B rad Pitt as Neo? Josh Hartnett as Batman? Halle Berry as the lady that drives the bus in Speed ? Believe it or not, all of the above would have happened if those actors had said “yes”. Dive into the history of Hollywood and most incredibly famous characters were nearly played by someone else . Those early and ultimately aborted casting decisions just don’t tend to get talked about.
Sometimes, though, actors are very open about the high-profile parts they turned down, and the pangs of regret left behind once those films are actually made. Imagine a world in which Leonardo DiCaprio was the star of a beloved drama about the porn industry and not Titanic , or Reese Witherspoon didn’t play Legally Blonde ’s Elle Woods. Shudder.
Here are 13 actors who turned their nose up at iconic movies, only to feel very silly about it later on. Denzel Washington in Se7en Asked in 2012 if there were roles he turned down that he should have taken, Washington answered quickly: “ Se7en and Michael Clayton ”. The Oscar winner said that Tony Gilroy’s corporate thriller Michael Clayton “was the best material I had read in a long time .
.. I was nervous about a first-time director, and I was wrong”.
George Clooney ended up playing the role instead. While Washington didn’t offer an explanation as to why he turned down Se7en (it is unclear if he would have played the veteran detective or the cocky rookie, embodied in the end by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, respectively), it may ha.