When we look back at some of the most iconic characters in cinema history, it can sometimes seem that certain stars were born to play certain roles: that their casting was simply a fulfilment of destiny.
But of course, there exists an alternative timeline in which all of these parts – even those that have gone on to become so closely associated with one specific actor that it's impossible to imagine anyone else playing them – could have gone to someone else entirely.
This week, we're looking back at actors who were almost cast in massive roles but, for one reason or another, they had to pull out or were passed over for a different casting choice.
Scroll down for our 13 picks – from Frank Sinatra to Dwayne Johnson.
1. Frank Sinatra – John McClane in Die Hard
Christmas classic action flick Die Hard would likely have been a very different film had legendary actor and crooner Frank Sinatra – who was 70 at the time – taken on the role of NYPD detective John McClane rather than Bruce Willis.
But believe it or not, Sinatra was the first person to be offered the role in John McTiernan's film – even if only due to a contractual obligation.
You see back in 1968, the star had played the lead role in a crime film called The Detective, Die Hard is actually based on a sequel to the novel that served as the source for that earlier movie.
Because of this, 20th Century Fox had an obligation to offer the role to Sinatra, but he declined – perhaps understandably given his age and the nature of the film.
Even after that, several other actors were in the running before Willis was cast – with Sylvester Stallone, Richard Gere, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds, Nick Nolte, Mel Gibson, Don Johnson, Paul Newman, James Caan, Al Pacino and Arnold Schwarzenegger among those considered or offered the role.
Even when Willis was eventually approached, he initially turned it down due to a scheduling clash with his hit TV series Moonlighting. But when his co-star on the series, Cybill Shepherd became pregnant, production was paused for 11 weeks and he had the chance to accept the role. The rest is history!
2. The Beatles – Lord of the Rings
Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is – with good reason – considered the definitive film adaptation of JRR Tolkien's iconic fantasy epic. But back in the 1960s there was almost a very different take on the saga which would have seen none other than the Fab Four taking on key roles.
After The Beatles had each been given a copy of the books in 1968, they had become obsessed with starring in a film version of it, and even suggested Stanley Kubrick – fresh off the success of 2001: A Space Odyssey – as director.
The plan would have been for Paul McCartney to star as Frodo Baggins, with Ringo Starr as Samwise Gamgee, John Lennon as Gollum and George Harrison as Gandalf, although ultimately the project didn't ever move past the idea stage.
The reason for that was Tolkien himself, was reportedly wasn't especially keen on the idea of a pop group spearheading an adaptation of his work and denied them the rights.
While an animated film version of the epic was released in 1978 – five years after the author's death – it was roughly 30 years after the attempt by The Beatles before significant progress was made on the now iconic live action version helmed by Jackson.
And of course, Jackson would go on to have another tie to The Beatles – directing several documentaries about the band including the tree-part miniseries Get Back, comprised entirely from archive footage.
3. Jennifer Lawrence – Bella Swan in Twilight
Jennifer Lawrence made her name in Hollywood by starring as the lead in one hugely succesfull YA adaptation franchise – but she was once briefly under consideration for the central role in another just a few years earlier.
The Hunger Games star auditioned for the role of Bella Swan – which was, of course, eventually played by Kristen Stewart – but was turned down immediately without receiving a call back.
Of course, that rejection didn't do her too much harm in the long run, and not much time passed before she landed the role of Katniss Everdeen.
"My life would’ve been totally different [if I'd got Twlight],” she said during an appearance on The Rewatchables podcast with Bill Simmons back in 2023.
"I mean, the work is still the same because I felt similar when I was doing Hunger Games. I have to churn out movies in between so that I’m not only known for this franchise.
"I was still in a franchise, so I was still trying to counteract the franchise-ness, and I would still be doing that if I was in Twilight."
Interestingly, Lawrence also detailed how the success of Twilight had actually made her think twice about accepting the role that would launch her to superstardom.
I just assumed it was gonna be like Twilight, like the Twilight-level Fame, and that was just never something I had in mind," she said.
4. Nicolas Cage – Superman
Several actors have taken on the role of The Man of Steel over the years from Christopher Reeve to Henry Cavill and most recently David Corenswet.
But one star who would have likely offered a rather different take on the iconic DC Comics character is the always entertaining Nicolas Cage.
The actor had been slated to star in a project titled Superman Lives, which was to be directed by Tim Burton after his success adapting another DC hero in Batman and Batman Returns.
Indeed, Cage even signed on as Superman with a $20 million pay-or-play contract, saying that he would "reconceive the character" compared to previous on screen iterations.
Burton had also been especially pleased with the casting, explaining how it would be "the first time you would believe that nobody could recognise Clark Kent as Superman" as Cage "could physically change his persona."
Filming had been expected to begin in early 1998, but after a couple of rewrites and the failure of Batman & Robin it was put on hold by Warner Bros, with Burton and then Cage both pulling out before it was finally abandoned.
