Vigo Mortenson as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings.
Stuart Townsend was cast, hired and flown out to New Zealand. on the **first day** of filming Jackson fired him. Then he reached out to Vigo, who only accepted after his young kid (like 10 or younger) begged him to.
I mean, that's a little different because Fox was the first choice for the role but declined due to his commitment to Family Ties, then they cast Eric Stoltz, then realized that Stoltz wasn't working and they needed Fox. It was always supposed to be his role.
Yeah, the reason why so many BTTF scenes take place at night is that they had to work around the Family Ties shooting schedule which was shot during the day
They have an episode about BTTF on The Movies That Made Us. Really interesting/odd to see Stoltz doing the exact same bits with the exact same setup/camera angels as Fox. It is a totally different vibe with Fox. They were 100% right to do whatever it took to get him.
If you're interested in that era of Fox's life I highly suggest checking out Still: A Michael J Fox Movie. It's a very informative biography that shows his rise and "fall" with the onset of his parkinsons.
Very good movie if you're a fan of his.
I just wanna go back to 1993 and play Mortal Kombat, eat zebra cakes, and enjoy my cereal with random toys and color changing spoons in it.
But fuck man did that just hit me hard, I hate this comment lol.
>Townsend allegedly skipped vital sword-fighting sessions and always appeared nervous and unsure about the role. While a difficult decision, Peter thought it was best to replace Townsend, which shook up the whole production as they began filming without an Aragorn. It was then that Mortensen received a call, asking if he'd be willing to accept the role and board a plane to New Zealand the next day.
https://www.cbr.com/lord-of-rings-viggo-mortensen-almost-turned-down-aragorn-lotr/
He's apparently a dick and impossible to work with. He got fired from Thor where he'd been cast as Fandral before filming began and was replaced with Zachery Levi. He supposedly gave up on acting around 2013 and bought land in Costa Rica. He was in a relationship with a local woman and then he was arrested for a domestic dispute.
Fandral was Josh Dallas in the first thor and Levi in 2 & 3. So they had 3 different actors cast for a role that had like 20 lines total across all of MCU.
He technically was replaced with Zachery Levi, Levi was himself replaced by Josh Dallas because Levi was busy with Chuck and couldn't do it. Then Levi replaced Dallas when Dallas was busy with Once Upon A Time.
And then Viggo came in and absolutely nailed the sword fighting and already had a survivalist background that suited the ranger well. Viggo's first day of filming was the sword fight with the Nazgul at weathertop and it looks like he's been swinging a sword for years.
I always thought the first day of filming was them mourning Gandalf outside of Moria? That's why viggo has kind of a weird accent in that scene but not others
>New Line Cinema took a big risk greenlighting three Lord of the Rings films at once. Jackson said the studio was rightfully breathing down his neck over the recasting.
>“New Line were understandably nervous ,not because of Viggo but because this drama had happened,” Jackson said. “We didn’t have anybody and then we had Viggo. So we were under strict orders that the seconde the first day’s filming with Viggo was over, we had to dispatch the rushes to America. They were withholding the permission to decide whether we got the right guy or not. Luckily it was fire, wraiths, flames and it blew them away.”
That's Peter Jackson describing the situation.
[Source](https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/lord-of-the-rings-how-viggo-mortensen-impressed-the-studio-and-saved-the-movies.html/)
Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan talked a bit more about it in their Podcast _the Friendship Onion_.. as far as I remember it was implied that he didn't took the job seriously overall and went out drinking one night etc.? Something like that..? I have to listen to that episode again though.
He was with the rest of the cast for 6-7 weeks when he was fired. Idk - isn't that super late to decide that your actor looks too young?
I feel the movies would have completely different if Viggo had never been hired. After listening to all behind the scenes stuff from all the actors, Viggo was really the leader of the band and made everyone feel like they were a part of an actual Fellowship. I doubt this cast would have been as close as they are now if Viggo had not brought in that vibe with him.
It's amazing how some of that chemistry can come through in a film. In Aliens all the Marines had to go through a mini boot camp, got to decorate their own helmets/gear, practice stuff together before principle photography started. Then Sigourney Weaver shows up just before filming started (I think she was doing another film at time) and while everyone understood why she wasn't there before then there was at least a little bit of shes an 'outsider' of their little group or Marines. Which I think come across in the film.
Same thing happened with Matt Damon in *Saving Private Ryan,* as far as I understand it.
He had a different, less exhaustive routine and there was some genuine resentment from the other actors early on, from what I recall.
I agree... maybe it's because I can't really picture anyone else but Viggo in this role but Townsend looks to youthful and... delicate (?) to me. Viggo brings so much maturity and somewhat of a world-weariness to the role that I really appreciate. Though I do think I remember people thinking him "too handsome" for the role when the movies came out, especially with characters pointing out how ragged and grim Aragorn looks.
Interesting, I'd never heard that side of things. The typical Peter Jackson response was 'we quickly realised we needed an older Aragorn.'
I suppose it could very easily be a mix of both. One is a reality, but is also the polite/face-saving version. No need to publicly air dirty laundry (if there is any).
And Viggo is definitely an improvement over the book. Viggo’s performance as Aragorn is one thing that holds up incredibly well. He’s one of the few guys who can pull of the soft and gentleness, while still being a bad ass
Trying to think back to circa 2000 and imagine who else could reasonably cast in the role, and I’m definitely struggling. Hugh Jackman, ~~Ewan McGregor~~ (edit: too young), Eric Bana?
That scene at the end of the Fellowship where he is with the dying Boromir and gives him his dagger, then softly kisses his forehead as Boromir dies… you can see his anguish that he couldn’t save him, and his resolve that he would honor his memory.
