5 film roles Michael Keaton turned down
Which do you think he would have been best in?:
The Fly
Michael Keaton was offered the leading role of Dr. Seth Brundle in the 1986 sci-fi horror, but turned it down to work on Gung Ho and Touch and Go instead.
Batman Forever
When Tim Burton dropped out of Batman Forever, Keaton followed too. Desperate to keep their star Warner Bros. offered him $15million, which was a huge payday for 1995. Keaton met with Joel Schumacher but was unhappy with the screenplay, he felt it was too lighthearted. So no matter how big the check was, Keaton wasn't playing.
Philadelphia
Jonathan Demme, hot off The Silence of the Lambs (1991) initially wanted Daniel Day-Lewis to play Andrew Beckett. He turned it down in favor of In the Name of the Father (1993). Michael Keaton was the second choice to play Andrew Beckett. He turned down the role and made My Life (1993) instead.
Kingpin
Kingpin is another movie that Michael Keaton had actually signed on to star in (in what ended up being Woody Harrelson's part - Roy Munson). Keaton left the project after a script rewrite, he liked the original version which was “character-driven rather than joke-driven.” Eventually the production company, Rysher Entertainment, had a change of heart and got back in contact with Keaton, offering to film with the original script if he'd come back to the project. But Keaton was already committed to Multiplicity, and passed.
Get Shorty
Michael Keaton was not the first choice to play Chilli Palmer in the 1995 movie, that was John Travolta, but he turned it down. So Keaton was offered the role, he said no, so did Robert De Niro and Bruce Willis. Quentin Tarantino then told Travolta that he should've taken the part, so he changed his mind.
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