Still Cage did eventually get to play Superman in a sense: first, he voiced the character in in the animated film Teen Titans Go! To the Movies in 2018, before making a very brief cameo as an alternate version of the character in 2023's The Flash.
Despite those roles, many fans will still be wondering what a full Nicolas Cage Superman might have looked like. It certainly wouldn't have been boring!
5. Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark
There are certain roles that it is basically impossible to imagine any other actor playing, and the role of intrepid archaeologist Indiana Jones is without a shadow of a doubt one of them. How could anyone other than Harrison Ford be Indy?
Well, believe it or not, the first choice of both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for the role was not Ford but rather the moustachioed star Tom Selleck – just after he had accepted his iconic lead role in TV series Magnum PI.
Selleck had impressed both with his audition for Raiders of the Lost Ark and was offered the role – but CBS refused to release him ten days early from his contract, as had been requested by Spielberg and Lucas.
He therefore had to pull out, even though the show was later put on a three month hiatus owing to the 1980 Actor's Strike, which would have afforded him enough time to shoot the film.
Speaking about the decision in a 2017 interview, Selleck explained: "Look, I made a deal with Magnum, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm proud that I lived up to my contract, and some people said, 'You've got to get into a car and drive into a brick wall and get injured and get out of Magnum and do [Raiders].'
"I said, 'I gotta look my mom and dad in the eye, and we don't do that,' so I did Magnum... That's not so bad, is it?"
Several other actors were also considered for the role, including Bill Murray, Nick Nolte, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Sam Elliott, Jeff Bridges and David Hasselhoff.
But no one would argue against the fact that they ultimately made the correct call with Ford, who had initially been passed over due to concerns that he was already too well known.
6. Al Pacino – Han Solo in Star Wars
And Indiana Jones wasn't the only iconic Ford role that almost went to someone else. As difficult as it may now be to imagine, there is a world in which it was The Godfather star Al Pacino who took on the role of Han Solo in the original Star Wars saga.
The legendary actor was offered the role of the beloved smuggler but turned it down – the reason being that he couldn't make head nor tail of the script!
"I was doing a show on Broadway at the time, and they handed me this script, and I thought, I don’t understand," he detailed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year."[I thought], I must be out of space myself.
"But I looked at this thing and I sent it to Charlie Loughton, my friend and mentor, actually. I said, 'What do you make of this?’ He was pretty wise and he said, ‘I don’t get it, Al. I dunno. I don’t get it.'
"I said, ‘Well, I don’t either; what are we going to do? They offered me a fortune, but I don’t know. No, I can’t play something if I don’t speak the language.'"
Of course, Pacino's rejection opened up the door for Ford to take on the role that would properly launch him as a movie star, with the former joking that he was "in the mood to make Harrison Ford a career."
7. Amanda Seyfried – Glinda in Wicked
Ariana Grande's performance as Glinda in both Wicked films went down very well with fans of the musical – and even earned her an Oscar nomination for Part One – but the role very nearly went to another major star in Amanda Seyfried.
The Mamma Mia and Testament of Ann Lee star revealed how she auditioned as many as six times for the role, and spoke to Radio Times earlier this year about how she felt about missing out.
"I wasn’t sad I didn’t get it," she said. "But I guess I wish it had been communicated to me in a better way. I don’t like to be in the dark about things. I like to feel appreciated."
Interestingly, Seyfried's breakout role in Mean Girls also came about partly because she'd auditioned for a different role in the same film.
She had initially been up for the role of Regina George – which was eventually played by Rachel McAdams – and although she missed out on that part, she impressed the casting directors so much they offered her the role of Karen instead.
8. Emily Blunt – Black Widow in the MCU
Whenever the casting process gets underway for a new role in the MCU, there is never a shortage of stars put forward as suggestions by fans – just look at the excitement over the recent X-Men castings for one recent example.
There are therefore several alternate versions of the MCU out there, and one of those concerns the role of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. Before the part was taken by Scarlett Johansson for Iron Man 2, another big name was in the running and even offered the role: Emily Blunt.
Speaking on the Howard Stern show on SiriusXM in 2019 about why she turned it down, Blunt expressed some regret over the call – which was made due to the fact that she was already contracted to star in 2010 film Gulliver's Travel's
“It was a bit of a heartbreaker for me because I take such pride in the decisions that I make, and they mean so much to me, the films that I do, so that was tough,” she said.
"They [Fox] kind of have a bit of a hold over you. There were other movies that I would want to do.”
Interestingly, it's not the only MCU character Blunt has been linked to over the years, with Captain Marvel, Peggy Carter and Sue Storm reportedly all among the roles she has been considered for. Perhaps we'll still see her in the MCU one day!
9. Orson Welles – Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune
In the history of films that were in development but never ended up happening, few have ever been quite as wild as the planned adaptation of Dune by Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky in the 1970s.