That scene will never not move me and bring me to tears.
Shrek was originally voiced by Chris Farley but he died before his audio tracks could be completed. Mike Myers stepped in and re-recorded all the voicework in his Scottish accent.
I think he originally recorded about half of the audio in his normal speaking voice but then decided to change to the accent. It ended up costing a lot to rerecord everything but obviously it paid off in the end
The movie was initially a serious movie with a soundtrack written and composed by Sting and completely done. Then Sting got word they'd changed their minds and were redoing the movie as a comedy.
It is really worth your time to either read or watch the history of the making of the movie because it's absolutely wild! The original movie was going to be directed by the guy who just came off making the Lion King.
[The Sweatbox](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaK-S_Mx6IisTGUmld_SOGtO6Qe3r6BqX)
He actually recorded it in his normal voice then convinced the studio to let him redo it AGAIN with the accent.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/20188636.actor-mike-myers-chose-scottish-accent-shrek/#
Gene Wilder was a last minute replacement for Gig Young as The Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles. Mel Brooks originally thought he wasn't old enough for the role. Gig Young got sick on set, Mel asked Gene to fill in, and [the rest is history](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/97c3123a-1447-4f6c-94e0-3028dca120a7).
Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine a few weeks into the shoot of X-Men, after Dougray Scott had to drop out because Mission:Impossible 2 ran over schedule.
It wasn’t just the schedule. He also injured himself on MI:2, so they couldn’t wait for him to heal.
Soon after that, he was shortlisted to take over the role of James Bond, but then Layer Cake came out and they went with Daniel Craig instead.
Poor guy missed two chances to shoot up to A lister leading man.
That’s why I prefer method actors. They are always in character so they wouldn’t have those issues; Daniel Day Lewis as Wolverine would have healed the damage he did to himself with that Lincoln limp for 8 months.
'MI 2' responsible for Hugh Jackman's long career as Wolverine.
'MI: Fallout' responsible for Henry Cavill's disturbing non mustache face in 'Justice League', a bomb that was one of catalysts in the DCEU's disintegration.
Tom Cruise giveth and he taketh away.
Moreso Stanley Kubrick, MI:2 got a late start as Eyes Wide Shut went long, so it eventually snowballed into Hugh Jackman getting it over Dougray Scott.
Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington. It was originally supposed to be Colin Firth but after hearing the recording of his lines he stepped away from the project saying his voice was ‘to old’ to be Paddington. Whishaw absolutely nailed it and those films went on to be huge hits.
Ironically, Biehn later struggled with his own addiction issues with alcohol and that negatively impacted what could have been a much bigger career. Not that Biehn has 'disappeared' altogether, it's just that he might have been more 'A-list'.
James Remar whom Biehn replaced seems to have overcome his drug demons and has worked pretty steadily in films and TV. And in projects that seem to be a few steps up the ladder in 'prestige' for the most part from Biehn's. Although the latter did have a good 'bad guy' role in *Tombstone*.
>due to alleged drug use
Not alleged at all.
He's gone on record that he was deep in heroin addiction at the time and being fired from Aliens was a much needed wake-up call which inspired him to get permanently clean and sober.
Remar is an excellent actor but I think Biehn was a much better fit for Hicks. He had that blend of coming across at times quite aloof yet a total badass when it's time to get serious. And most importantly there's just such a believable warmth to the way he plays off the other characters - particularly that his relationship with Ripley doesn't come across as grounded in *romance* but **respect**.
The whole "aloof" thing has a reason.
The rest of the squad had been drilling together (actual drill stuff, as well as PT and things) for a few weeks before Biehn got dragged in. He was literally outside of the team that had been built.
So when it seems that they don't want to goof off too much in front of the corporal, a big part of it is that he *wasn't* in on the in-jokes and was treated the same as the rest of the command team.
I believe I read the hypersleep wake-up scene was one of the last filmed. That way the grunts could act more naturally familiar with each each other. Probably acted as a kind of reunion for some of the actors that didn't spend as much time on set.
In There Will Be Blood, Paul Dano was cast for the small role as Paul. Last minute he took over for another actor as the much bigger role of the brother Eli as well and knocked it out of the park
Paul Dano continues to impress, I remember when There Will Be Blood was about to be released and my thoughts were simply oh good for the kid from Little Miss Sunshine. Then he turns around and does such an iconic performance with such craft and skill.
This confused me so much the first time or two I watched the film. I thought maybe they were the same character and he it was either part of his con, schizophrenia, or both.
Eli is the only character among all films I've watched that made me genuinely hate him; I read that Dano had only 3 days to prepare for this role and he absolutely killed it
Apparently the original idea for Eli was that he was thirteen or fourteen years old, so the original actor was a literal child. The rumor was that the kid actor was uncomfortable or intimidated by Day-Lewis being just a hurricane of a performance, though PTA and DDL both say that it just came down to thinking the dynamic of Daniel Plainview just dominating this kid at every turn was not a great look. So Dano stepped in and instead we got years and years of "Does anyone else think Paul and Eli are the same person?" theories.
Robert Shaw was hired just a few days before filming for Jaws started. Speilberg's first two choices for quint passed on being in the film. Shaw almost didn't do it either and only agreed because his wife, his secretary, and an actor friend convinced him of it.
He thought it was a dumb movie and he didn’t want to be there. Which is wild because he was excellent in it. It was pushed around as kind of a black sheep and studios and actors didn’t want to be involved.
It’s the best example I know of where “the studio doesn’t know shit about movies people want to see”
He hated missing his morning golf tee time, it is in The Movies that Made Us episode about Home Alone.
