Salem
Mathew Modine made the right choices in his career. As Joker (Full Metal Jacket) and Capt. Den (Memphis Belle) he was awesome. I don't think he'd have been a good "arrogant" character like Maverick, while Tom Cruise was born like that. So, this one should not have been on your list at all.
Well, it's pretty interesting trivia to imagine it going differently. Maybe Modine could have portrayed the arrogance and more abhorrent and prevented a pro-killing movie from having that message.
Caught a talk by Lance Henriksen at a Comiccon event a few years ago - the funny story is that Cameron did want him to be the Terminator & he got Lance to play the part at a meeting to sell the movie. The studio said they'd do the movie if Henriksen wasn't Terminator as he was too scary!
I just want to point out, one of the main reasons Modine had the role in stranger things was more 80s nostalgia. Modine was an actor who was way more famous in the 80s than after. They got actors who were huge in the 80s for certain roles.
The thing is that LOTR really has a leading character. The entire triology has him in center of attention, even though the plot focus on som other character now and then. But Frodo’s still THE guy.
Probably even more humiliating for Townsend. He had done all the proper preparation for the role as well, including weeks of physical training for the sword combat. But because he was let go before he had done any filming, he didn't even get paid for the time that he had put in. Nothing worse than fulfilling all your obligations and because of a directors whim, they don't even compensate you for the time you set aside for their project.
.He was cast for the part of Fanderal in Thor but turned it down because he wanted to play Loki. Then he did a pilot of the reboot Nightstalker as Kolchak and decided and did not want tv work.He has done nothing to help his career
@@3piper It's kind of silly he turned down Fandral, since he would've never been cast as Loki. He's over a decade older than Chris Hemsworth; it would've looked silly having him play his "younger" brother.
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It’s not the roles that made those stars. Those stars made those roles iconic.
Actually, "Mission Impossible 2" altered the careers of 2 actors: in addition to Dougray Scott needing to be replaced in X-Men, the shoot overrun also caused Thandie Newton to drop out of "Charlie's Angels" and get replaced by Lucy Liu.
You missed something while talking about Back to the Future. Michael J Fox was originally who they wanted as Marty, but he was too busy filming Family Ties. So they brought on Eric Stoltz, it was during filming the scenes Eric was just not working Robert Zemeckis. After they fired Eric, they found that Michael's schedule had relaxed a bit, so they were able to bring him on to play Marty. You make it sound like Michael J Fox was simply replacing Eric Stoltz, when it was kinda the other way around, but Eric didn't work out.
Terminator: Arnold was not cast as T-800 initially. Cameron wanted him as Kyle Reese, but Arnold insisted on playing a villain after playing a hero. The rest is history.
A bit like Rutger Hauer was mooted to be the lead in Blade Runner but went for Roy Batty the replicant instead. Harrison Ford became more of a legend and Rutgar improvised one of the greatest speeches to end a film in cinema (imo)...
I think Arnie knew he had limited English, at the time, so the reams of dialogue he'd have to deliver wouldn't sound so convincing. I think the casting, and savvy, by Arnold was genius-go and watch the original movie, it's sci-fi Horror. A machine that just won't stop until it's killed you is freaking terrifying. And Arnold plays it to perfection.
Townsend has gotten other parts here and there. Yeah. The Vampire Lestat in QUEEN OF THE DAMNED, Kolchak in the short-lived but mostly well-done reboot of the Darrin McGavin classic and, a stand-out performance as Dorian Gray in the uneven but watchable LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. Just to name three. Mr. Townsend's doing all right...what have you seen Viggo Mortinson in lately?
Cassandra Morrison I really like Stuart T but really, he hasn’t done anything lately! Check his IMDb page and he seems to have vanished. Bad luck? Bad choices? Bad agents? I hope he comes back. Maybe he should have married Charlize...
Viggo was nominated for Best Actor at the 2017 Oscars among a slew of other accolades for "Captain Fantastic." Townsend isn't even acting anymore. He quit and supposedly moved to Costa Rica where he started a family and works as an owner of a parking garage...
Are you serious? Everything you listed for Stuart Townsend came out over a decade ago. Meanwhile Viggo Mortensen recently starred in the critically acclaimed film Green Book (2018) with plenty of praise surrounding his performance. Heck, in 2014 alone he had 3 movies come out.
Doris Day was offered the role of Maria in The Sound of Music, but she felt it wasn't quite her thing, so they gave it Julie Andrews. Andrews is fabulous but I can't help feel that Day would've made the role more mischievous like her Calamity Jane and On Moonlight Bay roles. Still, love them both. And Ms Day has just celebrated her her 93rd birthday, how fabulous..!
How about Matthew Broderick originally being cast as Walter White? Thank goodness Bryan Cranston took over that role and helped launch one of the greatest TV shows in history.
oh it would have been interesting to see if Matthew B could have pulled it off though. Definitely would have been opened up some new career paths for him.
My regret is that Rosie Hunting-Whiteley was even a part of Transformers 3. I find it difficult to believe that they couldn't cast anyone, ANYONE better than her!
It's the prevalent entertainment business idea that you can't have a love interest larger than a size 6 or the guys in the audience can't masturbate to the movie.
As far as Madsen is concerned, I feel like his physical likeness of Tom Sizemore has also hindered him cinematically. They are both fabulous character actors that have starred in Tarantino films, both usually playing a psycho/sociopath so it is easy to mix them up.
Michael J. Fox WAS the original choice for the role and was already a "household name" thanks to the Family Ties sitcom (which is the reason why he couldn't initially take the role). After Stoltz took over and the chemistry just wasn't there, Michael was called back and the shooting was accommodated to his busy schedule, which is one of the reasons why the movie has so many night scenes.
Kristy Swanson should really have been on this list, you know the girl that first was Buffy the vampire slayer, got replaced and went on to great movies like Big Daddy and Dude, where´s my car ?
Read the title again - they are talking about actors, not regarding tv or movie actor. What would you call it when you have the lead role in a movie and they have another actor take that role - if not replacing the actor ? When they did not pick Adam West for the role of Batman in the 1988 movie , he got _______ ? Changed ? Bodyswapped ? Transformed ?
Crown Admirer No, the leading role is the Ring! Half of the movies run time is dedicated to seeing the Ring cupped in Frodo's hand 😂 (obviously a jk, but yeah) It is the best example of an ensemble cast that I can think of, really - Gandalf, Aragorn, and Frodo are probably the leads, but the movies wouldn't have been half as good without the strong supporting cast - in fact, it could easily be argued that Sam is the main character, with the rest of the cast supporting.
All Tolkein scholars agree. Samwise Gamgee is the hero. Aragorn, Gandalf, Glorfindel, etc. were heroes appearing in Sam's story, as is common in epics. Seriously, you people didn't know that Glorfindel killed a balrog (and died) in the Fall of Gondolin, before The War of Wrath, then came back from the Halls of Mandos? Next to Gandalf's appearance in the chorus that created Arda, he was the most epic character there.
