What Could Have Been

There are certain iconic characters from movies that everyone knows.  Harrison Ford IS Han Solo and basically created one of the best movie lines of all time when he ad-libbed “I know” as a response to Leah’s “I love you”.  Arnold Schwarzenegger IS the Terminator (heck he even became the Governator).  Bruce Willis IS John McLean from Die Hard “Yippi-Ki-yay M*ther F*cker”.   However, things could have been so much different if the decisions made in the casting process (either by the film or by the actors) were slightly different.

• “I’ll Be Back” which was said in that distinct Schwarzenegger accent could just have easily been said in a more gravelly voice and without the accent by Lance Henriksen (from Millennium fame) who was the first choice for the role of the Terminator.
• People have come to see Daniel Radcliff as the quintessential Harry Potter.  However, if the film has gone as Steven Spielberg planned, the kid from AI and the 6^th sense (Haley Joel Osmet) would have been Harry Potter.   Can you imagine the scene when Harry first sees’s nearly headless nick being rewritten for this American born actor?  It would have gone something like this:  Harry enters the room; see’s the Ghost of Nearly Headless Nick and says “I see Dead People”.  That would become Osmet’s “I’ll be back” line.  As a side note, Tim Roth turned down the role of Severus Snape to play General Thade in Planet of the Apes with Marky Mark.  Nice decision Tim.
• Even the great Sean Connery has made several questionable decisions.
• He was offered the role Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and turned it down because he didn’t get it.  New Line was offering Connery 15% of the worldwide box office, which would have made Mr. Connery around US$400 million.
• He also turned down a role of “The Architect” in the Matrix.
• He accepted the role of Allan Quatermain in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because “Although I didn’t get it, I saw the success of the other roles I didn’t get and figured it must be good” (Paraphrasing here a bit).
• I can’t be too hard on Connery though, he got the role of James Bond only after Carey Grant turned it down.
• Paul Hogan turned down the Patrick Swayze role in Ghost.  I could just see the dialogue from the Crocodile Dundee actor now…”You call that a Ghost? NOW This is a Ghost”
• Speaking of Ghost, Bruce Willis turned down the role of Sam Wheat in Ghost as well because he didn’t think the plot would work and that playing a ghost would be detrimental to his career.  Uh, yeah, years later the 6^th Sense would ruin him.  Interestingly enough, the role of John McLean was at one point targeted for Richard Gere.  I guess if John McLean was saving Beverly Hills Prostitutes from that building it would make more sense.
• Eddie Murphy turned down a role in Ghost Busters, yet ironically would end up doing Haunted Mansion
• Can you imagine...

• Kurt Russell Christopher Walken, Richard Dryfus, Nick Nolte or Burt Reynolds as Han Solo
• Stephen Baldwin in Speed
• Dustin Hoffman as Michael Corleon in Godfather
• Ewan McGregor or Will Smith as NEO in the Matrix
• Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones (Actually I could)
• Ryan O’Neil or Burt Reynolds for Rocky

I guess you never know how it would work out and if it was different, would we be saying something like “OMG could you imagine that guy from Regarding Henry playing Han Solo!”