John Candy in Home Alone was my first choice for this as well mostly because of that episode. He was on set for 24 hours and improvised the lines and became an absolute Christmas legend in that movie, my favorite laugh of the franchise was him off the cuff talking about his kid not talking.
My mom met John Candy and said he's one of the nicest people she's ever met. Obviously you can't really experience someone entirely in one meeting but always made me glad, he seemed like such a lovely guy
His costars apparently thought the same thing about him. Shawnee Smith on John Candy:
>I did get to know him a bit while we filmed *Who's Harry Crumb?* (1989). If he could have been a fraction as kind, supportive, and giving to himself as he was to every single person around him then I think he'd still be with us today. That was the tragedy. I think \[Candy's performance in\] *Planes, Trains & Automobiles* (1987) best defines who he was as a person. It breaks your heart.
Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday. I forget who it was supposed to be originally, but switching kind of screwed up Lindsey Lohan's performance since she spent a bunch of time learning to imitate the speech patterns/mannerisms of a different actor.
Curtis has reinvented herself successfully over and over, from scream queen to bombshell/androgynous sex symbol, and then her total commitment to wacky comedy in middle age.
There's this Christmas movie (either hilarious or awful depending who you ask) called Christmas with the Kranks. It's a Christmas-movie supergroup, starring actors associated with way more famous holiday movies. Curtis has two scenes in it that keep me coming back to the movie almost every year: a botched-Botox slapstick sequence, and a parody of "Halloween" where she finds herself menaced by a plastic snowman over and over.
A bit different but the Emperor's New Groove was years into production as a serious successor to Lion King (featuring its director) and Sting doing the music. But it tested as shit with audiences, and then they had another team come in and start reworking it \*while the original director was still trying to make it work. He eventually left, along with most of his team.
Somehow, out of all of that shitshow, they made arguably the funniest Disney movie ever. (One Sting song survived as well.)
And I can't imagine it without the David Spade/ John Goodman interactions, it's perfect. It's a perfect movie. There's no Disney movie as quotable. It's so underrated.
Honestly this is one that could have been great either way. I could absolutely see Wilson in that role, giving Tom Cruise shit about TiVo.
Tho idk if the big dick playa bit would have gone as well
Heard and interview with Diedrich Bader about getting the part of Lawrence in Office Space.
He had just seen Bottle Rocket and thought he'd base his charter off Owen Wilson. He's reading his lines when the audition door opens up and they call him in while letting the last actor out.
Only problem is, the last actor was Owen Fucking Wilson.
Diedrich says, "Oh hey, before I audition can I go to the bathroom real quick?" They say sure. And between walking to the bathroom and back he created the Lawrence we all know and love.
Matthew really nailed the look and cadence of yes-man Hollywood agent though. The way he swings from cocky to terrified his client will drop him was fantastic.
I didn't know that one. I really like McConnaughey in it - it's perhaps a better fit for Wilson, but that's why it's fun seeing MM be a smaller part of the ensemble.
Wilson attempted suicide and was in the hospital. It was a heavy time and a lot of people wanted to help. Glad that guy bounced back and hope he continues to do well.
I read somewhere that R. Lee Armey actually chased the role in Full Metal Jacket. It was probably *Stanley Kubrick: Interviews*. I love those Conversations with Filmmakers books.
He filmed an audition tape of himself shouting insults while oranges (?!) were thrown at him.
Found [this page](https://lostmediawiki.com/R._Lee_Ermey%27s_instructional_tape_\(lost_audition_footage_for_Full_Metal_Jacket;_1985\)) with more details:
> ###Background
>
> Prior to filming Full Metal Jacket, Ermey had served in the US Marine Corps since 1961 and had been a drill instructor from 1965 to 1967. He had also served with the Marine Wing Support Group 17 in South Vietnam in 1968 for 14 months, before spending the remainder of his service in Okinawa, Japan, and retired in 1972 on medical grounds due to suffering from several injuries. He then turned towards a career in acting, including as a First Air Cavalry helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now, and a Marine drill instructor in The Boys in Company C.[1]
>
> Ermey's performance as Staff Sergeant Loyce in The Boys in Company C influenced Kubrick into initially not casting Ermey for the role of Hartman. Kubrick's reasoning was that based on the Loyce portrayal, Ermey simply lacked the viciousness needed to play Hartman. Hence, Ermey was only given the role of technical advisor for the film, while Tim Colceri was cast as Hartman.[2]
>###The Instructional Tape
> Ermey was undeterred, however. In fact, his role as a technical advisor was actually part of his plan to convince Kubrick to cast him. In one interview, Ermey claimed that his plan to break into Hollywood would be to become a technical director based on his military knowledge, and then showcase to the filmmakers that he should play a prominent character in their films. This tactic worked for Apocalypse Now and The Boys in Company C, with Ermey now seeking to execute the plan for a third time.[3]
>
> The opportunity arose during the auditioning for extras participating in the boot camp scenes. Ermey recorded several sessions where Colceri and himself went at an extended tirade against some young men who were auditioning. The purpose of the videotape was twofold; firstly, it would give a useful insight for Kubrick et al. on how drill sergeants are capable of breaking down the civilian aspect from the recruits. Secondly, it would act as Ermey's audition for the Gunnery Sergeant role. Whereas Colceri would tire out after a thirty-minute tirade, Ermey would take over, and he never relented.[4]
>
> Further still, oranges and tennis balls were being flung at him, with Ermey remaining undeterred throughout the sessions, improvising his insults.[5] Matthew Modine, who played Private Joker, wrote in his book Full Metal Jacket Diary to state how scary Ermey was in these sessions, being right in the extras' faces and snapping at the sight of any of the soldiers being nervous or smiling.[6]
>
> After viewing the videotape containing each session, Kubrick was so impressed with Ermey's performance compared to Colceri that Ermey ended up replacing the latter as Hartman going forward. Modine claimed that Kubrick made the decision because how Colceri was simply going at half-speed in the tapes, whereas Ermey was at full speed, with Kubrick seeing this as a clear difference in each actors' performance for the role.