Frodo can be seen as the obvious centerpoint of the story. But it's not his story. Aragorn is the most heroic character. But it’s not his story. Gandalf is greatest manipulator of events. But it’s not his story. Sauron is the ever-present antagonist. But it’s not his story. Who is transformed the most between the opening and the closing page, taking the reader through his transformation? The transformation of Sam is Tolkien’s central storytelling device, though not the most obvious one. Samwise is the main hero. The name Samwise roughly translates to "halfwit", and it applies. He's overweight, easily frightened, and not very bright. He also beat a man-eating giant spider demi-god in single combat, single-handedly stormed a tower full of hostile orcs to save his friend's life, was the only Ringbearer to steadfastly resist the temptation of the One Ring, and literally carried another man up the side of a volcano for the fate of the world while starving and suffering from dehydration. There's a reason Tolkien considered him the true hero of the story. You read that right. Tolkien himself referred to Samwise as the true hero of the LOTR.
Michael J. Fox WAS the original choice for Marty McFly, but his work on "Family Ties" made him unavailable at the time. After Eric Stoltz didn't work out, Zemeckis was able to work out a deal with the producer of "Family Ties" to have Fox do both roles at the same time, meaning Fox was back in as Marty McFly.
Man Tamzin would have been so much better for Daenarys. Clarke was good in the first few seasons as a young and naive queen but I just cant take her seriously as a strong and independent leader. Merchant looks way more suited for the rule based on looks alone and she cant be much worse of an actress than Emilia.
@@davidweihe6052 In the books she is. But to allow for the natural aging of the actors, especially the ones who started out as children (Little Sam excepted, lol), the show has been using a season equals a year, more or less. It was pushing it for Clarke and Harington to pass for 16 or 17 when they were 23; they do not look like 18 or 19 currently. I wish I could remember the specific context/scene, but one of the characters -- I'm 99% sure it was Daenerys -- has made a comment about events 5 or 6 years past, making clear that general timeline. So Daenerys is about 22 in season 7, though not nearly that old in the novels.
Kind of surprise Matthew Modine turned down Top Gun especially since he did Full Metal Jacket and Memphis Belle where he played an Army bomber pilot in WWII (Memphis Belle also started Eric Stolz). Also, it should be pointed out that Lance Henriksen actually had a role on the Terminator as one of the detectives who ended before gunning down by Arnold.
But has Viggo Mortensen REALLY capitalized off of LOTR? I mean didn't everyone in that movie make disproportionately small salaries compared to how insanely well those movies did at the box office? And what notable roles has Mortensen had since LOTR? Only movie I remember him being in was A History of Violence..... which honestly looked like it was going to be way more engaging and badass than the trailers and name implies. In fact, Mortensen has only been in 14 movies since then and wasn't LOTR filmed in like 1998 or 1999? 2000? That was at least 18 years ago. He's not even getting a movie/year. Now I know he's one of those artsy fartsy actors who also dabbles in other mediums of art like painting, photography, poetry, and other boring hobbies, but I can't imagine him having great success with those. I mean I haven't heard of a great Mortensen poem, or seen a great work of art created by Mortensen. Hell, odds are the art he creates is that modern/contemporary/abstract art bull shit where wiping your ass on a canvas is considered "art." Not saying Mortensen is a bum, or trying to attack his character, just saying it's not like LOTR shot him into super stardom. The fact he's like 60 years old now pretty much means his ship has sailed.
I disagree with what Looper assumes Mathew Modine's career would have been. He's one of those laid back actors. If he had wanted some of those types of roles he would have went for them. Not every actor wants a nonstop career of blockbusters playing basically the same character film after film. Anyone that has never seen young Mathew Modine in "Birdy' it's your loss. He should have been nominated for an Oscar. He should always be proud to have done that. I know he's most proud of his family having been married to the same woman for 39 yrs with 2 kids. Tom Cruise can't keep a wife and hasn't seen his youngest child in over 5 yrs. Winner: Mathew Modine.
Mathew Modine was never offered the role of Maverick in Top Gun but turned down the role of Iceman because he felt it was too Anti-Russian and due to his principals felt it wasn’t the right thing to promote. yes Val Kilmer’s career did get a bump from his part in Top Gun it hasn’t exactly catapulted him to super stardom.
Tom Cruise did 'Risky Business' , which was a huge hit and had that iconic living room scene, before Top Gun. He was hardly an unknown. At that point a star was born.
Carl was going to be the Terminator? Dang, did not know that! But I see he still got VERY steady work all throughout his career, so it didn't seem to hurt him too much. Markus would approve!
The reason why Mission Impossible II ran over schedule is because Stanley Kubrick made Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise run over schedule so Stanley Kubrick is indirectly responsible for the reason why Hugh Jackman became Wolverine
Nice video but you messed up The Terminator story. Arnold was offered the role of Kyle Reese but during the meeting talked about how the villain should be played and the rest is history. Even Arnold didn't think it would lead to anything saying, "Oh some shit movie I'm doing, take a couple weeks." (Wikipedia is your friend)
John Travolta helped Richard Gere's career. John Travolta was originally suppose to play the lead in An Officer and A Gentleman but he dropped out paving the way for Richard Gere. A few years later Travolta was offered the lead in Pretty Woman and again turned it down and guess who took the part? Richard Gere!
It would have been much better since Emilia can not act her way out of a wet paper bag. That other smoking hot chick was in the "Tudors" and play her part perfectly. Clarke's ONLY redeeming qualities are on her chest and her willingness to show them off.
Arnold was originally cast as Kyle Reese, but he convinced Cameron to let him play the terminator, who was originally supposed to be O.J. Simpson, but Cameron didn't think people would take him seriously as a cold blooded killer.
To be fair, Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted the role of the terminator, originally Cameron wanted him as the protector, but Arnold identified more as the terminator and that's how henrickson got bumped. But he's had an impressive career nonetheless. Stoltz and the producers both felt that mcfly wasn't working and fox was always their number 1 choice, he was just busy with family ties and couldn't do it. But when both stoltz and the producers agreed he couldn't do comedy, they made time for fox to come back in. There's always reasons for what happens. Maybe some of these actors don't regret it as they still have steady careers and paychecks which is very hard in that industry. Plus the game can probably be overwhelming as I'm sure Tom cruise is probably wishing his what should be private life is interfering with his box office draw.
Emilia Clarke's post Game of Thrones career is questionable because her onscreen appearances so far hasn't been that stellar and it's the flip side of being on a hit TV franchise. Actors who lost a role that became iconic in retrospect weren't likely right for the role from the start and a miscasting one can often drag down a entire film/series because of it. Indeed reimagine nearly any actor who lost a role or put another who might of been asked but passed and it's truly cringe worthy. To be fair actors rarely vanish into a role and we often see them first not the character their playing which is why many have a career in the first place.
@Orc Man. Nah. it's true. At large venues where the film was screened, there were Navy recruiters waiting outside for those gullible individuals that fell for all the propaganda.
Well... most of the films related with war, air force, army, etc, are US govt propaganda. They even pretend Arnold and Van Damme were Americans even with their heavy accents.
