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Roles Steve McQueen turned down or was considered

posted 8 months ago by VHSGuy123 (48)
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https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueFilm/comments/1biydgj/steve_mcqueen_turned_down_roles/

1961: Breakfast At Tiffany’s (Role: Paul Varjak) (Actor who got it: George Peppard) (Reason: McQueen was offered the lead main role, but had to turned it down due to commitments with Wanted: Dead or Alive)

1965: Major Dundee (Role: Benjamin Tyree) (Actor who got it: Richard Harris) (Reason: McQueen auditioned for the role.)

1966: Grand Prix (Role: Pete Aron) (Actor who got it: James Garner) (Reason: McQueen was John Frankenheimer's first choice for the lead role of American Formula One race car driver Pete Aron. Frankenheimer was unable to meet with McQueen to offer him the role, so he sent Edward Lewis, his business partner and the producer of Grand Prix. McQueen and Lewis instantly clashed, the meeting was a disaster, and the role went to Garner.)

1969: Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (Role: The Sundance Kid) (Actor who got it: Robert Redford) (Reason: McQueen actually accepted the role as The Sundance Kid, but left the role because his attorneys and agents could not agree with Paul Newman's attorneys and agents on top billing, he also wanted the film to be titled, The Sundance Kid And Butch Cassidy)

1971: The French Connection (Role: Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle) (Actor who got it: Gene Hackman) (Reason: McQueen was considered for the role, but he didn't want to do another Police Film after Bullit and his fee would of exceeded the Budget)

1971: Dirty Harry (Role: Harry Callahan) (Actor who got it: Clint Eastwood) (Reason: Like The French Connection, McQueen didn’t want to do another police film after Bullitt)

1971: Play Misty For Me (Role: Dave Garver) (Actor who got it: Clint Eastwood) (Reason: He was offered the role, but he turned it down as he felt that the female lead was stronger the male lead)

1972: The Godfather (Role: Tom Hagen) (Actor who got it: Robert Duvall) (Reason: He was considered for the role)

1974: Death Wish (Role: Paul Kiersey) (Actor who got it: Charles Bronson) (Reason: The Was was originally envisioned with Steve McQueen as the lead, but he turned it down)

1974: Mr. Majestyk (Role: Vincent Majestyk) (Actor who got it: Charles Bronson) (Reason: He was considered for the role, but he sat on the idea for a year, but never made a decision)

1975: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Role: Randle MacMurphy) (Actor who got it: Jack Nicholson) (Reason: After The Towering Inferno, McQueen was offered Several Multi-Million Dollar Role, one of them was One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, but he turned it down.)

1976: The Missouri Breaks (Role: Robert E. Lee Clayton) (Actor who got it: Marlon Brando) (Reason: He turned it down because at this time, he claimed he was retired).

1977: Close Encounters Of A Third Kind (Role: Roy Neary) (Actor who got it: Richard Dreyfuss) (Reason: Spielberg has stated in interviews that McQueen was the 1st choice for the role of Roy Neary. According to Spielberg in a documentary on the film's DVD release, Spielberg met him at a bar, where McQueen drank beer after beer. Before leaving, McQueen told Spielberg that he could not accept the role because he was unable to cry on cue. Spielberg offered to take the crying scene out of the story, but McQueen demurred, saying that it was the best scene in the script. The role eventually went to Richard Dreyfuss)

1977: Sorcerer (Role: Jackie Scanlon) (Actor who got it: Roy Scheider) (Reason: William Friedkin wanted to cast McQueen in the lead role, but McQueen did not want to be separated from Ali MacGraw for the duration of the shoot as it was filming primarily in the Dominican Republic, McQueen then asked Friedkin to let MacGraw act as a producer, so she could be present during principal photography. Friedkin would not agree to this condition, and cast Roy Scheider instead of McQueen. Friedkin later remarked that not casting McQueen hurt the film's performance at the box-office.)

1977: Gauntlet (Role: Ben Hockley) (Actor who got it: Clint Eastwood) (Reason: Turned down a $4-million offer to star in The Gauntlet when Barbra Stressand was originally attached to the picture with Sam Peckinpah set to direct. McQueen and Streisand did not get along due to a clash of egos and politics and refused to appear together)

1977: A Bridge Too Far (Role: Unknown) (Reason: He turned down to do the film because he only wanted top billing roles and not all star assembled projects)

1977: Island In The Streams (Role: Thomas Hudson) (Actor who got it: George C. Scott) (Reason: Like The Missouri Breaks, He turned it down because at this time, he claimed he was retired)

1978: The Driver (Role: The Driver) (Actor who got it: Ryan O’Neal) (Reason: The role of The Driver was originally intended for McQueen, but McQueen turned down the role because, as Hill stated, he refused to star in another film that revolved substantially around cars)

1978: Convoy (Role: Martin Penwald) (Actor who got it: Kris Kristofferson) (Reason: He was approach for the role)

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 8 months ago

1978: Superman (Role: Clark Kent / Superman) (Actor who got it: Christopher Reeve) (Reason: He was offered the role, but he turned it down)

1979: Apocalypse Now (Role: Benjamin Willard or Colonel Kurtz) (Actor who got it: Martin Sheen) (Reason: Steve McQueen was Coppola's first choice to play Willard, but McQueen did not want to leave America for three weeks and Coppola was unwilling to pay his $3 million fee. In another Interview, Clint Eastwood, revealed that when he was in discussions for the role, which he turned down, McQueen tried to convince him to play Willard; McQueen wanted to play Kurtz because he would have to work for only two weeks)

1980: Raise The Titanic (Role: James Sandecker) (Actor who got it: Jason Robards) (Reason: McQueen was offered the role, but he felt the script was flat)

1982: First Blood (Role: John Rambo) (Actor who got it: Sylvestor Stallone) (Reason: When Sydney Pollack was attached as Director, he wanted Steve McQueen and McQueen expressed interested in the role, but was turned down by the Producers as they thought, at 45 years old, he was too old).

1990: Quigley Down Under (Role: Matthew Quigley) (Actor who got it: Tom Selleck) (Reason: As Early as 1979, Steve McQueen was attached to the role, but by the time production began in 1980, McQueen was ill. The project was scrapped after he died, until it was later revived with Tom Selleck in the lead Role)

1992: The Bodyguard (Role: Frank Farmer) (Actor who got it: Kevin Costner) (Reason: He was offered to star alongside Diana Ross when the project was first developed in 1976, but the film did not reach production until years after McQueen's death; the film eventually starred Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston in 1992.)

[–] Jeepster (1145) 8 months ago

Streisand was never in “The Gauntlet”. Clint’s main squeeze at the time Sondra Locke is the woman you’re thinking of. Trust me I couldn’t picture her in that movie. The movie that Barbra WAS considered for was “Sudden Impact” but that fell through & again……Locke.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 8 months ago

This was before Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke were attached. Originally it was supposed to be Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand, but they couldn't get along, so they both departed.

[–] liscarkat (18367) 8 months ago

"McQueen auditioned", "He was considered", and "He was approached" are not reasons.

[–] AckbarsRevenge (3800) 5 months ago

McQueen as Superman 1978? Ridiculous idea.