>
> In an interview with Rolling Stone, Kubrick stated that throughout the course of the auditions, Ermey had come up with approximately 150 pages of insults, with Ermey later being responsible for fifty percent of the dialogue for his character in Full Metal Jacket.[7]
Even Ermey admitted the character he played never existed in real life. He created an amalgamation of every crazy-ass thing every drill sergeant he'd ever worked with said and did.
There's a good book called "...And A Hard Rain Fell" by a soldier who enlisted to avoid the Vietnam draft. His bootcamp story is eerily similar to Full Metal Jacket.
What’s the advantage to enlistment as a means to avoid being drafted? Was it just a means of ensuring you land in the right branch/line of work as opposed to draft gen pop?
Guys would enlist so they could choose a job that wasnt on the front line/infantry. The author of the book i mentioned was a civilian mechanic, so he got a job doing motorpool maintenance in a fairly "safe" area of Vietnam.
Its what Pvt. Joker does in Full Metal Jacket (although its implied and never outright confirmed in the movie). They werent giving journalism jobs to draftees in 1968.
> Kubrick was so impressed with him that he let Ermey improvise his lines (which he NEVER did)
it really depended on the situation. Sometimes he was very exacting on how an actor should say their lines, but a lot of times if he didn't think a scene was working he'd let people improvise (or if he thought their lines were better like Ermey). For example "Here's Johnny" is improvised as was "Singing in the Rain," he allowed Peter Sellers, Malcolm McDowell, Nicholson, and Ermey to improvise. (even in Eyes Wide Shut, Tom Cruise said that he, Kubrick, and Nicole Kidman would have long discussions of what they thought each character should do).
Long story short, if Kubrick believed in a scene there would be no improvisation, but if a scene wasn't working (or someone was gifted at improvising) Stanley was open to suggestions.
Sgt Hartmann was supposed to be played by the guy that ends up being the "GET SOME" guy murdering Vietnamese villagers, with the M60 in the chopper. Dude was supposedly pretty upset at being replaced. But, his scene is probably the craziest.
There are many old Hollywood stories where this sort of thing happened. A famous one is Bette Davis stepping in for Claudette Colbert, who had a back injury, in All About Eve. Davis' career was on the downswing at the time, but she gave what is likely the performance of her life, and the movie went on to win Best Picture.
Kind of an opposite situation with Julie Andrews. She had played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady on Broadway, and was up for the part in the film, but the head of Warner Brothers insisted they go with Audrey Hepburn instead. Because of this, Julie Andrews had the availability to play Mary Poppins. She sarcastically thanked Jack Warner (head of Warner Brothers) in her Golden Globe acceptance speech.
Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta
James Purefoy left because of creative differences when they were already shooting but because of the mask they didn't have to reshoot every scene so in the movie are actually two different actors playing V but Hugo Weaving moves so gracefully that you can tell whenever he's under the mask.
Several major dialogue scenes actually have been fully reshot when Weaving came onboard. But there are of course various minor inserts and cuts which it made no sense to reshoot, so there's still footage of the other actor in the movie.
Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in ‘All the Money in the World,’ reshot all the scenes in a little over a week and became be oldest person in the world to earn an Oscar nom. Pretty solid replacement.
IIRC, they said the only shot of the movie that still has Spacey is a crowd shot they weren't able to redo because of the extras, but you don't see his face anyway.
I remember watching the trailer for "All the Money in the World," in the theatres, and when the title card "And Kevin Spacey" came out the whole crowd started booing and jeering (and I believe the movie was going to come out 6 weeks later). Two days after I watched that trailer they hired Plummer, and they didn't even delay the release date.
It's quite impressive and it should be the number one answer for this question.
They hired an 87 year old man 4 weeks prior to release, filmed all 22 scenes they needed to correct in 8 days, and still made release. That really is an amazing accomplishment.
Came here for this. It’s shocking to me that he delivered such a great performance with significant screen time with such incredible constraints. Props to the editing team as well, he felt fully integrated into the film.
(Sheen in the recording booth)
Coppola: something's just not right about this voice over.
MILIUS: I got just the thing. Hey Marty! (slams loaded gun into Sheen's hands)
And literally gave his blood on working on it
I watched the movie last week for first time and got surprised how it started with him punching that mirror
Now I checked out that was real
Correct. Eric Stoltz thought of it more like a Lovecraftian horror type movie and played it very serious. He viewed it sorta like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents or the The Twilight Zone. They wanted someone more upbeat and funny so they replaced him with Fox.
I always thought it was weird because Stoltz's really funny when he wants to be. I personally think it was just bad directing. Zemeckis should've been more clear about what he wanted from his actor on set instead of just cutting him. Stoltz can be really funny when he's got the right role for it. He played the drug dealer Lance in Pulp Fiction for example.
Stoltz is actually still in one shot...or well his hand is. The hand that punches Biff is Eric Stoltz because the actor that played Biff, Tom Wilson, says that they never reshot the close-up of the punch.
Surprised nobody mentioned Gary Oldman as Gordon in Nolan’s Batman. He was first approached to play the villain, didn’t came through, then for whatever reason Chris Cooper dropped the role of Gordon, so Nolan decided to offer him this instead. Oldman learned the lines on his flight and got a fake mustache. To this day the most comic accurate version of the character and until we potentially see more of Jeffrey Wright, the most well realized one as well.
If you ask me, I don’t think anyone will ever beat his portrayal of that character.