Sometimes it not about what you were cast in but what you turned down throughout your career. And you can't be sure the movie would have been the same or shared the same success with different actors ex: If Fox hadn't taken it, the BTTF might have ended up a flop no one cared about. The success and failure of an entire movie/series never rests on one actor. Some of the other actors mentioned might have become household names as big as Cruise and Fox if they'd chosen better after the fact. To me, Hollywood is like a lottery. You never known who will win, and who will lose and timing is everything. Saying one single actor isn't a star because of a single role is ridiculous. It's far more complicated than that.
Good to here that John Travolta caught the big Pulp Fiction role because I heard he fumbled an even bigger blockbuster hit when he turned down the lead role for Forrest Gump which then gave it to second favorite Tom Hanks. And we all know how that mega hit worked out for Hanks
Michael J. Fox has ALWAYS been the first choice for playing Marty in BTTF, but the producers of "Family Ties", the tv show he was under contract at that time, won't let him go, so they recasted Eric Stoltz and began shooting BTTF with him, but later they had the opportunity to get Fox on board, so they dumped Stoltz and took Fox instead.
Um for Back To The Future the first choice WAS Michael J Fox, however he was contracted to film Family Ties and was filming it when the production of BTTF was greenlit and began filming so he had to be replaced with Eric. But then he became available again and the rest is film history. Technically Eric originally replaced him, then he replaced Eric in return.
The way I see it is its not that a different actor would have made as memorable or classic a performance in any given film, it is in fact the actors that were cast that made the films what they are. So basically its our, as the viewers, good fortune that these films were recast in most instances.
Alyson Hannigan also replaced Riff Regan on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Regan played Willow in the unaired pilot but was replaced by Hannigan when the show went to air.
Lance Henriksen is a international treasure. He has starred in some of the most iconic sci-fi and horror films /series ever. Guy hardly belongs on this list. Sure Arnold is bigger than life but this like saying Kurt Russell's career derailed because he didn't get the part of Han Solo.
With the exception of Megan Fox, none of these actors had their careers "derailed" by a casting change. They just never got a big boast that they MIGHT have gotten with the role. Take Eric Stoltz, for example, If he was in Back to the Future, he still wouldn't have had the natural charisma of Michael J. Fox, so his career might not have done any better than it did.
I don't agree, these recastings didn't necessarily derail their careers. Because all of these castings were perfect how they ended up. There is no guarantee we'd all love those roles as much with the original actors or that they'd go on to have the same success
Actually Michael J Fox was originally cast in Back to the Future, had to drop out because of Family Ties obligations... the producers didn’t like Stoltz so Fox worked days on Family Ties and nights on Back to the Future
As i know it, Fox wasn't available because of Family Ties. But he was the first choice. After filming with Stolz, it became clear that he wasn't the right one. Anyway, some movies wouldn't be this success with the first choice.
Funny that Lance Henriksen was still in the movie AND played a robot in different Cameron franchise. I don't think that example fits with the premise though. Think he would have made a great terminator, but it's not like he would have been cast in any other movie that went with Arnold. They're just too different. Same sort of thing with swapping out Matthew Modine for Tom Cruise. The actor made the part as much as the part made the actor.
Top Gun was not Tom Cruz's turning point, it was Risky Business that launched his career. Top Gun was very popular but amongst a slew of B-Movies Cruz was doing at the time (See Cocktail, etc). By the Time Top Gun came out Risky Business was the role that gave Cruz the star power. More importantly Risky Business was made for barely $6 Million and went on to gross $63 Million domestically.
Hrm... so... Matthew Modine had the option of playing Maverick, but Val Kilmer was pissed at Modine for getting the role of Joker... and the films premiered a year apart (with Top Gun coming out first)... KUUUUUBRICK!
On the plus side Stuart Townsend DOES end up getting murdered by Charlotte Mayfair in Anne Rice's novel THE WITCHING HOUR (as well as playing Lestat in THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED).
This assumes the original casting choices would have been as good of a fit. Casting is important both for the character and the actor. There's no assurance that an actor that a director likes for a role won't suck at it
What other casting replacements should've made this list?
Looper I
I thought this would be about actors coming in to replace other well known actors in 'iconic' roles that derailed their career. Like Maria Bello taking over from Rachel Weisz as Evelyn O'Connel in the Mummy trilogy and the negativity that caused. Most of these we will never know how they could have panned out if the casting had gone with their original choice - maybe the Terminator would have flopped without Arnie and Lance Erikson wouldn't have got the roles he did. You can only look at the impact of changes after they have become synonymous with a certain actor. If they replaced Emilia Clarke now with a well known actress, and that derailed that actresses career then that would be what I expected this to be about.
I agree with all of them
Keanu Reeves getting the role of Neo in THE MATRIX when Will Smith turned it down. Whoops!
Tom Cruise as IRON MAN, instead role was played Robert Downey Jr
The only problem I have with this is that they assume a career means starring in blockbusters, being super-famous or being paid big bucks. Some people might simply like to act to the best of their abilities in projects (movies, plays, etc.) they enjoy.
That's what Viggo Mårtensen does, he didn't even want to play Aragorn in the first place: He only took the role because his son was a huge LOTR fan, and now after he became one of the biggest stars in a big franchize he has enough money to live 5 life times and only acts in film he enjoys which are mostly European indie films. With a B list hollywood movie on the list once or twice
@@nooby165 He'd already played Master Chief in GI Jane. So yes he'd probably not needed a whole lot more limelight.
Wut? Are you slow? They clearly mean career in big movies, and plz list ONE actor that has said they want small roles and don't want to be famous.
Yeah, they are great servers at NY cafes.
Gabriel Barliga One can make that argument. Are they working in the industry currently is an important question.
Michael J Fox was the first pick for Marty McFly but being on TVs Family Ties meant that the actor wasn't available until it went on hiatus and Stoltz was available at start of production. But he came across as a bit to mature/worldly for McFly and the filmakers decided to wait for Fox even though it meant refilming everything.
Eric Stoltz was the original Marty mcfly but he too serious and he was recasted by Michael J Fox
Yes, MJF was the original choice but his TV show Family Ties refused to change their schedules to let MJF do the movie. They producers had to start making the movie so they hired Stoltz (who turned out to be a huge pain in the behind.) They started filming with Stoltz thinking MJF was a lost dream. When they heard that MJF's schedule was open and he could finally do the movie, they quickly dumped Stoltz and hired Fox. They re-shot the scenes with Stoltz and the rest is movie making history.
It wasn't that MJF's schedule opened up. Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties creator) finally agreed to let MJF shoot BTTF as long as he fulfilled his Family Ties obligation first. So MJF shot Family Ties during the day and BTTF at night.
@@axisally and that is why many of the scenes in the first two films were shot at night.
In BTTF one, the school dance scene and others were filmed at night, and day scenes were shot with Fox during "Family Ties" hiatus.
In BTTF II, a lot of the reason it is flashbacks is so that Fox wasn't needed as often, so it took some pressure off his schedule.
Fox was filming the final season of "Family Ties" while doing BTTF II and III, so once FT finished up, it freed Fox up to film the days scenes for II (mainly the 2015 scenes) and it is why most of III is in daylight, as Fox was now fully available to film III.
