Actors that turned down hit movies

[DRW50]

In honor of the other thread going on...

I'm sure people have a ton of these lined up, so I'll just list a few.

George Raft turned down a variety of roles that ended up making a star of Humphrey Bogart, including They Drive By Night, Casablanca, and The Maltese Falcon

Norma Shearer turned down Gone With the Wind (her fan clubs convinced her that the role would be immoral or inappropriate for her) and Mrs. Miniver (she didn't want to play the mother of a grown son)

These were basically career-ending moves for Raft and Shearer, although Shearer's career was winding down anyway.

[VirginiaHamilton]

• Will Smith passed on playing Neo in "The Matrix" to do "Wild Wild West"
• Tom Selleck passed on playing Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
• Vanessa L. Williams passed on playing Jane Toussaint in "School Daze"
• Tom Cruise passed on playing Ren in "Footloose"
• Molly Ringwald passed on playing Vivian Ward in "Pretty Woman"
• Alec Baldwin passed on playing Dr. Kimble in "The Fugitive"
• Leonardo DiCaprio passed on playing Dirk Diggler in "Boogie Nights" to do "Titanic" while Warren Beatty passed on playing Jack Horner in the same flick
• Madonna almost won the part of Ginger McKenna in "Casino" until Sharon Stone convinced Scorsese to cast her instead
• Drew Barrymore passed on playing Nomi Malone in "Showgirls"
• Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Michael Corleone in "The Godfather"
• Robert Redford turned down the role of Ben Braddock in "The Graduate"

[Khan]

Oh, wow, I didn't know Selleck actually turned down "Raiders." I always had assumed he couldn't do it because it originally conflicted with shooting "Magnum, P.I.".

[Soaplovers]

Christopher Reeve turned down the lead in Romancing the Stone, that Michael Douglas ended up playing.

Kim Basinger turned down the lead in Body Heat, Kim Zimmer also had to turn down the lead due to The Doctors refusing to let her take time off to film the part.. Kathleen Turner ended up playing the lead.

Michelle Pfeiffer turned down the lead in Silence of the Lamb, a part that Jodie Foster made famous.

Julia Roberts turned down the lead in Shakespeare in Love, a part that won Gwen Paltrow an oscar.

Sally Field turned down the lead in Moonstuck, a part that won Cher an oscar

Cher turned down the part of Thelma in Thelma & Louise, a part that Geena Davis made famous.

[BingCherry]

Julia Roberts turned down both The Blind Side and The Proposal, two roles that reignited Sandra Bullock's career

[I Am A Swede]

Where have you read this? From what I've heard Hepburn was never considered for the role of Scarlett. And why would Selznick cast her when he had had practically every actress in Hollywood test for the role? Not to mention that Hepburn wasn't all that popular at the time.

Paulette Goddard was the front-runner for the role, and she even did costume and make-up tests before Selznick finally cast Vivien Leigh. Leigh incidentally had been a contender for a while then, ever since Selznick saw her in "Fire over England", although the Hollywood myth is that he never saw her until his brother Myron brought her to the set when the burning of Atlanta was shot in early December 1938.

[ChitHappens]

The movie Salt was written and cast with Tom Cruise, but instead, Salt was a woman played by Jolie. Not sure what happened BTS.

[DRW50]

I think it was in those David Shipman books on movie stars, but it's been a long time. I'll edit it out just in case.

[jcar03]

*Christopher Nolan still wanted Katie Holmes for "The Dark Knight" but she turned it down to do "Mad Money".

[VirginiaHamilton]

To add...

• Sarah Michelle Gellar - turned down the role of Cher in "Clueless" because of scheduling conflicts with AMC
• Mel Gibson - turned down the role of The Terminator in "The Terminator"
• Sigourney Weaver - turned down the role of Sarah Tobias in "The Accused"
• Richard Grieco - turned down the role of Jack Traven in "Speed"
• Tom Hanks - turned down the role of Jerry Maguire in "Jerry Maguire"
• Mickey Rourke - turned down the role of Axel Foley in "Beverly Hills Cop"
• David Boreanaz - turned down the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in "Batman Begins"
• Johnny Depp - turned down the role of Tristan Ludlow in "Legends of the Fall"
• Michelle Pfeiffer - turned down the role of Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs"
• Christian Bale - turned down the role of George W Bush in "W"
• Edward Norton - turned down the role of Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho"
• Jim Carrey - turned down the role of Howard Hughes in "The Aviator"
• Bill Murray - turned down the role of Larry Flynt in "The People vs. Larry Flynt"

[reallyhateskateonlost]

John Travalta turned down American Gigolo and Apollo 13

Richard Gere turned down Wall Street and Die Hard

[quartermainefan]

Travolta also turned down the Gere role in "Chicago" and "Officer and a Gentleman"

Bela Lugosi in a classic cautionary tale of ego turned down the role of the monster in "Frankenstein" due to no dialogue and too much makeup, immediately making Boris Karloff a star and ending Lugosi's brief reign as the go to guy for horror.

Frank Sinatra turned down "Dirty Harry"