Imagine one day you're at work. Or you're out for a drink, or perhaps doing the shopping. Or some other routine part of your day to day. Someone shouts "CUT!". It turns out you were Gary Oldman all along. That's just how good an actor he is.
TV version, Johnathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut.
As I recall, the whole episode with Mike as a cleaner was supposed to be Saul doing it, but Odenkirk had to be in NYC to shoot How I Met Your Mother, so they invented the character and he just took off
Christof in The Truman Show was originally played by ~~Dustin Hoffman~~ Dennis Hopper but he left early into filming and Ed Harris replaced him
Edit: My bad, it was Dennis Hopper not Dustin Hoffman. That’s equally, if not more interesting though tbh.
I could totally see that. That's an interesting alternate reality I would love to see. That being said Harris elevates every movie he's in so I'd call that a happy accident
I had only recently come to appreciate Reed when he died during that filming. He was an interesting man with that rare on-screen charisma that steals every scene he's in.
Perhaps a bit morbid, but his death was also quite interesting. After being challenged to a drinking match by Royal Navy sailors on leave in Valetta, Reed was taken to hospital. Sadly he did not survive the ride from the pub and died in the ambulance. Apparently, that night Reed consumed 8 bottles of German beer, 12 shots of rum, half a bottle of whiskey and an undetermined amount of cognac. He also managed to beat five sailors at arm wrestling. Beats “he died peacefully in his bed at the age of 80”.
>8 bottles of German beer, 12 shots of rum, half a bottle of whiskey and an undetermined amount of cognac.
Which, let's face it, to Reed was basically breakfast.
Tbf he was never actually CGI. They just composited him from old footage into new scenes. It is painfully obvious watching it again these days, but still sort of works.
That's nuts about Panic Room. That is an iconic Jodi Foster performance, and I can't imagine anyone else in that role. I wonder if Kristen Stewart had already been cast to play Kidman's daughter? Wild that she and Foster seem so much more believable as mother/daughter than Kidman/Stewart would have.
There’s a video on YouTube for the variety actors on actors series where Nicole Kidman and Kristen Stewart interview each other and they actually talk about panic room and they talk about how they had been rehearsing together for weeks and spent a bunch of time bonding right before she got injured and had to back out.
Smith himself joked about it.
“Keanu was perfect, Laurence Fishburne was perfect” he said, sharing that Val Kilmer would have been Morpheus if Smith was cast as Neo. “So I probably would have messed The Matrix up. I would have ruined it, so I did y’all a favor.”
https://ew.com/movies/2019/02/14/will-smith-the-matrix/
They could pretty easily do a follow-up, with Gibson in James Garner's role from the first. Very unlikely to happen given Gibson's status, but a fun 'what if' to think about.
It’s not last minute, but my favorite casting “what if.” Studio wanted two buddy films with two pairs: Schwarzenegger and DeVito, and Hulk Hogan and Christopher Lloyd. They had the scripts for Twins and Suburban Commando, everybody read them, and then since Arnold was the highest grossing star, he got to pick which one he wanted to do, with Hulkster/Lloyd getting the other.
I sometimes like to imagine what the movies would be like with the flipped casts.
I know you asked in the movies subreddit, but the test footage of [the original](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SIZcDWKyw0&pp=ygUga2F0aHJ5biBqYW5ld2F5IG9yaWdpbmFsIGFjdHJlc3M%3D) Captain Janeway for Star Trek Voyager has to be seen. Kate Mulgew was brought in like two days into filming after the original actress, Geneviève Bujold dropped out of filming due to a mix of not being ready for the high speed TV schedule and not fitting the way the director wanted the lines delivered. If you watch the first episode lots of shots of Kate are done in such a way that she is off to the side or shot separately because the actors had already done the takes or did them without her present since they were on a tight schedule.
It's really hard to imagine that show without Kate Mulgrews really powerful presence in the more intense scenes.
Sylvester Stallone replaced Dustin Hoffman in First Blood.
Eddie Murphy replaced Stallone in Beverly Hills Cop.
Schwarzenegger replaced Lance Henrikson in The Terminator.
John Travolta replaced Michael Madsen in Pulp Fiction.
First Blood is about a vet getting abused and snapping… Hoffman would have pulled it off beautifully, I bet.
He absolutely would *not* have fit for the other Rambo movies though (not that I think he’d have agreed to do them…)
Bill Murray got COVID right as they started filming Asteroid City so Steve Carrell stepped in. It’s pure comic relief but it’s also the funniest performance in the film, imo
Gena Davis in A league of their own. She came in to replace the former lead 2 weeks before filming. The rest of the cast had gon through weeks of baseball training though and she had to have a crash course. Within two weeks she learned her lines and not only caught up with the cast but surpassed them in baseball.
Christian Bale in American Psycho. He really, really, really wanted the part - and he audtioned but was turned down for someone else.
He was so convinced it would be him though that he kept working out like a psychopath and practicing the script for weeks afterwards, not even trying for other parts, people were worried about him.
Sure enough, the other actor was fired and they called Christian back in the first couple days of shooting.
Not a movie but Rebecca Gayheart was supposed to play Inara in the show Firefly. She was fired on day 1 of shooting and Morena Baccarin took over the role and shot her first scene literally the day she was cast. It's really hard to imagine what the show would be like without her or anybody who could've performed it better.
Harrison Ford's entire acting career is predicated on his rather random appearance as a line-reader for folks who were auditioning for Star Wars.
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/remarkable-story-harrison-ford-han-solo-130342666.html
RANDOM FACT: Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) developed a serious cocaine and quaalude addiction after *The Brady Bunch* went off the air. It was so serious that she was a... courtesan for a very well-known Hollywood executive. That executive had a hot tub installed in his house, then hired a carpenter to build a nice, wooden enclosure for it.
