10 Stars Who Turned Down Legendary Movie Roles

    Jim Carrey – Gaylord “Greg” Focker in ‘Meet the Parents’ Jim-Carrey-Success:  ”The Mask” admitted having turned down the role of Greg Focker in “Meet the Parents”. Carrey claimed the Fockers were his idea which he came up with in a creative meeting. However, he said that Ben Stiller was perfect for the role.

    Kevin Costner - Andy Dufresne in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ :  During most of the 80s and early 90s, Kevin Costner was one of the greatest movie stars  on earth. Unfortunately, Costner’s career suffered when he turned down the legendary part of Andy Dufresne in ‘The Shawshank Redemption in order to follow his catastrophic project of ‘Waterworld’ (which is one of the weakest in film history).

    Tom Hanks- ‘Jerry Maguire’ - When offered the title role in the Academy Award nominated movie by Cameron Crowe, Tom Hanks was busy directing his film ‘That Thing You Do’ so he turned it down.
    Luckily for ‘Jerry Maguire’ , Tom Cruise was not only nominated for an Oscar but took home a Golden Globe for his role. Hanks said that nobody but Tom Cruise was right for the part.

    Michelle Pfeiffer - Clarice Starling in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ -  Pfeiffer, one of the prettiest actresses in Hollywood in 1991, was first offered the part of Clarice but had issues with the violence in the script. It all worked out well for Jodie Foster, though – despite not being director Jonathan Demme’s first choice, she managed to portray her character impeccably in this amazing movie which received the five major Academy Awards.

     Sean Connery – ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Matrix’ - Sir Sean Connery has had decades of hit movies but could have added two major blockbuster franchises in the autumn of his career. The legendary 007  was offered both the role of Gandalf in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and the one of Morpheus in ‘The Matrix’ . After turning down the roles, Sir Sean Connery has expressed his regret for doing so.

    Emily Blunt - Black Widow in ‘Iron Man 2′ – The young British actress from ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ lost the part of the Black Widow in ‘Iron Man 2′ to  Scarlett Johansson, due to a scheduling conflict with ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ which later turned out to be a box office bomb.

    Brad Pitt - Russell Hammond in ‘Almost Famous’ – Although his career didn’t suffer much in the long run, Brad did miss out on portraying the charismatic Stillwater guitarist Russel Hammond when he dropped out of the ‘Almost Famous’ cast six weeks before shooting. Billy Crudup got the part and turned Russel into an on-screen gem.

   Denzel Washington - David Mills in ‘Se7en’ -  he was initially offered the role of  detective David Mills but declined since he found the subject matter too dark. Thanks to him, David Fincher and Brad Pitt have turned into an A-List duo and teamed up for ‘Fight Club’ and ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’.

    Johnny Depp – Ferris Bueller – Although it is a bit hard to imagine, Johny Depp was the original pick for the lead in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’. Fortunately for Matthew Broderick, Depp declined which let Broderick land one of his career-defining roles.

    Will Smith - Neo in ‘The Matrix’ –  Having starred in a few of the biggest moneymaking blockbusters in movie history such as  ’Independence Day’ and ‘Men in Black’ franchise, Will had turned down an opportunity to take part in another legendary franchise.
    He was the first pick for Neo but declined the offer in order to make the notoriously failed ‘Wild, Wild West’ with Kevin Kline. The ‘Matrix’ amazing success hasn’t seemed to bother Smith at all. He said that having watched Keanu’s performance, he thought to himself he would have messed up.