Even Famous Actors Make Mistakes When Choosing A Part- Here Are Seven Iconic Roles Brad Pitt Missed

He could've been Neo and Jason Bourne...

Damjan

• Published in Film & TV
• April 4, 2022

Your favorite films could've turned out entirely different if the main actors had made other choices. Generally speaking, the performers who end up in movies are not the first choices for roles.

This means that legendary films could have turned out very differently if a different casting had been found. How dissimilar are they?

Let's just say that imagining this parallel silver screen scenario is difficult. The movies were great, even though the casting was different from what was initially planned.

We can't picture anyone else playing Forrest Gump or Elle Brooks in Legally Blonde other than Tom Hanks. Brad Pitt also has several roles he turned down, and the movies became massive hits.

He turned down some of them because he was too busy or thought he would make a better contribution as a producer. Here is the list of seven iconical roles Brad Pit missed.

You will also find out if he regrets some of his choices. We know you are going to enjoy it.

And that you won't be able to stop imagining these movies with Brad Pitt in them. So, let's take a look at these roles Brad Pitt would surely be awesome in, but we will never find out:

1. American Psycho

While Christian Bale eventually landed the role of Patrick Batemen, delivering one of his most famous performances, an early version of the film starring Brad Pitt and directed by David Cronenberg was canceled due to creative differences.

"Yes, in the early Nineties with a young actor attached named Brad Pitt. David was lovely—is lovely, I still like David—but he had strange demands. He hated shooting restaurant scenes, and he hated shooting nightclub scenes," writer Bret Easton Ellis revealed.

"And he didn't want to shoot the violence. I ignored everything he said. So of course he was disappointed with it and he hired his own writer; that script was worse for him and he dropped out."

2. The Departed

Pitt had previously purchased the rights to recreate the Hong Kong smash Internal Affairs, which became The Departed, and was set to play Sullivan in the film. When Pitt backed out, claiming that a younger actor should play the part—"I believed I was too old for it," he told Interview—Matt Damon stepped in again, with Pitt retaining a producer on the picture.

3. The Matrix

Pitt was on the verge of becoming the One. "I skipped 'The Matrix,'" the superstar revealed in January at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. "I swallowed the red tablet. That's the only one I'm going to mention... I wasn't given two or three options. Just to be clear, only the first one."

Keanu Reeves went on to play Neo. The producer Lorenzeo di Bonaventura previously said that Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Sandra Bullock were also considered with Pitt.

4. Almost Famous

While it's difficult to envision anybody other than Billy Crudup playing Russell Hammond in Cameron Crowe's 2000 film Almost Famous, Pitt was originally cast in the role. Pitt worked with Crowe for months before quitting the film, according to the writer and director, who wrote the character with the star in mind.

This allowed Crudup to have his breakout performance.

"His head was still in Fight Club and the part was a little underwritten. It was the most underwritten in the script, and he couldn't trust it enough," Crowe told AL.com in 2014. "I've talked to him since.

I love the guy. I think he's hilarious, and I thought he would have been funny in the movie. If I had waited a few more months, he might have come around to it, but we had to get going. But Billy Crudup worked out great."

5. Heathers

While Pitt never officially auditioned for the position, there is a tape of him reading the legendary character of J.D. at a table-read of Heathers prior of its 1988 release, which ultimately went to Christian Slater.

"We just gathered actors that we knew and friends that we had to read the roles. And an actress named Stacey Travis—who was a friend of ours—was in an acting class and we didn't have anybody to read the part of J.D," director Michael Lehmann explained.

"So we asked Stacey and she brought this young kid from her class. A good-looking kid, he cold-read part of J.D. in the table-read, and years later I found out if was Brad Pitt."

6. The Bourne Identity

After collaborating on Ocean's 11, Matt Damon landed the starring role of spy Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity after Brad Pitt was unavailable due to his commitment to Spy Game. Damon received the opportunity after he supposedly passed, resulting in a big film franchise that has generated over $1.6 billion globally.

7. The Shawshank Redemption

Despite the fact that it is largely regarded as one of the best films of all time, Pitt dropped out, with Gil Bellows eventually taking over the small but essential role of prisoner Tommy.

Director Frank Darabont says. "These are the casting adventures. But it would be really fun to bump into Brad Pitt and say, 'Weren't you that guy?' I'd love to give him a little (grief) about that just for fun."

He chose to star in Interview With the Vampire over Shawshank after just securing his breakout role in Thelma & Louise. He also stated to the publication that he had no regrets.

"It would have been kind of cool to be in, but I'm not a regret guy in that way," he explained. "I just believe in the way things work out, and that was someone else's role. Even the feeling of, 'Ooh, that would've been nice' would redirect a choice later down the road. So it all works in tandem in that way."

When you are an established and famous actor, you can afford to miss a good part or two. But when you are a young and aspiring person trying to make their name in showbusiness, your choice can make or break you.

That’s what makes choosing so difficult. Now, it’s obvious that Brad Pitt made some excellent choices in his career.

So, we will forgive him for these tiny mistakes.

Damjan