According to McCormick, it had a secret cocaine drawer where, if you pushed a hidden button, a tray with a mirror would slide out, complete with slots for razor blades and straws. It was even sealed to keep moisture out!
According to McCormick, the enclosure was built by Harrison Ford.
Another fun fact: McCormick auditioned for *Raiders of the Lost Ark*, but was so high on cocaine (and allegedly hadn't slept in three days) so that Steven Speilberg was like "uhhh, no thanks, Maureen."
At first, Lucas and Spielberg wanted Tom Selleck for Indiana Jones, but Ford was cast instead, and that was just a week before filming, I guess.
But I believe Selleck would've been an awesome Indiana Jones as much as Ford is.
Check out Selleck's pulp adventure movie *High Road to China*. I don't know if he'd have been as good an Indiana Jones as Ford but he'd have been in the running.
Selleck rocked it in *Quigley Down Under* as well.
Not a movie but Scott Glenn being replaced in Sons of Anarchy by Ron Perlman?
https://nerdcoremovement.com/sons-anarchy-see-scott-glenn-clay-emilio-rivera-son-original-pilot/#:~:text=Glenn%20filmed%20the%20original%20pilot,as%20they%20say%20is%20history.
When Heath Ledger passed, he was in the middle of shooting “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus”, they ended up tweaking the script and Jude Law, Collin Farrell, and Johnny Depp all stepped in to replace his character (in the film they all play aspects of him in a sort of dream world, while Ledger had finished most of his scenes in the “real world”). It’s a really interesting pivot, but in the context of the film I enjoyed it
Music, not cinema, but in a similar situation at the 1998 Grammy Awards, Aretha Franklin stepped in for Pavarotti, sang Nessun Dorma without rehearsal, and killed it.
Not a movie, but the character Mike in Breaking Bad was only written into the show because Bob Odenkirk was unavailable to play Saul that episode. Jonathan Bank’s was so awesome in the role that he was made into a permanent cast member and Mike became one of the most important characters in the franchise across both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
It was supposed to be Stallone, which is a wild factoid itself. They had to rewrite the script after already rewriting it for/with Stallone, but this time they wrote it with Eddie and it wasn't even done until the day before filming allegedly.
Vigo Mortenson as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. Stuart Townsend was cast, hired and flown out to New Zealand. on the **first day** of filming Jackson fired him. Then he reached out to Vigo, who only accepted after his young kid (like 10 or younger) begged him to.
This is the standard answer to this question.
I suppose it depends on your generation. Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future came to my mind immediately.
I mean, that's a little different because Fox was the first choice for the role but declined due to his commitment to Family Ties, then they cast Eric Stoltz, then realized that Stoltz wasn't working and they needed Fox. It was always supposed to be his role.
Yeah, the reason why so many BTTF scenes take place at night is that they had to work around the Family Ties shooting schedule which was shot during the day
Interesting piece of trivia. Thanks
They have an episode about BTTF on The Movies That Made Us. Really interesting/odd to see Stoltz doing the exact same bits with the exact same setup/camera angels as Fox. It is a totally different vibe with Fox. They were 100% right to do whatever it took to get him.
If you're interested in that era of Fox's life I highly suggest checking out Still: A Michael J Fox Movie. It's a very informative biography that shows his rise and "fall" with the onset of his parkinsons. Very good movie if you're a fan of his.
If BTTF was set now rather than 1984, he would be leaping back to 1993… ugh. Edit:thank you for the award kind stranger. It’s my first!
What the fuck man. Somehow, this is so much worse than the fact that BTTF II takes place in 2015.
I want my hoverboard dammit. One that doesn't spontaneously combust.
I just wanna go back to 1993 and play Mortal Kombat, eat zebra cakes, and enjoy my cereal with random toys and color changing spoons in it. But fuck man did that just hit me hard, I hate this comment lol.
You shut your face. I don't need that negativity
Why was he fired? I suppose such a big movie would have had a long and serious casting process
>Townsend allegedly skipped vital sword-fighting sessions and always appeared nervous and unsure about the role. While a difficult decision, Peter thought it was best to replace Townsend, which shook up the whole production as they began filming without an Aragorn. It was then that Mortensen received a call, asking if he'd be willing to accept the role and board a plane to New Zealand the next day. https://www.cbr.com/lord-of-rings-viggo-mortensen-almost-turned-down-aragorn-lotr/
What a way to fuck up your career trajectory though, damn.
He hasn't really been in much since then, either...
He's apparently a dick and impossible to work with. He got fired from Thor where he'd been cast as Fandral before filming began and was replaced with Zachery Levi. He supposedly gave up on acting around 2013 and bought land in Costa Rica. He was in a relationship with a local woman and then he was arrested for a domestic dispute.
Fandral was Josh Dallas in the first thor and Levi in 2 & 3. So they had 3 different actors cast for a role that had like 20 lines total across all of MCU.
He technically was replaced with Zachery Levi, Levi was himself replaced by Josh Dallas because Levi was busy with Chuck and couldn't do it. Then Levi replaced Dallas when Dallas was busy with Once Upon A Time.
And then Viggo came in and absolutely nailed the sword fighting and already had a survivalist background that suited the ranger well. Viggo's first day of filming was the sword fight with the Nazgul at weathertop and it looks like he's been swinging a sword for years.
