Pretty Woman
The smash hit that premiered 30 years ago elevated a very young Julia Roberts. But it might not have been so if any of the leading candidates had agreed to make over-the-knee boots fashionable. One of them was Demi Moore, who has an excuse because that same year she shot Ghost, which catapulted her career. The role of prostitute threw her back a bit. The same thing happened to Meg Ryan, who was the perfect girl next door in the romantic comedies of the 80s. She was looking for a change of register, but she did not dare to go out and after seeing the success of the film, she cries in silence about his mistake.
For the male role, the first choice was… John Travolta! And the most curious thing is that Richard Gere, years before, had refused to star in Grease despite having represented the musical in the theater. Going back to Travolta, it should be noted that he is very given to saying no: he did it with Splash, Chicago, Glee, and the one he was most angry about letting go: Forrest Gump.
Why didn't anyone want to be Han Solo or Indiana Jones?
It is almost impossible to imagine these two ironic heroes with any face other than that of Harrison Ford. In fact, in old age, the actor will star in another sequel to the archaeologist with the Whip. However, it was done with both characters by fluke. George Lucas didn't want him for Star Wars because he was after Al Pacino. But he, after reading the script, told him that he did not understand it and that he was not going to participate in the film. He also did not convince his second option: Christopher Walken, who was not clear about getting involved in a science fiction movie. Meanwhile, Ford, who was tired of not succeeding, was engaged in carpentry and was doing some work at Lucas's house. Finally, he managed to convince him and pilot the Millennium Falcon.
For Indiana Jones, Spielberg wanted Tom Selleck, who even auditioned with Sean Young. But the interpreter's agent advised him not to take the role, as he saw little for him. After the film was released, Selleck wrote a letter to his former agent, cursing the day he was hired. His career continued quietly, while Ford's rose like foam.
Actors who did not understand the script
Or they wanted to change it. To this group belongs Tom Cruise, who asked that they change the ending of Edward Scissorhands so that he would recover his hands. That was his condition to interpret it and it was denied because of the director, Tim Burton. He also had qualms about putting himself in Ironman's shoes if he didn't lower the rogue side of the report. And so he did a favor to the scoundrel official at the time Robert Downey Jr. who gave up alcohol and propelled his career.
Others, on the other hand, did not ask for changes, they clearly said that they did not understand the script. Like Sean Connery who refused to play Morpheus in The Matrix, because he didn't quite get the script. And he also passed on taking Gandalf's staff because that thing about elves seemed rather silly to him. And that they came to offer him 10 million dollars and 15% of the profits. The second option was Christopher Plummer, who claimed that he wanted to travel.
But surely the one who screwed up the most by rejecting The Lord of the Rings was Nicholas Cage, who could have been Aragorn, a role for which Vigo Mortensen was chosen just before filming began. Cage, who has a most erratic career, squashed another successful franchise: The Matrix. Will Smith also refused and still howls in pain remembering that he preferred to star in Wild, Wild, West which was a box office disaster. And another bad decision from Smith: he went from putting himself in the shoes of Django Unchained because he did not reach a financial agreement.
