21 Actors Who Turned Down Major Roles Because They Found Them Intimidating, Offensive, Or Straight Up Inappropriate

Get this, Sandra Bullock could have been Neo!

Liezel

• Published in Film & TV
• April 30, 2022

In the Hollywood industry, getting offered a part is the call that a lot of actors and actresses are always waiting for. They stay up day and night after auditions waiting and hoping for that call that they're getting the part that they want.

It's not an easy process though. Aside from having to hone their skills constantly, they also often have to compete with hundreds if not thousands of people for just one role.

See, there are a lot of people out there who also want to break into the spotlight and get their moment. Sadly, not everyone does.

The more famous you get though and the more you climb the ranks, you'll find that offers will be coming to you instead of the other way around. At least, that's what we know of the life of some of the top A-listers out there.

But, of course, just because a role is offered to them doesn't mean that any celeb out there would just take it. There are plenty of considerations to be made like their schedules, their capabilities, and, of course, how their role stands with them.

Sometimes, a celeb finds that they might not do justice to the role because they find it too intimidating. Other times though, a celeb might find a role offensive or inappropriate.

Here are 21 actors and actresses who turned down major roles for their very own reasons.

1. Lily Allen for the role of Yara on Game of Thrones

Alfie Allen played Theon Greyjoy, the brother of Yara on Game of Thrones and his real-life sister Lily was actually offered the role of Yara, however, she turned it down because of the simulated sex acts that she'd have to do with her actual brother.

2. Javier Bardem said no to the role of Danny in Minority Report

"At the time, it was difficult for me to jump into a foreign-language performance,” Bardem said about rejecting the role which ended up with Colin Farrell. He had appeared in English language films before but he didn't truly feel comfortable with English until he did The Dancer Upstairs.

3. Zendaya dropped out of playing Aaliyah in the biopic Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B

On Instagram, the star revealed that she dropped out of the film because "the production value wasn’t there.” She also mentioned that she tried to reach out to Aaliyah's family to get their blessing but ultimately couldn't reach them so she just decided to drop out.

The role went on to actor Alexandra Shipp without the approval of Aaliyah's family.

4. Gillian Anderson turned down the role of Cora Crawley in Downton Abbey

"If I am going to be spending that amount of time working on something I would rather be working with a director like Martin Scorsese," Anderson said throwing a bit of subtle shade towards the series. She also reportedly turned down a part in Game of Thrones for that same reason.

5. Will Smith passed on the role of Django in Django Unchained

Smith loved the story but he just couldn't see eye to eye with director Quentin Tarantino regarding the film's creative direction.

“I wanted to make that movie so badly, but I felt the only way was, it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story,” Smith said. "I just couldn’t connect to violence being the answer. Love had to be the answer,” Smith explained.

6. Smith also turned down the role of Neo

Coming off the success of a number of hit films, Smith preferred to take on what he thought would be a commercial hit, Wild Wild West, instead of The Matrix. He also said he didn't want to be known as the "Alien movie guy."

Unfortunately, turning down the role became a huge regret to him.

7. Sandra Bullock also turned down Neo

Before settling on Keanu Reeves, the production team was having trouble finding their Neo and they were also considering changing the role to that of a woman. They then sent the script with that information to Bullock.

Unfortunately at that time, the actress wasn't interested in the role so they didn't change the script and it went to Reeves.

8. Liam Neeson passed on becoming James Bond

The actor actually rejected the role because his wife said she wouldn't marry him if he did although there's no word why.

9. Claire Danes passed up the opportunity to be Rose in Titanic

The reason behind her decision is that she didn't want to film another romance with Leonardo DiCaprio. She said she just "didn't have it in her" after filming Romeo + Juliet.

10. Zac Efron turned down the role of Ren in Footloose

“I’m sure Footloose would have been a huge challenge, but the actors that I love and the actors that work really hard in this industry are always shaking things up, trying new genres, acquiring new skill sets,” Efron said of his decision.

He didn't get back into musicals until The Greatest Showman which was a deliberate choice as it seems to divert his career from his High School Musical days.

11. Laurance Fishburne took a pass on the role of Jules in Pulp Fiction

For this one, it wasn't about the character but rather the film's overall messaging.  “I felt like it made heroin use attractive," Fishburne said. "For me, it’s not just my character. It’s, ‘What is the whole thing saying?’"

He thought that the use of heroine felt cavalier in the film he especially had an issue with the adrenaline shot scene.