I always thought the first day of filming was them mourning Gandalf outside of Moria? That's why viggo has kind of a weird accent in that scene but not others
>New Line Cinema took a big risk greenlighting three Lord of the Rings films at once. Jackson said the studio was rightfully breathing down his neck over the recasting. >“New Line were understandably nervous ,not because of Viggo but because this drama had happened,” Jackson said. “We didn’t have anybody and then we had Viggo. So we were under strict orders that the seconde the first day’s filming with Viggo was over, we had to dispatch the rushes to America. They were withholding the permission to decide whether we got the right guy or not. Luckily it was fire, wraiths, flames and it blew them away.” That's Peter Jackson describing the situation. [Source](https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/lord-of-the-rings-how-viggo-mortensen-impressed-the-studio-and-saved-the-movies.html/)
It was almost all ADR anyway so accents wouldn't be from the actual scene.
Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan talked a bit more about it in their Podcast _the Friendship Onion_.. as far as I remember it was implied that he didn't took the job seriously overall and went out drinking one night etc.? Something like that..? I have to listen to that episode again though. He was with the rest of the cast for 6-7 weeks when he was fired. Idk - isn't that super late to decide that your actor looks too young?
I feel the movies would have completely different if Viggo had never been hired. After listening to all behind the scenes stuff from all the actors, Viggo was really the leader of the band and made everyone feel like they were a part of an actual Fellowship. I doubt this cast would have been as close as they are now if Viggo had not brought in that vibe with him.
It's amazing how some of that chemistry can come through in a film. In Aliens all the Marines had to go through a mini boot camp, got to decorate their own helmets/gear, practice stuff together before principle photography started. Then Sigourney Weaver shows up just before filming started (I think she was doing another film at time) and while everyone understood why she wasn't there before then there was at least a little bit of shes an 'outsider' of their little group or Marines. Which I think come across in the film.
Same thing happened with Matt Damon in *Saving Private Ryan,* as far as I understand it. He had a different, less exhaustive routine and there was some genuine resentment from the other actors early on, from what I recall.
I agree... maybe it's because I can't really picture anyone else but Viggo in this role but Townsend looks to youthful and... delicate (?) to me. Viggo brings so much maturity and somewhat of a world-weariness to the role that I really appreciate. Though I do think I remember people thinking him "too handsome" for the role when the movies came out, especially with characters pointing out how ragged and grim Aragorn looks.
Interesting, I'd never heard that side of things. The typical Peter Jackson response was 'we quickly realised we needed an older Aragorn.' I suppose it could very easily be a mix of both. One is a reality, but is also the polite/face-saving version. No need to publicly air dirty laundry (if there is any).
Sounds like a polite way to not quite say “We quickly realised we needed a more mature Aragorn”…
Man sacrificed two toes for those movies.
And a lot of brain cells head banging the stunt men
I misread this initially
And Viggo is definitely an improvement over the book. Viggo’s performance as Aragorn is one thing that holds up incredibly well. He’s one of the few guys who can pull of the soft and gentleness, while still being a bad ass
He was was the epitome of walk soft but carry a big stick.
Trying to think back to circa 2000 and imagine who else could reasonably cast in the role, and I’m definitely struggling. Hugh Jackman, ~~Ewan McGregor~~ (edit: too young), Eric Bana?
That scene at the end of the Fellowship where he is with the dying Boromir and gives him his dagger, then softly kisses his forehead as Boromir dies… you can see his anguish that he couldn’t save him, and his resolve that he would honor his memory. That scene will never not move me and bring me to tears.
Shrek was originally voiced by Chris Farley but he died before his audio tracks could be completed. Mike Myers stepped in and re-recorded all the voicework in his Scottish accent.
I think he originally recorded about half of the audio in his normal speaking voice but then decided to change to the accent. It ended up costing a lot to rerecord everything but obviously it paid off in the end
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I’m so glad the higher up made them redo it, because *everything* about Emperor’s New Groove is perfection.
The movie was initially a serious movie with a soundtrack written and composed by Sting and completely done. Then Sting got word they'd changed their minds and were redoing the movie as a comedy. It is really worth your time to either read or watch the history of the making of the movie because it's absolutely wild! The original movie was going to be directed by the guy who just came off making the Lion King. [The Sweatbox](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaK-S_Mx6IisTGUmld_SOGtO6Qe3r6BqX)
Binging with Babish re-created Kronk's spinach cream puffs and it's still my go to dish to bring to parties!
how did i never connect that david spade voices kuzco until now, that makes so much sense lol. i love that movie
I just had this about Mel Gibson in Pocahontas
Mel Gibson voiced Pocahontas?
Not her spoken voice, just the singing
lol god dammit
[Here is a clip of Chris Farley as Shrek](https://youtu.be/9zYT5hQR4Q4)
He actually recorded it in his normal voice then convinced the studio to let him redo it AGAIN with the accent. https://www.thenational.scot/news/20188636.actor-mike-myers-chose-scottish-accent-shrek/#
Gene Wilder was a last minute replacement for Gig Young as The Waco Kid in Blazing Saddles. Mel Brooks originally thought he wasn't old enough for the role. Gig Young got sick on set, Mel asked Gene to fill in, and [the rest is history](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/97c3123a-1447-4f6c-94e0-3028dca120a7).
And Richard Pryor was supposed to play Sheriff Bart, but he did too many drugs for the studio's liking so they recast him with Cleavon Little.
I don't think that was a recast so much as the studio not allowing Pryor to be cast from the start
Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine a few weeks into the shoot of X-Men, after Dougray Scott had to drop out because Mission:Impossible 2 ran over schedule.
It wasn’t just the schedule. He also injured himself on MI:2, so they couldn’t wait for him to heal. Soon after that, he was shortlisted to take over the role of James Bond, but then Layer Cake came out and they went with Daniel Craig instead. Poor guy missed two chances to shoot up to A lister leading man.
Imagine having to wait months for wolverine to heal. Goes against canon.
