Recently, I came across one of those posts on Facebook that gives you a list of movies Hollywood actors had turned down, and one above all others stuck out to me. Ghost. Looking back on that film, which is such a classic, I don’t see anyone else but Patrick Swayze playing Sam, but apparently, another big star at the time was offered the role.
I did some digging, and sure enough, I found an article from 2011 when the actor who turned it down was speaking about it. This actor isn’t particularly tall, and Demi Moore is somewhat tall, so I wonder if she would have still been cast to play the role of Molly had he gotten the role.
That actor was Michael J Fox. He had been in a string of hit movies at this point, including Teen Wolf and, of course, the classics and some of the best movies of all time, Back to The Future and Back to the Future 2. Could you imagine him in this role? Michael said he was a “fucking idiot” for not taking it, but he didn’t feel it would work. It became the biggest movie of the 90s and won Oscars. How would he have changed the movie do you think? I think it would have been a dud had he been cast, and I mean no disrespect; I don’t see him exhibiting the same charm that Swayze had.
Now, this isn’t the only big movie that almost had a different lead. There are tons of them, and while I won’t touch on them all here, I will mention two others. Did you know we almost had a VERY different Indiana Jones? Again, who else could play that role better than Harrison Ford? Well, according to the actor himself, Tom Selleck of Magnum PI fame not only tested for the role but shot some scenes. He didn’t commit to the movie because he had a contract with CBS to start shooting Magnum PI, and the role went to Harrison, who brought a little comedy to it. How different could Tom’s career have been if he had taken the role?
Finally, the other movie I’m sure most of us know that almost had a different actor in a pivotal role was that of Neo from The Matrix Movies. Could you imagine anyone other than Keanu Reeves in this role? Yeah, me either, but it was offered to none other than the Chris Rock abusing “keep my wife’s name out your mouth” actor Will Smith. Smith reportedly turned it down because he wasn’t impressed with the pitch and didn’t want to be known for sci-fi movies, having done Men in Black and Independence Day by this point. Quick, what are some of Will’s biggest movies? Men in Black, iRobot, and I am Legend. So he didn’t make that mistake again, huh?
Sometimes I wonder what these casting people are thinking when they’re looking for people to be in roles like Michael J Fox in a love story role like Sam? Nah…I like how it all turned out what about you?