The avant-garde director – known for works such as El Topo and The Holy Mountain – was attached to make a version of Frank Herbert's novel in 1975, but the budget spun completely out of control and the film, which reportedly had a script long enough to run an incredible 14 hours, was ultimately scrapped.
The planned casting for the film was pretty insane across the board, with legendary director and actor Orson Welles just the tip of the iceberg as villain Baron Harkonnen.
Other examples included Jodorowky's own son Brontis in the lead role of Paul Atreides, French acting legend Alain Delon as Duncan Idaho, Charlie Chaplin's daughter Geradline Chaplin as Lady Jessica and and The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha.
Perhaps the most out there of all, however, was the plan to cast the revered surrealist Slavador Dalí – in what would have been his first and only speaking acting role – as Shaddam IV, with Jodorosky even agreeing to the artist's demands to be paid $100,000 per hour (although he tailored the part so that he would only have to be on set for one hour).
The failed attempt to make the film would go on to be chronicled in the 2013 documentary Jodorowky's Dune, while the novel ended up being adapted twice: first by David Lynch, and more recently by Denis Villeneuve.
10. Britney Spears – Allie in The Notebook
While many pop stars have made the transition from music to movies over the years, Britney Spears never quite made that leap – despite a starring role in the 2002 teen comedy-drama Crossroads.
However, it could have been very different. While casting was ongoing for the now classic weepie The Notebook, Spears was one of many stars – alongside the likes of Kate Beckinsale, Kate Bosworth, Amy Adams, Mandy Moore, Scarlett Johansson and Claire Danes – who was under consideration for the role.
According to Britney's own memoir The Woman in Me, it ultimately came down to her and Rachel McAdams for the part, with the latter of eventually landing the role.
Fans curious about this version of the film that never happened can even see check out an audition tape that sees the Toxic singer running lines with star Ryan Gosling, which surfaced publicly in 2023.
After the video surfaced, casting director Matthew Barry wrote on social media that Britney had been "phenomenal" in her audition and that "it was a tough decision."
"Britney blew us all away. Our jaws were on the floor. I was blown away. Absolutely blown away. She brought her A-game that day," he said.
Interestingly, the role of Noah could have been different as well – with George Clooney having been attached to play him in early development before Gosling was ultimately cast.
11. John Travolta – Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump
After something of a slump, John Travolta enjoyed a major career comeback in 1994 with his key role as Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's modern classic Pulp Fiction – a role that earned him his second of two Academy Award nominations for best actor.
But 1994 could have been an even better year for him, given that at one point he looked set to play the role that eventually won Tom Hanks the Oscar that very same year.
Travolta had been the original choice for the title role only to turn it down, something he later said he looked back on as a "tremendous mistake."
Still, if he had accepted the role, then he'd likely have had to say no to Pulp Fiction – which just goes to show how difficult it can sometimes be for in demand actors to choose between roles.
Interestingly, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Matthew Broderick an Sean Penn were among the other actors who had been in the running to play Forrest before Hanks landed the role.
12. Amy Schumer – Barbie in Barbie
In the eyes of most film fans, Margot Robbie was the perfect choice to play the role of Barbie in Greta Gerwig's 2023 film – with many lamenting the fact that she didn't ultimately land an Oscar nod for her role in the critical and box office smash.
But at one point there was almost a version of the film with a different star: Amy Schumer. In 2016, Sony Pictures cast the comedian as the beloved doll, while she was also planning on rewriting the script from Hilary Winston.
However, less than a year elapsed before Schumer exited the project, telling Variety at the time that she was "no longer able to commit to Barbie due to scheduling conflicts" and that she was "bummed" at having to withdraw.
Later she corrected her initial comments to clarify that it was in fact "creative differences" that had brought about her departure, claiming during an interview on Watch What Happens Live that it didn’t "feel feminist and cool."
Eventually, the rights for the film passed from Sony to Warner Bros and the rest is history – with Barbie becoming a multiple Oscar nominee and one of the highest-grossing films of the decade.
13. The Rock – Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Finally, here's one that seems especially hard to imagine.
While Johnny Depp was reportedly the only actor under serious consideration for the role of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl children's novel, Dwayne Johnson was the somewhat unlikely back-up option.
Johnson wrote about this fact in an Instagram post back in 2020, recalling: "Back in the early 2000’s, iconic director, Tim Burton had considered me to play Willy Wonka is his remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
"I remember thinking “HOLY S**T, IM IN", he added before detailing how the role had gone to Depp and he doubted he'd have been able to pull it off at that stage of his career.
"The fact that Tim even considered me (albeit I’m sure he considered for all of 7 seconds:) sure meant a helluva lot to me as I was just breaking in to the business with no idea what the future had in store," he added.
Of course, at this point the star was still primarily known for his wrestling career, with relatively few acting credits his under his belt, so it would have been especially unusual casting!
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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