9. The producers of the James Bond films originally approached Cary Grant about playing the 007 agent. Grant declined the role as he didn't want to be tied to a film series. Of course the role went to Sir Sean Connery contrary to the desires of Ian Fleming who initially stated that, “He’s not exactly what I had in mind.” We beg to differ.
8. Clint Eastwood passed on Clark Kent in Superman, claiming he was too busy. Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando were cast in the first movie and somewhat lesser known actor, Christopher Reeve, secured the leading role. Reeve went on to star in four Superman movies helping to bring in almost 900 million USD in gross revenues.
7. Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark was originally offered to Tom Selleck who accepted and was cast. However he subsequently had to turn down the role as there was a contractual conflict with the filming of Magnum PI. That left Harrsion Ford, who had already filmed two Star Wars movies, free to take up the whip.
6. Mel Gibson turned down the lading role of Maximus in The Gladiator, telling the director, Ridley Scott that he thought he was “too old” for the part. At that time he was 43-years-old. Russell Crowe who accepted the role was just 35. Perhaps Mel was right.
5. Heath Ledger turned down the role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man because he felt “he would be taking someone else’s dream away”. Tobey Maguire grabbed the chance with two hands and eight legs. Ironically Ledger’s last role would be another comic adaptation in which he played the Joker in the Batman movie, The Dark Knight.
4. Al Pacino famously turned down the role of Han Solo in Star Wars. At the time Pacino was an established superstar and he didn’t like the idea of playing in a space movie. Harrison Ford did, although he had to wait for Nick Nolte, Christopher Walken and Burt Reynolds to all fall out of the running.
3. Mickey Rourke turned down the role of Butch in Pulp Fiction; it ultimately went to Bruce Willis. But Rourke's acting career eventually became overshadowed by his personal life and seemingly eccentric career decisions such as turning down such classics as Platoon, Rain Man, Top Gun, and The Silence of the Lambs.
2. Following on from the 1994 hit-film Pulp Fiction, John Travolta turned down Forrest Gump. It went on to win 13 Oscars including the best leading actor award. But it wasn’t his first miss as he had previously turned down An Officer and A Gentleman. Nowadays, Travolta often jokes that he gave Tom Hanks and Richard Gere their careers.
1. Sir Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf from J.R.R.Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy due to its 18-month filming schedule. Incredibly, Connery had been offered 15 per cent of the box office receipts, which would have amassed to a very handsome personal income in the region of 250 million USD.