Just because someone could have played a certain role doesn't mean it would have went over the same way. Those actors could have been the reason the same hit bombed if they had been casted.
I was thinking that the whole way through...especially Modine for Cruise. Modine likely would have given more gravitas and less smiley/sexy...who knows if that would have been a hit in the same way.
Dougray Scott may not be as famous as Hugh Jackman, but he's still a great actor.
Danielle Vaughn Who?
Watch the movie Ever After with Drew Barrymore.
I've been watching him in Hemlock Grove on Netflix, with Bill Skarsgard and Famke Janssen. Fun show.
But that's the point. He isn't as famous as Hugh Jackman because of Wolverine.
cafesmitty, but he doesn't care. He didn't seem bothered at all in the video, more like, 'Huh, why are you bringing this up?' He doesn't seems to care Hugh Jackman is more famous because of the role. I don't see the point in that argument.
Besides not being as famous is not the point of the video. Derailed basically means that it went downhill, often to the point of having ended entirely. This guy's career never went downhill. Various actors/actresses still make movies. Their careers have not ended. They just work lower-profile compared to A-list Celebrities, and that is something different then a derailed career.
Did this man call Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart & Sir Ian McCellen relatively unknown?
Ian McKellen wasn't really well-known in North America at the time, although as you said, Halle Berry (recent Oscar Winner) and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard) were both pretty big.
You also had Ray Park, fresh off his role as Darth Maul and Anna Paquin off her Oscar winning role in the Piano. While not household names, they were certainly stars on the rise.
Did they show Anna Paquin, a f*cking Oscar winner, as a "relatively unknown"?
For what its worth, Eric Stoltz was reportedly an ass on set. He was one of those that remained in character constantly, on and off set, to the point that he demanded to be called Marty at all times. Christopher Lloyd was reported to have said that he didn't even know what Eric's actual name was until after he was replaced with Micheal J Fox. He was also a method actor and actually bruised Tom Wilson (Biff Tannen) quite badly, something that the latter was obviously very pissed off about and was looking forward to the scene where he was scripted to punch Eric during the Enchantment Under The Sea dance. Sadly, he never got the chance for some payback.
I understand the theory behind method acting. But shit, hire someone else to be your punching bag to practice on while off screen. I'd actually like to know if any method actors are douchebags in real life, but their role made them act like the nicest person ever. We only ever hear about the method actors who play douchebags.
It's kinda too bad about Stoltz though. I'm a big fan of the novelization and when I read that I didn't picture Michael J Fox, and learning later that Stoltz was originally cast as Marty, it made perfect sense. For the film though he just doesn't seem to work. I'd love to see more footage of him in the part though.
I thought Stoltz was not the first choice but the studio insisted on him. So they shoot some scenes, still with the plan to later replace Stoltz with Fox, and showed theses scenes to the studio to convinc them, that Fox would be the better choice. And the studio did replace him. Stoltz never had a real chance in the first place.
Jared Leto from Suicide Squad is one.
I personally haven't seen the movie, so I can't give an opinion on his acting skills.
(Seeing the trailer was enough for me. Almost died from the cringe when Harley goes ''We're bad guys, It's what we do'' like eugh... No thx, )
But I read some reports on people complaining over sick pranks and stuff he did during filming.
Or was that Heath Ledger. Ik he did some shit when method acting the Joker.
Maybe It's something to do with being the Joker & a Method actor.
Being in the mindset of a insane, psychotic sociopath definitely f*cks up your morals & logical thought process.
Method actors are whack. If you cant act like a character without literally becoming the character are you really an actor? Yes their performances are great sometimes (think Daniel Day Lewis) but its borderline psychopathic, like some sort of weird forced dissociative disorder
Fun fact: Megan Fox didn't really disrespect the director. It was someone who wasn't the director (Spielberg) who told the director to fire her, for something Spielberg took offense to. But, had Spielberg directly done the firing, it could have got him into some trouble, were there public backlash, so he ordered Bay to do it. Mature, huh?
I thought it was because she had plastic surgery, leaving her looking nothing like the original character, and combined with her poor attitude there was no reason to keep her.
It was the Hitler comment-her surgery wasn't as extensive then, at least not compared to now.
Spielberg called the producers and said 'fire her now!'. She made amends, hence the TMNT movies.
Jennifer's Body was meant to be her breakout role, but the behind the scenes interference, and other stuff (plans to do a Q and A on pornhub/ redtube for example) helped end that movie.
Maybe she refused to put out?
Maybe she just can't act. The list of Hollywood hot chicks who have zero acting ability is long indeed....
spielberg has ruined a lot of actors with his ratty blacklisting
Man I guess everybody’s got regrets in some way shape or form.... but damn that’s gotta hurt
B L The Blockbuster Executive who said no 2 Netflix must cry every day 😢😂
Katrina Umana true lol!!!!
Blockbuster had done its own partnership deal to stream video, the problem was the company they partnered with was Enron.
Does no one consider that the movies listed here probably wouldn't have been nearly as successful as they were without the change in actors? Terminator without Schwarzenegger probably would have been a massive flop, Top Gun without Cruise would have been completely forgettable, and BTF just wouldn't have been fun without Fox. Mortensen and Jackman also nailed the roles mentioned here.
idontcare80 that’s a very good point
Folks have to understand that not everybody really wants to be super famous.. Both Henrickson and Modine for example have had great careers and made lots of money.. And I bet they can go places without being mobbed like crazy, so turning down Top Gun and Terminator could ultimately have been the best thing for them.
Yes but if u turn down a movie that could rake in millions u'll wind up being a penniless nobody rather than a rich somebody sometimes u just have 2 take the good with the bad
Peter Henry Well maybe they went with the life motto "Money doesn't equal happiness" neither does fame.
you are quite right,its not always about money & fame, principles stand out.
I had the same thought. It sounds like many of these have a successful career, but manage to keep a low profile. If you look at many actors lives, those who keep a lower profile tend to have happier private lives.
Peter Henry But no though. Lol
Walking away while you have a couple hundred thousand instead of a million doesn't mean you'll be penniless. Really, there's plenty that make insane amount of money that actually become the broke ones.
Turning down movie roles doesn't mean one can't manage their own finances or run a business.
About Terminator, not only Lance Henderickson past on but even OJ Simpson. James Cameron's reason for passing OJ was that he was already a household name with family friendly ventures and felt that he wouldn't be scary enough. Boy would he be in for a surprise.
Wayyy too mainstream. Lol.
I think the exact quote was that no one would believe O.J. as a killer! Isn't that ironic?
Or maybe it's just that OJ Simpson couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. Arnold isn't the best actor either, but compared to OJ he's Oscar material.
Lance Henriksen didn't pass on the Terminator, he wanted the part. Schwarzenegger got involved and that was it, no chance of competing with him. Henriksen is in the movie anyway playing a detective.
griz312
I heard Cameron couldn't see OJ as "a cold-blooded killer".
