Before and after pictures of some of Hollywood's most handsome actors
In an interview with Playboy, McConaughey revealed that he had turned down a part in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' (2017) for one in 'The Dark Tower' (2017). Russell took on his rejected role instead.
After his small role in 'The Fast and the Furious' (2001), Ja Rule was persuaded to return for the sequel. According to Grantland, the rapper didn't show a good attitude and so the role went to Ludacris instead.
See also: Stars who were fired from major movie and TV roles
In 2019, Matt Damon revealed that he had to turn down a role in 'Avatar' even though he would've received 10% of the profits, which would've netted him around US$250 million. The actor said it was because he was committed to the 'Bourne' franchise.
In an interview with The Telegraph, actress Debra Winger revealed that she decided to exit the beloved 1992's All-American Girls Professional Baseball film 'A League of Their Own,' because Madonna was cast. Winger said she had already spent three months training with the Chicago Cubs after being cast as the team's catcher, but when Madonna was tapped to play another lead role, she quit. She added, “The studio agreed with me because it was the only time I ever collected a pay-or-play on my contract,” Winger explained about her compensation. “In other words, I collected my pay even though I did not play, and that’s very hard to get in a court.” She was soon replaced by Geena Davis, and while Winger would only say that Davis "did okay" in the widely-acclaimed film, Winger still maintains her criticism of Madonna: "I think [her] acting career has spoken for itself."
Everyone knows and loves the troubled mutant character Rogue portrayed by Anna Paquin in several 'X-Men' films, but what most people don't know is that the famed role could have been Rachael Leigh Cook's. The 'She's All That' actress revealed in an interview with The New York Times published August 29 that she had turned down the role in 2000's 'X-Men' to avoid acting on a green screen. "As soon as I saw the posters for it, I knew that'd made a mistake," she said, adding that the move a "huge misstep." Apparently it was a time in her career when people were trying to make sure that she would be taken seriously as an actress, and of course she wanted the same. But now she's left with regret, particularly after the continued success of the franchise to this day. "I definitely did things for the wrong reasons."
The 2001 film 'Serendipity,' starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack, has earned its place in the canon of romantic comedies, and it still continues to draw people to the famed eponymous dessert spot in New York City for frozen hot chocolates. But little do most people know, that lead role was first offered to none other than Jennifer Aniston. According to director Peter Chelsom, Aniston turned down the role of Sara because she didn't want to be pigeonholed into rom-coms, he told Insider. “I remember when she came in, she said, ‘I do a romantic comedy once a week,’ her being on ‘Friends’ at the time. So, she clearly had other things on her plate and it was her decision not to do it.” Since then, however, Aniston has starred in many successful rom-coms.
On 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,' Madonna revealed that she still has one big regret, and it's that she turned down a role in 'The Matrix.' "Can you believe that? I wanted to kill myself," she said. Though she didn’t specify which character, Trinity, ultimately played by Carrie-Anne Moss, was the only lead female role. “That's like one of the best movies ever made,” Madonna said. “A teeny-tiny part of me regrets just that one moment in my life.”
'The Devil Wears Prada' has had an unexpectedly long-lasting impact on audiences, one which clearly wasn't apparent to the actresses who were first sought out for the lead role of Andy Sachs, ultimately played by Anne Hathaway. Ahead of the film's 15th anniversary, director David Frankel revealed that 'The Notebook' star Rachel McAdams turned down the role three times!
“The studio was determined to have her, and she was determined not to do it,” David Frankel told Entertainment Weekly of McAdams’ reluctance. The film’s studio, Fox 2000, had reportedly wanted an “established dramatic actress over Hathaway and her then teen-oriented filmography,” and some of the other actresses preferred over Hathaway included Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, and Kirsten Dunst. Hathaway has previously said she was the ninth choice to star in the film, but she never stopped campaigning for the role.
Michelle Yeoh's lead role in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' blew everyone away, but the actress revealed that another star was offered up her role first, which was originally written for a man. The film’s directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan initially envisioned Jackie Chan in the lead role, with Yeoh playing his wife. However, Chan turned down the role and it was later rewritten for Yeoh, casting Ke Huy Quan as her husband—to stunning results, we might add.
Yeoh recalled Chan texting her after she was nominated for an Oscar, one of the film's 11 nominations total. “The roles were completely reversed. I remember Jackie texting me and saying, ‘Congratulations! You know your boys came to see me first’,” Yeoh said in an interview on CNN. “I’m like, ‘Thank you bro, you did me a huge favor.'" The actress also suggested that while Chan did indeed have a "very busy" work schedule, the decision for him to turn down the role was "mutual," as the so-called Daniels had already “stepped back” and were looking at rewriting the lead role for a woman.
Haley Lu Richardson is now famous for her role as Portia on the second season of 'The White Lotus,' but she could have had her big break a little earlier. When asked by Backstage magazine what her biggest "one that got away" role was, she replied, "There are a lot [of roles] that got away. But I did get the script for ‘Midsommar.’"
'Midsommar' was famously the role that put Florence Pugh on the map. "I remember reading it; it was such a well-written, creepy script," Richardson added. "I actually still haven’t seen the movie because I kind of can’t bring myself to watch it. They wanted to meet me…. I had actually done 'Split,' I think, a year or two before. And I was like, I don’t want to do another disturbing movie right now. I just don’t have it in me, going around and crying at these disturbing things. It wasn’t something that I wanted, and I felt really strongly about that. So I didn’t even take the meeting. And, you know, that’s a pretty iconic movie, isn’t it?"
Luckily she doesn't have regret about the way things panned out for her. "But I do think that everything happens the way that it’s supposed to," she continued. "There was a reason I didn’t have it in me. And also, Florence Pugh is just such a good actor.”
In the competitive world of the seventh art, actors are constantly faced with tough decisions to make.
Whether it's because they were already filming another movie or simply because they didn't like the script, these stars ended up turning down roles in what went on to become box office hits.
Click to see which celebrities refused roles in hit movies!
Regrets? The actors who turned down roles in successful movies
There were many reasons why these stars turned down the parts
CELEBRITY Cinema
In the competitive world of the seventh art, actors are constantly faced with tough decisions to make.
Whether it's because they were already filming another movie or simply because they didn't like the script, these stars ended up turning down roles in what went on to become box office hits.
Click to see which celebrities refused roles in hit movies!