12. He also skipped on the role of Radio Raheem in Do The Right Thing

"There are ways in which [Lee] takes creative license with Do the Right Thing that just didn’t feel right to me," Fishburne told Vulture about his rejection of the role. He also had an issue with the film's ending and called it "a little disingenuous."

He did say that he understood why people love it but it just wasn't for him.

13. Kevin Hart turned down the role of Alpa Chino in Tropic Thunder

When Hart read the draft, he felt that the character who was gay was doing flagrant things that he wasn't comfortable with. He said that he would never play a gay character because he thinks his insecurities will keep him from diving into the role.

While he said that he had nothing against LGBTQ people, he has been accused of anti-gay comments in the past.

14. Leonardo DiCaprio passed on the role of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho

It hasn't been officially confirmed but one of the writers on the film said that she suspected Leo dropped out because of Gloria Steinem.

"My friend, who had just spoken to Gloria Steinem, said that Gloria Steinem took Leonard DiCaprio to a Yankees game, I believe, and said, 'Please don't do this movie. Coming off of Titanic, there is an entire planet full of 13-year-old girls waiting to see what you do next, and this is going to be a movie that has horrible violence toward women.' Soon after that, Leo dropped out, so who knows what really happened?"

15. DiCaprio also turned down huge roles in huge franchises like Anakin in Star Wars, Peter in Spider-Man, and Robin in Batman Forever

DiCaprio attended meetings for all those films but he really didn't want to take on any of them saying he wasn't ready for that dive. When asked if he'd ever play a superhero, DiCaprio said "you never know" and that superheroes are becoming more complex characters suggesting that maybe he turned down the roles because he felt they weren't complex.

16. Heather Graham turned down the role of Heather Chandler in Heathers

It wasn't actually Chandler who turned down the role herself but her parents. "She was 16 or 17. I even talked to Heather’s mother at great length to convince her we weren’t tools of Satan, and she would have nothing of it. I really tried. I mean, I begged her. Heather’s reading was just great," director Michael Lehmann said.

17. Tiffany Haddish passed upon a role in Top Five

Haddish passed up on the role because it required her to be topless and to engage in a simulated sex act that involved "baby batter" going on the character's face.

"I don’t want that role. I’m a stand-up comedian and I don’t let people do that in my face in real life, so why would I do it in this movie?" Tiffany told her agents, which she recounted to the Hollywood Reporter. "Like, you ought to have a little bit of respect for me, period. God made this face for a reason, and you’re not going to disrespect it."

18. Thandie Newton turned down the role of Alex in Charlie's Angels

Thandie ended up dropping out of the film after the director allegedly excitedly described how the first shot of her butt would be. The head of the studio also suggested that her character wouldn't be believable as Black because she was so educated.

The role then ended up going to Lucy Liu.

19. Madonna passed on the role of Nomi in Showgirls

Aside from Madonna, the main role was actually also offered to other A-listers like Sharon Stone and Drew Barrymore. Madonna was actually interested but only if major changes were made to the NC-17 film.

The filmmakers didn't want to make those changes so she passed and the role went to Elizabeth Berkley. The film also ended up as a flop but also a cult classic.

20. Drew Barrymore turned down the role of Sidney in Scream

Barrymore could have had the lead role in the film but instead, she took on the part of Casey, the girl who was murdered first in the beginning. She did this because she was sick of the horror movie cliche of the final girl that's going to survive the whole film.

"What I wanted to do is to take that comfort zone away. ... I asked if I could be Casey Becker, so we would establish this rule does not apply in this film," the actress said.

21. Henry Golding originally turned down the role of Nick in Crazy Rich Asians

Golding originally didn't want to take up the role because back then, he was working as a presenter and had never actually acted before.

"When the offer came, they were like, 'Oh, do you want to audition for this role? It’s going to be a big movie.' I was like, 'Oh, I've heard of it. It's going to be fantastic, but it's for someone else, someone else who is going to bring the A-game, who's a legitimate actor, who the studio's going to gamble on' because it's such a big deal," Golding said.

However, he was convinced he would be a good fit and the rest is history.

We could say that some of these decisions were well-made ones and, of course, there are a couple of misses too. Some roles just fit other actors better than those who were initially chosen.

And while we could definitely imagine those original picks in those roles, it's safe to say they've found success in other roles elsewhere. Hopefully, those who regretted it aren't regretting it too much though.

Liezel