Tamzin Merchant is well known to lovers of Period films like "Pride and Prejudice" with Kiera Knightly and shows like "The Tudors" and "Salem"
and Tudors
I don't see this as derailing a career. Nobody knows what the actors would have done with those roles had they gotten them or not been fired from this or that. Just because the person who replaced some of them became hugely successful doesn't mean that the reverse would have been true. Modine stuck to his principles and probably had the career that he wanted.
And IMO Modine was absolutely right about his verdict about Top Gun. The fact that this indeed is just a propaganda movie for the US military isn't even remotely veiled. I definitely get his point not to become a poster boy for leading new cannon fodder to the slaughter.
Just like the big IT companies that start from nothing (facebook, google, etc)... nobody talks about the 100's of failed ones along the way. "hindsight is 20/20".
Exactly. It takes some of the credit from the actors who did end up getting the roles and became superstars to make it seem like the exact same thing would have happened to the actors who were originally supposed to play those parts.
This is so it for me. There are so many roles that almost had someone else instead. Take the movie Fightclub. Tyler Durden was almost played by Russell Crowe while David Fincher's first choice for Marla Singer was Janeane Garofalo and the studio was pushing Fincher to cast someone like Matt Damon or Sean Penn for the narrator.
None of them are bad actors; quite the opposite, but I doubt the film would have been as amazing as it was with that alternate cast.
OMG thank you for your comments about Mathew Modine. I have loved his work since I saw 'Birdy'. I saw a talk show interview he did and clearly being an high profile A list actor didn't matter to him if it never happened. In many of his films his character moved me in some way. The fact that he cares so much about the planet is also a plus. The man also loves his family. Let me add that bigger is often is not better. His film 'Bye Bye Love' was 10 xs better than 'Parenthood' which had similar subject matter.
1) While LOTR definitely hurdled Viggo into the spot light of later lead roles, don't think you can say he was an "unknown" prior to LOTR.... Carlito's Way, Crimson Tide, GI Jane, A Perfect Murder, 28 Days, Psycho etc....
2) Jonah Hes is wildly underrated (I'm probably alone on this one lol)
Just wanted to ask what's ill fated with Jonah Hex.... i liked that movie too.
Some of these assume that had the other actor(s) taken or been kept for the role, that it would've had the same level of popularity.
Right, as if the Modine guy has even 1/4 the charisma of Tom Cruise...
@@LittleTreeX Cruise couldn't act his way out of a paper bag and has zero true craft skills (unlike "that Modine guy"), but as long as he has the money to keep looking somewhat young, can stay strong enough to continue those running sequences that seem required for everyone of his films, and he can continue to find his camera angle and smile, he should do fine -- that's all that's ever really expected of him.
I was thinking something similar. Cruise is just more charming than Modine. Cruise might be nuts, but he is pretty magnetic.
I didn't think Viggo was an unknown prior to The LOTR.
Danielle Vaughn he was in GI Jane
he wasnt.
He was in Carlito's Way.
Psycho, 28 days, boiling point, Crimson Tide.
he was pretty unknown. at least to me!!
This Monday morning quarterbacking is kind of ridiculous. Some of these movies may have failed if they hadn't recast, while with others, it wouldn't have made a difference who had been cast. Some actors become huge despite missing the "role of a lifetime". Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were the leads in Star Wars, but what had they really done since? Kurt Russell auditioned for Han Solo, yet he's done pretty well for himself.
Kurt Russell was not a totall unknown.He did some Disney movies that were quite popular in their time
Should point out that they always wanted Michael J Fox for Marty McFly from the very beginning. Scheduling issues meant that he couldn’t take it.
Eric Stoltz got it afterwards but he really didn’t fit the role of what the directors wanted so he got fired. Then I think they begged really hard for Michael J Fox to come and he did - and worked his ass off juggling all his roles with little sleep too.
Basically Back to The Future wouldn’t have worked with Eric anyways, no disrespect to him.
Some wonder if Fox doing such a heavy schedule, and burning the candle at both ends, may have led to his Parkinson's Disease later down the track.
The premise of this video is flawed. It assumes that having the role alone was responsible for the actors fortunes. Yes, I will grant you that those movies were big but it was the actors talent, charisma, and performances that ultimately made them successful.
John Travolta may be the only person to really embody what they are suggesting. His career really was at an end, and his interest in acting all but gone. He got a serious save in Pulp Fiction. Helped to shrug of his typecasting (for the most part) even though he did dance...
It doesn't assume that at all.
@@Damaged7 Yes, it really does.
They forgot to mention that Stuart Townsend was actually in attendance at The Oscars the night that The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King famously swept The Academy Awards. He was dating Charlize Theron at that time who also won that very night for her leading role in Monster.
For him to sit there the whole time & see his almost co-stars & almost co-workers go up there thru out the entire night collecting Oscar after Oscar after Oscar than top it all off with Steven Spielberg himself awarding Peter Jackson & company the Best Picture Oscar, it must have felt like a death by a thousand cuts for poor Stuart.
Yeah...but then he got to fuck Charlize Theron.
Hugh Jackman is forever my wolverine
Replaced by Emilia Clarke for undisclosed reasons? Sounds like Tamzin refused to do the nude scenes. Oops.
doubt it, concidering she did plenty of them in Tudors.
She has a weird face. Beady-eyed, too far apart. She doesn't look young- remeber that Daenerys was supposed to be a teen at the beginning.
she looks perfectly fine... and while i love Emilia there is no way she looks remotely 16, Tamzin looks more that age
You kidding me? Emilia looks soft, sweet, and innocent. Tamzin looks like a ratfaced villain.
Movie Games that makes no sense she did tons on the Tudors as king Henry wife lots of sex and her nude dont beleave me go check and she was doing grate on Salem
Lance Henriksen is one of two actors that have been killed by a Terminator, an Alien (i.e. the Xenomorph), and a Predator. Can you name the other one?
Bill Paxton...as a punk with a mohawk, "it's game time!" and "don't worry, that's my specialty!". RIP Bill...
Bishop
Garret Olds
aw man, why do ppl gotta keep reminding me that Coconut Pete is dead
Mathew Modine made the right choices in his career. As Joker (Full Metal Jacket) and Capt. Den (Memphis Belle) he was awesome. I don't think he'd have been a good "arrogant" character like Maverick, while Tom Cruise was born like that. So, this one should not have been on your list at all.
Well, it's pretty interesting trivia to imagine it going differently.
Maybe Modine could have portrayed the arrogance and more abhorrent and prevented a pro-killing movie from having that message.
Caught a talk by Lance Henriksen at a Comiccon event a few years ago - the funny story is that Cameron did want him to be the Terminator & he got Lance to play the part at a meeting to sell the movie. The studio said they'd do the movie if Henriksen wasn't Terminator as he was too scary!
Viggo Mortensen was definitely not an unknown.
Stuart Townsend is remembered for playing Lestat in Queen of the Damned. And he would have made a horrible Aragorn.
I just want to point out, one of the main reasons Modine had the role in stranger things was more 80s nostalgia. Modine was an actor who was way more famous in the 80s than after. They got actors who were huge in the 80s for certain roles.
