That Movie Was Supposed to Star Who? Directed by Who?

cascarrabias · Post by **cascarrabias** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 7:18 am

This is the thread where we list movies and the actors who were supposed to star in them. Same with directors.

I'll start.

Total Recall was at one point going to star Patrick Swayze and be directed by Bruce "Driving Mrs. Daisy" Beresford. Whoa.

Kalel · Post by **Kalel** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:57 am

I heard at one point Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) was signed on to direct the new Iron Man movie.

Tim Burton was set to direct Superman Returns.

ThaJim2 · Post by **ThaJim2** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 9:04 am

Eric Stoltz was Marty McFly for the first month of filming. Good choice on the ax here.

Superman has almost too many to mention. For Directors there was as mentioned Tim Burton, then you have McG, Brett Ratner, Micheal Bay, that Alias Guy i think and maybe one or two more. The writer of the script has been Keven Smith, Alias Guy, I think Tim Burton but it might have been one of his goto writers. Superman was to have been played by Nick Cage some of the others that were mentioned where Joe Millioner.

HopeLess · Post by **HopeLess** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 10:03 am

I think Beverly Hills Cop was originally written for Sly Stallone.

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 12:35 pm

Stanley Kubrick was supposed to direct a Napoleon biopic starring Jack Nicholson as Napoleon (very weird).
He spent years researching Napoleon and read hundreds of books but eventually scrapped the project.
He was obviously still interested in the time period so he made Barry Lyndon, and obviously still wanted to make something with Jack so he used him for The Shining

dont know if that counts but it's the only thing I can think of at the moment

Sankofa · Post by **Sankofa** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:35 pm

Cage got paid 20 million to not play superman.

StormShadow · Post by **StormShadow** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 1:47 pm

Kurosawa was supposed to do the Japanese half of Tora Tora Tora.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 3:57 pm

StormShadow wrote:Kurosawa was supposed to do the Japanese half of Tora Tora Tora.

Great movie but makes me wonder what it would have been if he had directed that 1/2

StormShadow · Post by **StormShadow** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:01 pm

Prophecy wrote:
StormShadow wrote:Kurosawa was supposed to do the Japanese half of Tora Tora Tora.
Great movie but makes me wonder what it would have been if he had directed that 1/2

Not only that, but as I recall it was supposed to be David Lean instead of Richard Lester. But Kurosawa was actually full on working on the movie before he got axed.

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 4:19 pm

StormShadow wrote:
Prophecy wrote:
StormShadow wrote:Kurosawa was supposed to do the Japanese half of Tora Tora Tora.
Great movie but makes me wonder what it would have been if he had directed that 1/2
Not only that, but as I recall it was supposed to be David Lean instead of Richard Lester. But Kurosawa was actually full on working on the movie before he got axed.

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 6:33 pm

I think we all know the Kubrick/Spielberg fiasco that is AI...

Kurt Russell was almost Han Solo...I know alot more but for some reason I'm drawing a blank...

I"ll be back.

Noah · Post by **Noah** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 7:44 pm

Christopher Walken was George Lucas' second choice for Han Solo

Prophecy · Post by **Prophecy** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 7:48 pm

Noah wrote:Christopher Walken was George Lucas' second choice for Han Solo

post more

Epitome · Post by **Epitome** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 12:51 am

From what I heard, Lucas n company were heavily considering Nick Nolte for the part of Han Solo, which would have been AWESOME!

Han Solo(scraggly hung over Nolte voice) What the... Christ Chewbacca Aw Hell!...Did ya throw out the...where the remote Aw Hell!

Tom Selleck was the first choice to be Indiana Jones.

Shup Diddy · Post by **Shup Diddy** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 9:42 am

had to resurrect this, Will Smith turned down the role of Neo

the brow · Post by **the brow** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:26 am

Will Ferrell was going to play Ignatius Reilly in a screen adaptation of Confederacy of Dunces, costarring Mos Def as Burma Jones, Paul Rudd as Angelo Mancuso, screenplay by Steven Soderbergh. There's more that I can't remember.

Ferrell is a good choice for the role, but I'm glad this didn't materialize.

Lester Maddox · Post by **Lester Maddox** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:09 am

the brow wrote:Will Ferrell was going to play Ignatius Reilly in a screen adaptation of Confederacy of Dunces, costarring Mos Def as Burma Jones, Paul Rudd as Angelo Mancuso, screenplay by Steven Soderbergh. There's more that I can't remember.

Ferrell is a good choice for the role, but I'm glad this didn't materialize.

John Belushi, John Candy and Chris Farley were all attached to the Ignatius role at different times too.

the brow · Post by **the brow** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:30 am

^ Phillip Seymour Hoffman too.

