You can't really blame them - as the majority of screenplays simply do not read well. They have to have blind faith in the directors and editors.
shareA couple of the ones I remember are
Will Smith turned down Neo in the Matrix
and
Sean Connery turned down a role in LOTR.
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I bet the project of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" sounded like an absolutely bat S*it* crazy idea when they were trying to pitch it to actors. "So my sidekick is a cartoon bunny, and my co-stars are a bunch of loony toons? " Although that seems like something that would be right up Bill Murray's ally and this is one of my favorite movies of all time, I think Bob did the perfect job.
Kevin Sorbo is actually not a terrible actor. For walking tall, I did like the Rock, and thought Johnny Knoxville was a good addition.
For Burt.... The heart wants what the heart wants man. You talked about Will Smith turning down a Sci fi punk project, maybe back in the day that is what Star Wars sounded like. Burt was in love with Sally and after this movie they dated for several years. Also Smokey made 300 million on a 4 million budget, so for that (based on money and Sally) Burt did the right thing.
I have heard different stories saying that so many actors turned down Star Wars at the time. Tough to know who was actually offered a concrete role
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Sarah Michelle Gellar turning down the role of Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie. Not saying the movie was amazing, but I still think it would've been huge in re-kickstarting her career. I mean, does anything think of her as anything but Buffy?
shareI like her in cruel intentions
shareDon't know if it's true but i read somewhere a while ago that Mel Gibson was offered the part of Thors father Odin but turned it down.Worked out good for Anthony Hopkins.
shareBurt Lancaster turned town the massive hit and Easter classic "Ben Hur", because he was an atheist.
IMHO he was right to do so, it wouldn't have been nearly as good without Charlton Heston's dopey sincerity.