The thing is that LOTR really has a leading character. The entire triology has him in center of attention, even though the plot focus on som other character now and then. But Frodo’s still THE guy.
Probably even more humiliating for Townsend. He had done all the proper preparation for the role as well, including weeks of physical training for the sword combat. But because he was let go before he had done any filming, he didn't even get paid for the time that he had put in. Nothing worse than fulfilling all your obligations and because of a directors whim, they don't even compensate you for the time you set aside for their project.
.He was cast for the part of Fanderal in Thor but turned it down because he wanted to play Loki. Then he did a pilot of the reboot Nightstalker as Kolchak and decided and did not want tv work.He has done nothing to help his career
Fair enough.
piper xavier
Stuart didn’t just do the pilot, he did 10 episodes.
@@3piper It's kind of silly he turned down Fandral, since he would've never been cast as Loki. He's over a decade older than Chris Hemsworth; it would've looked silly having him play his "younger" brother.
It’s not the roles that made those stars. Those stars made those roles iconic.
did the chicken make the egg or the egg make the chicken
Something else we'll never know. Would the movies be as big with the original casting?
Thought I could watch a random video without a speech from Daneryz
What do you mean Lance Henriksen doesn't have any memorable one liners? "Not bad. For a human" Is friggin AMAZING!
It was good that Jackman got wolverine. He's iconic for that role now. Plus Mission Impossible 2 was really bad...
Viggo really was not an unknown actor before the LOTR. Should get your facts straight.
Cruise was well on his way after "Risky Business" and "Taps"..."Top Gun" was important but wasn't the be all and end all of his career.
Actually, "Mission Impossible 2" altered the careers of 2 actors: in addition to Dougray Scott needing to be replaced in X-Men, the shoot overrun also caused Thandie Newton to drop out of "Charlie's Angels" and get replaced by Lucy Liu.
Time to watch Edge of Tomorrow again!
You missed something while talking about Back to the Future. Michael J Fox was originally who they wanted as Marty, but he was too busy filming Family Ties. So they brought on Eric Stoltz, it was during filming the scenes Eric was just not working Robert Zemeckis. After they fired Eric, they found that Michael's schedule had relaxed a bit, so they were able to bring him on to play Marty. You make it sound like Michael J Fox was simply replacing Eric Stoltz, when it was kinda the other way around, but Eric didn't work out.
Terminator: Arnold was not cast as T-800 initially. Cameron wanted him as Kyle Reese, but Arnold insisted on playing a villain after playing a hero. The rest is history.
A bit like Rutger Hauer was mooted to be the lead in Blade Runner but went for Roy Batty the replicant instead. Harrison Ford became more of a legend and Rutgar improvised one of the greatest speeches to end a film in cinema (imo)...
I think Arnie knew he had limited English, at the time, so the reams of dialogue he'd have to deliver wouldn't sound so convincing. I think the casting, and savvy, by Arnold was genius-go and watch the original movie, it's sci-fi Horror. A machine that just won't stop until it's killed you is freaking terrifying. And Arnold plays it to perfection.
Townsend has gotten other parts here and there. Yeah. The Vampire Lestat in QUEEN OF THE DAMNED, Kolchak in the short-lived but mostly well-done reboot of the Darrin McGavin classic and, a stand-out performance as Dorian Gray in the uneven but watchable LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN.
Just to name three.
Mr. Townsend's doing all right...what have you seen Viggo Mortinson in lately?
Cassandra Morrison
I really like Stuart T but really, he hasn’t done anything lately! Check his IMDb page and he seems to have vanished. Bad luck? Bad choices? Bad agents?
I hope he comes back. Maybe he should have married Charlize...
Viggo was nominated for Best Actor at the 2017 Oscars among a slew of other accolades for "Captain Fantastic." Townsend isn't even acting anymore. He quit and supposedly moved to Costa Rica where he started a family and works as an owner of a parking garage...
Are you serious? Everything you listed for Stuart Townsend came out over a decade ago. Meanwhile Viggo Mortensen recently starred in the critically acclaimed film Green Book (2018) with plenty of praise surrounding his performance. Heck, in 2014 alone he had 3 movies come out.
Doris Day was offered the role of Maria in The Sound of Music, but she felt it wasn't quite her thing, so they gave it Julie Andrews. Andrews is fabulous but I can't help feel that Day would've made the role more mischievous like her Calamity Jane and On Moonlight Bay roles. Still, love them both. And Ms Day has just celebrated her her 93rd birthday, how fabulous..!
How about Matthew Broderick originally being cast as Walter White? Thank goodness Bryan Cranston took over that role and helped launch one of the greatest TV shows in history.
oh it would have been interesting to see if Matthew B could have pulled it off though. Definitely would have been opened up some new career paths for him.
My regret is that Rosie Hunting-Whiteley was even a part of Transformers 3. I find it difficult to believe that they couldn't cast anyone, ANYONE better than her!
It's the prevalent entertainment business idea that you can't have a love interest larger than a size 6 or the guys in the audience can't masturbate to the movie.
As far as Madsen is concerned, I feel like his physical likeness of Tom Sizemore has also hindered him cinematically. They are both fabulous character actors that have starred in Tarantino films, both usually playing a psycho/sociopath so it is easy to mix them up.
The original Khaleesi may have been better as Margaery, period actor etc. Similar to how Rheon was better as Ramsay Snow rather than Jon Snow
If Dougray Scott was cast as the Wolverine, that character would have gone the way of Halle Berry's Storm.
Michael J. Fox WAS the original choice for the role and was already a "household name" thanks to the Family Ties sitcom (which is the reason why he couldn't initially take the role). After Stoltz took over and the chemistry just wasn't there, Michael was called back and the shooting was accommodated to his busy schedule, which is one of the reasons why the movie has so many night scenes.
Kristy Swanson should really have been on this list, you know the girl that first was Buffy the vampire slayer, got replaced and went on to great movies like Big Daddy and Dude, where´s my car ?
KRISTY was in the movie version, not the series. She wasn't even considered for the series, SO WASN'T REPLACED.
Read the title again - they are talking about actors, not regarding tv or movie actor. What would you call it when you have the lead role in a movie and they have another actor take that role - if not replacing the actor ? When they did not pick Adam West for the role of Batman in the 1988 movie , he got _______ ? Changed ? Bodyswapped ? Transformed ?
IF KRISTY WAS REPLACED IN THE FILM VERSION, THEN IT WOULD COUNT, BUT SHE WASN'T. YOUR ARGUMENT IS AS FLAWED AS YOUR LOGIC .
What do you mean there is no lead role in LOTR. Its obviously Frodo
You could make arguments for Aragorn, Frodo or even Gandalf.
No it's not... It's obviously Smeagol
Crown Admirer
No, the leading role is the Ring!
Half of the movies run time is dedicated to seeing the Ring cupped in Frodo's hand 😂 (obviously a jk, but yeah)
It is the best example of an ensemble cast that I can think of, really - Gandalf, Aragorn, and Frodo are probably the leads, but the movies wouldn't have been half as good without the strong supporting cast - in fact, it could easily be argued that Sam is the main character, with the rest of the cast supporting.