T-Wrex · Post by **T-Wrex** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:44 pm

chevy chase turned down playing Forrest Gump.
dave chapelle turned down the part of Bubba Shrimp.

both didn't think a movie about a retard would be any good.

eris · Post by **eris** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:02 pm

Trademark wrote:I think we all know the Kubrick/Spielberg fiasco that is AI...

I think I'm the only person who loves that movie.

StormShadow · Post by **StormShadow** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 6:09 pm

the brow wrote:Will Ferrell was going to play Ignatius Reilly in a screen adaptation of Confederacy of Dunces, costarring Mos Def as Burma Jones, Paul Rudd as Angelo Mancuso, screenplay by Steven Soderbergh. There's more that I can't remember.

Ferrell is a good choice for the role, but I'm glad this didn't materialize.

I believe David Gordon Greene was attached to direct, and the project was fairly far along (though they never got to the point of shooting or anything like that).

frank b · Post by **frank b** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:15 pm

T-Wrex wrote:chevy chase turned down playing Forrest Gump.
dave chapelle turned down the part of Bubba Shrimp.

both didn't think a movie about a retard would be any good.

They were right.

TeenageMoustache · Post by **TeenageMoustache** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 2:21 am

Jack Nicholson was slated to play the part of Fitzcarraldo in...Fitzcarraldo , but couldn't make the commitment for all that time in the jungle, so it went to Klaus Kinski instead.

StormShadow · Post by **StormShadow** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:48 am

TeenageMoustache wrote:Jack Nicholson was slated to play the part of Fitzcarraldo in...Fitzcarraldo , but couldn't make the commitment for all that time in the jungle, so it went to Klaus Kinski instead.

No, not true. It was Jason Robards and Mick Jagger. There's footage of them on the Fitz dvd.

TeenageMoustache · Post by **TeenageMoustache** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 11:49 am

StormShadow wrote:
TeenageMoustache wrote:Jack Nicholson was slated to play the part of Fitzcarraldo in...Fitzcarraldo , but couldn't make the commitment for all that time in the jungle, so it went to Klaus Kinski instead.
No, not true. It was Jason Robards and Mick Jagger. There's footage of them on the Fitz dvd.

Listen to the Director's Commentary, Herzog says it himself.

StormShadow · Post by **StormShadow** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:38 pm

TeenageMoustache wrote:
StormShadow wrote:
TeenageMoustache wrote:Jack Nicholson was slated to play the part of Fitzcarraldo in...Fitzcarraldo , but couldn't make the commitment for all that time in the jungle, so it went to Klaus Kinski instead.
No, not true. It was Jason Robards and Mick Jagger. There's footage of them on the Fitz dvd.
Listen to the Director's Commentary, Herzog says it himself.

I'll take your word for it, I've only listened to the commentaries on Woyzeck and Even Dwarves Started Small. Sorry for riding in on my high horse.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:41 pm

Lester Maddox wrote:
the brow wrote:Will Ferrell was going to play Ignatius Reilly in a screen adaptation of Confederacy of Dunces, costarring Mos Def as Burma Jones, Paul Rudd as Angelo Mancuso, screenplay by Steven Soderbergh. There's more that I can't remember.

Ferrell is a good choice for the role, but I'm glad this didn't materialize.
John Belushi, John Candy and Chris Farley were all attached to the Ignatius role at different times too.

Ferrell would be pretty bad for this, he's not even fat. Generally, there's not a fat comedian alive who could do it right, they need Paul Giammatti for this or something. Mos def and rudd are both killer choices though

zpt4 · Post by **zpt4** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 4:52 pm

Sonic Astonishment wrote:had to resurrect this, Will Smith turned down the role of Neo

thank god

the brow · Post by **the brow** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:02 pm

drizzle wrote:
Lester Maddox wrote:
the brow wrote:Will Ferrell was going to play Ignatius Reilly in a screen adaptation of Confederacy of Dunces, costarring Mos Def as Burma Jones, Paul Rudd as Angelo Mancuso, screenplay by Steven Soderbergh. There's more that I can't remember.

Ferrell is a good choice for the role, but I'm glad this didn't materialize.
John Belushi, John Candy and Chris Farley were all attached to the Ignatius role at different times too.
Ferrell would be pretty bad for this, he's not even fat. Generally, there's not a fat comedian alive who could do it right, they need Paul Giammatti for this or something. Mos def and rudd are both killer choices though

But, Ferrell is the best choice of all those mentioned, however imperfect. His weight is the only thing holding him back, as he would nail the delivery and general disposition of the character.

Belushi and Farley couldn't pull off the role, they only fit because of their weight. Candy probably could've pulled it off, but I have my doubts.

Agreed that no one is perfect for the role though.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 5:38 pm

candy would've probably rocked it actually, good point, cause he carried himself with dignity