All Tolkein scholars agree. Samwise Gamgee is the hero. Aragorn, Gandalf, Glorfindel, etc. were heroes appearing in Sam's story, as is common in epics.
Seriously, you people didn't know that Glorfindel killed a balrog (and died) in the Fall of Gondolin, before The War of Wrath, then came back from the Halls of Mandos? Next to Gandalf's appearance in the chorus that created Arda, he was the most epic character there.
Frodo can be seen as the obvious centerpoint of the story. But it's not his story.
Aragorn is the most heroic character. But it’s not his story.
Gandalf is greatest manipulator of events. But it’s not his story.
Sauron is the ever-present antagonist. But it’s not his story.
Who is transformed the most between the opening and the closing page, taking the reader through his transformation? The transformation of Sam is Tolkien’s central storytelling device, though not the most obvious one.
Samwise is the main hero. The name Samwise roughly translates to "halfwit", and it applies. He's overweight, easily frightened, and not very bright. He also beat a man-eating giant spider demi-god in single combat, single-handedly stormed a tower full of hostile orcs to save his friend's life, was the only Ringbearer to steadfastly resist the temptation of the One Ring, and literally carried another man up the side of a volcano for the fate of the world while starving and suffering from dehydration. There's a reason Tolkien considered him the true hero of the story. You read that right. Tolkien himself referred to Samwise as the true hero of the LOTR.
that's Hollywood/showbiz some make it on the big screen and some make it big on television..that's life.
Norman Edwards Then there are the actors who can do it all like Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren... TV, film and theatre...
Michael J. Fox WAS the original choice for Marty McFly, but his work on "Family Ties" made him unavailable at the time.
After Eric Stoltz didn't work out, Zemeckis was able to work out a deal with the producer of "Family Ties" to have Fox do both roles at the same time, meaning Fox was back in as Marty McFly.
Man Tamzin would have been so much better for Daenarys. Clarke was good in the first few seasons as a young and naive queen but I just cant take her seriously as a strong and independent leader. Merchant looks way more suited for the rule based on looks alone and she cant be much worse of an actress than Emilia.
You realize that Daenarys is still just a teen-ager in the story?
watch Tudors. she couldn't act then
@@davidweihe6052 In the books she is. But to allow for the natural aging of the actors, especially the ones who started out as children (Little Sam excepted, lol), the show has been using a season equals a year, more or less. It was pushing it for Clarke and Harington to pass for 16 or 17 when they were 23; they do not look like 18 or 19 currently. I wish I could remember the specific context/scene, but one of the characters -- I'm 99% sure it was Daenerys -- has made a comment about events 5 or 6 years past, making clear that general timeline. So Daenerys is about 22 in season 7, though not nearly that old in the novels.
I still like Matthew Modine, especially since he turned down a role because of his principles. I definitely respect that.
Kind of surprise Matthew Modine turned down Top Gun especially since he did Full Metal Jacket and Memphis Belle where he played an Army bomber pilot in WWII (Memphis Belle also started Eric Stolz). Also, it should be pointed out that Lance Henriksen actually had a role on the Terminator as one of the detectives who ended before gunning down by Arnold.
But has Viggo Mortensen REALLY capitalized off of LOTR? I mean didn't everyone in that movie make disproportionately small salaries compared to how insanely well those movies did at the box office? And what notable roles has Mortensen had since LOTR? Only movie I remember him being in was A History of Violence..... which honestly looked like it was going to be way more engaging and badass than the trailers and name implies. In fact, Mortensen has only been in 14 movies since then and wasn't LOTR filmed in like 1998 or 1999? 2000? That was at least 18 years ago. He's not even getting a movie/year. Now I know he's one of those artsy fartsy actors who also dabbles in other mediums of art like painting, photography, poetry, and other boring hobbies, but I can't imagine him having great success with those. I mean I haven't heard of a great Mortensen poem, or seen a great work of art created by Mortensen. Hell, odds are the art he creates is that modern/contemporary/abstract art bull shit where wiping your ass on a canvas is considered "art."
Not saying Mortensen is a bum, or trying to attack his character, just saying it's not like LOTR shot him into super stardom. The fact he's like 60 years old now pretty much means his ship has sailed.
He was in Hidalgo and The Road as well, but neither of those really made it big. (Did like Hidalgo though.)
I'm pretty sure Risky Business was the turning point in Tom Cruise's career. The Outsiders was a great film as well, but he shared most of that glory.
He was also fantastic in Taps. Creepy character, but nailed it.
I disagree with what Looper assumes Mathew Modine's career would have been. He's one of those laid back actors. If he had wanted some of those types of roles he would have went for them. Not every actor wants a nonstop career of blockbusters playing basically the same character film after film. Anyone that has never seen young Mathew Modine in "Birdy' it's your loss. He should have been nominated for an Oscar. He should always be proud to have done that. I know he's most proud of his family having been married to the same woman for 39 yrs with 2 kids. Tom Cruise can't keep a wife and hasn't seen his youngest child in over 5 yrs. Winner: Mathew Modine.
Dugray Scott would have been a great Wolverine. Different, but great.
Mathew Modine was never offered the role of Maverick in Top Gun but turned down the role of Iceman because he felt it was too Anti-Russian and due to his principals felt it wasn’t the right thing to promote. yes Val Kilmer’s career did get a bump from his part in Top Gun it hasn’t exactly catapulted him to super stardom.
Tom Cruise did 'Risky Business' , which was a huge hit and had that iconic living room scene, before Top Gun. He was hardly an unknown. At that point a star was born.
Carl was going to be the Terminator? Dang, did not know that! But I see he still got VERY steady work all throughout his career, so it didn't seem to hurt him too much. Markus would approve!
The reason why Mission Impossible II ran over schedule is because Stanley Kubrick made Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise run over schedule so Stanley Kubrick is indirectly responsible for the reason why Hugh Jackman became Wolverine
Eyes Wide Shut may be a shitshow of a movie but at least one good thing came out of it then.
Nice video but you messed up The Terminator story. Arnold was offered the role of Kyle Reese but during the meeting talked about how the villain should be played and the rest is history. Even Arnold didn't think it would lead to anything saying, "Oh some shit movie I'm doing, take a couple weeks." (Wikipedia is your friend)
John Travolta helped Richard Gere's career. John Travolta was originally suppose to play the lead in An Officer and A Gentleman but he dropped out paving the way for Richard Gere. A few years later Travolta was offered the lead in Pretty Woman and again turned it down and guess who took the part? Richard Gere!
Given that Clarke isn't THAT great in the role of Daenerys, I'd like to have seen that other actress playing her. Just to see if it worked.
if you watch the show "the tudors" you will quickly find out that it wouldnt have.
I pity you. GoT is so great, you're missing out.
It would have been much better since Emilia can not act her way out of a wet paper bag. That other smoking hot chick was in the "Tudors" and play her part perfectly. Clarke's ONLY redeeming qualities are on her chest and her willingness to show them off.
I can't see another actress playing the Mother of Dragons, in my opinión Emilia is perfect
I agree Ary she's just perfect and beautiful. I wouldn't like GoT without her.
Arnold was originally cast as Kyle Reese, but he convinced Cameron to let him play the terminator, who was originally supposed to be O.J. Simpson, but Cameron didn't think people would take him seriously as a cold blooded killer.
To be fair, Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted the role of the terminator, originally Cameron wanted him as the protector, but Arnold identified more as the terminator and that's how henrickson got bumped. But he's had an impressive career nonetheless. Stoltz and the producers both felt that mcfly wasn't working and fox was always their number 1 choice, he was just busy with family ties and couldn't do it. But when both stoltz and the producers agreed he couldn't do comedy, they made time for fox to come back in.
There's always reasons for what happens. Maybe some of these actors don't regret it as they still have steady careers and paychecks which is very hard in that industry. Plus the game can probably be overwhelming as I'm sure Tom cruise is probably wishing his what should be private life is interfering with his box office draw.
Emilia Clarke's post Game of Thrones career is questionable because her onscreen appearances so far hasn't been that stellar and it's the flip side of being on a hit TV franchise. Actors who lost a role that became iconic in retrospect weren't likely right for the role from the start and a miscasting one can often drag down a entire film/series because of it. Indeed reimagine nearly any actor who lost a role or put another who might of been asked but passed and it's truly cringe worthy. To be fair actors rarely vanish into a role and we often see them first not the character their playing which is why many have a career in the first place.
Top Gun. A military recruitment tool disguised as a gay romance, disguised as an action movie.
Millenials triggered . . .
@Orc Man. Nah. it's true. At large venues where the film was screened, there were Navy recruiters waiting outside for those gullible individuals that fell for all the propaganda.
Well... most of the films related with war, air force, army, etc, are US govt propaganda. They even pretend Arnold and Van Damme were Americans even with their heavy accents.
Megan fox is a terrible actress. She was just eye candy. Then she got all that plastic surgery and now she's just pocket candy.
Sometimes it not about what you were cast in but what you turned down throughout your career. And you can't be sure the movie would have been the same or shared the same success with different actors ex: If Fox hadn't taken it, the BTTF might have ended up a flop no one cared about. The success and failure of an entire movie/series never rests on one actor. Some of the other actors mentioned might have become household names as big as Cruise and Fox if they'd chosen better after the fact. To me, Hollywood is like a lottery. You never known who will win, and who will lose and timing is everything. Saying one single actor isn't a star because of a single role is ridiculous. It's far more complicated than that.
Good to here that John Travolta caught the big Pulp Fiction role because I heard he fumbled an even bigger blockbuster hit when he turned down the lead role for Forrest Gump which then gave it to second favorite Tom Hanks. And we all know how that mega hit worked out for Hanks
Michael J. Fox has ALWAYS been the first choice for playing Marty in BTTF, but the producers of "Family Ties", the tv show he was under contract at that time, won't let him go, so they recasted Eric Stoltz and began shooting BTTF with him, but later they had the opportunity to get Fox on board, so they dumped Stoltz and took Fox instead.
Hendrikson WAS in Terminator bro. He played one of the two Cops interrogating Sarah Connor,Modine was the only one who turned down a role .
Um for Back To The Future the first choice WAS Michael J Fox, however he was contracted to film Family Ties and was filming it when the production of BTTF was greenlit and began filming so he had to be replaced with Eric. But then he became available again and the rest is film history.
Technically Eric originally replaced him, then he replaced Eric in return.
Ironic that Modine turned down Top Gun since he played the lead in Memphis Belle where he played a WW2 bomber pilot.
As an avid reader of the books, I've gotta say that the original actress to play Denaerys fit her much better.
Lance Henrikson starred in Terminator as a detective....
The way I see it is its not that a different actor would have made as memorable or classic a performance in any given film, it is in fact the actors that were cast that made the films what they are. So basically its our, as the viewers, good fortune that these films were recast in most instances.
Wyatt Earp was shown in theaters and later rerun on TV. I'm pretty sure it was also on VHS and DVD.
Oh damn, harsh- I love Townsend
He should’ve gotten the Dorian movie too
Alyson Hannigan also replaced Riff Regan on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Regan played Willow in the unaired pilot but was replaced by Hannigan when the show went to air.
Lance Henriksen is a international treasure. He has starred in some of the most iconic sci-fi and horror films /series ever. Guy hardly belongs on this list. Sure Arnold is bigger than life but this like saying Kurt Russell's career derailed because he didn't get the part of Han Solo.
I couldn't see the other actors being cast in those particular roles especially Terminator and Top Gun.
With the exception of Megan Fox, none of these actors had their careers "derailed" by a casting change. They just never got a big boast that they MIGHT have gotten with the role. Take Eric Stoltz, for example, If he was in Back to the Future, he still wouldn't have had the natural charisma of Michael J. Fox, so his career might not have done any better than it did.
I don't agree, these recastings didn't necessarily derail their careers. Because all of these castings were perfect how they ended up. There is no guarantee we'd all love those roles as much with the original actors or that they'd go on to have the same success
I adored Dougray Scott in "Ever After." Also when he was on Doctor Who.
Michael J Fox is a legend and already a top actor from Family Ties, best choice for BTF
Actually Michael J Fox was originally cast in Back to the Future, had to drop out because of Family Ties obligations... the producers didn’t like Stoltz so Fox worked days on Family Ties and nights on Back to the Future
As i know it, Fox wasn't available because of Family Ties. But he was the first choice. After filming with Stolz, it became clear that he wasn't the right one. Anyway, some movies wouldn't be this success with the first choice.
You forgot Matt Dillon turning the part of Butch in Pulp Fiction because he told Tarantino he needed time to think about it.
Funny that Lance Henriksen was still in the movie AND played a robot in different Cameron franchise. I don't think that example fits with the premise though. Think he would have made a great terminator, but it's not like he would have been cast in any other movie that went with Arnold. They're just too different. Same sort of thing with swapping out Matthew Modine for Tom Cruise. The actor made the part as much as the part made the actor.
Rip Thorne who lost the career Jack Nicholson got.
Top Gun was not Tom Cruz's turning point, it was Risky Business that launched his career. Top Gun was very popular but amongst a slew of B-Movies Cruz was doing at the time (See Cocktail, etc). By the Time Top Gun came out Risky Business was the role that gave Cruz the star power. More importantly Risky Business was made for barely $6 Million and went on to gross $63 Million domestically.
Hrm... so... Matthew Modine had the option of playing Maverick, but Val Kilmer was pissed at Modine for getting the role of Joker... and the films premiered a year apart (with Top Gun coming out first)... KUUUUUBRICK!
On the plus side Stuart Townsend DOES end up getting murdered by Charlotte Mayfair in Anne Rice's novel THE WITCHING HOUR (as well as playing Lestat in THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED).
This assumes the original casting choices would have been as good of a fit. Casting is important both for the character and the actor. There's no assurance that an actor that a director likes for a role won't suck at it
I have so much respect for Matthew Modine