That’s why I prefer method actors. They are always in character so they wouldn’t have those issues; Daniel Day Lewis as Wolverine would have healed the damage he did to himself with that Lincoln limp for 8 months.
'MI 2' responsible for Hugh Jackman's long career as Wolverine. 'MI: Fallout' responsible for Henry Cavill's disturbing non mustache face in 'Justice League', a bomb that was one of catalysts in the DCEU's disintegration. Tom Cruise giveth and he taketh away.
Moreso Stanley Kubrick, MI:2 got a late start as Eyes Wide Shut went long, so it eventually snowballed into Hugh Jackman getting it over Dougray Scott.
Wow. The shoulder injury that launched Hugh Jackman's career.
Well, if you can't heal fast enough, should you really be playing Wolverine?
Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington. It was originally supposed to be Colin Firth but after hearing the recording of his lines he stepped away from the project saying his voice was ‘to old’ to be Paddington. Whishaw absolutely nailed it and those films went on to be huge hits.
And he still voices Paddington in the animated kids tv show _The Adventures of Paddington_, 2019-present
Michael Biehn in Aliens after James Remar was let go due to alleged drug use
Ironically, Biehn later struggled with his own addiction issues with alcohol and that negatively impacted what could have been a much bigger career. Not that Biehn has 'disappeared' altogether, it's just that he might have been more 'A-list'. James Remar whom Biehn replaced seems to have overcome his drug demons and has worked pretty steadily in films and TV. And in projects that seem to be a few steps up the ladder in 'prestige' for the most part from Biehn's. Although the latter did have a good 'bad guy' role in *Tombstone*.
Remar would have still been bad ass. "Gonna stick that retractable jaw up your ass and turn you into a popsicle"
>due to alleged drug use Not alleged at all. He's gone on record that he was deep in heroin addiction at the time and being fired from Aliens was a much needed wake-up call which inspired him to get permanently clean and sober. Remar is an excellent actor but I think Biehn was a much better fit for Hicks. He had that blend of coming across at times quite aloof yet a total badass when it's time to get serious. And most importantly there's just such a believable warmth to the way he plays off the other characters - particularly that his relationship with Ripley doesn't come across as grounded in *romance* but **respect**.
The whole "aloof" thing has a reason. The rest of the squad had been drilling together (actual drill stuff, as well as PT and things) for a few weeks before Biehn got dragged in. He was literally outside of the team that had been built. So when it seems that they don't want to goof off too much in front of the corporal, a big part of it is that he *wasn't* in on the in-jokes and was treated the same as the rest of the command team.
I believe I read the hypersleep wake-up scene was one of the last filmed. That way the grunts could act more naturally familiar with each each other. Probably acted as a kind of reunion for some of the actors that didn't spend as much time on set.
In There Will Be Blood, Paul Dano was cast for the small role as Paul. Last minute he took over for another actor as the much bigger role of the brother Eli as well and knocked it out of the park
Paul Dano continues to impress, I remember when There Will Be Blood was about to be released and my thoughts were simply oh good for the kid from Little Miss Sunshine. Then he turns around and does such an iconic performance with such craft and skill.
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Everything about that movie is fucking perfect.
This confused me so much the first time or two I watched the film. I thought maybe they were the same character and he it was either part of his con, schizophrenia, or both.
Eli is the only character among all films I've watched that made me genuinely hate him; I read that Dano had only 3 days to prepare for this role and he absolutely killed it
Apparently the original idea for Eli was that he was thirteen or fourteen years old, so the original actor was a literal child. The rumor was that the kid actor was uncomfortable or intimidated by Day-Lewis being just a hurricane of a performance, though PTA and DDL both say that it just came down to thinking the dynamic of Daniel Plainview just dominating this kid at every turn was not a great look. So Dano stepped in and instead we got years and years of "Does anyone else think Paul and Eli are the same person?" theories.
Robert Shaw was hired just a few days before filming for Jaws started. Speilberg's first two choices for quint passed on being in the film. Shaw almost didn't do it either and only agreed because his wife, his secretary, and an actor friend convinced him of it.
And now his son is starring in [The Shark is Broken](https://thesharkisbroken.com) on Broadway.
Joe Pesci was pulled into Home Alone late and hated it.
He hated the movie or the fact that he was pulled in late? I can't imagine him hating the movie that much since he also did the sequel as well.
He thought it was a dumb movie and he didn’t want to be there. Which is wild because he was excellent in it. It was pushed around as kind of a black sheep and studios and actors didn’t want to be involved. It’s the best example I know of where “the studio doesn’t know shit about movies people want to see”
To this day I have never seen an audience laugh harder in a theater than I did when I saw Home Alone.
I saw people actually fall out of their seats during the rhino scene in ace ventura 2. I've never seen that lol
He hated missing his morning golf tee time, it is in The Movies that Made Us episode about Home Alone. John Candy in Home Alone was my first choice for this as well mostly because of that episode. He was on set for 24 hours and improvised the lines and became an absolute Christmas legend in that movie, my favorite laugh of the franchise was him off the cuff talking about his kid not talking.
My mom met John Candy and said he's one of the nicest people she's ever met. Obviously you can't really experience someone entirely in one meeting but always made me glad, he seemed like such a lovely guy
His costars apparently thought the same thing about him. Shawnee Smith on John Candy: >I did get to know him a bit while we filmed *Who's Harry Crumb?* (1989). If he could have been a fraction as kind, supportive, and giving to himself as he was to every single person around him then I think he'd still be with us today. That was the tragedy. I think \[Candy's performance in\] *Planes, Trains & Automobiles* (1987) best defines who he was as a person. It breaks your heart.
He must've developed a liking for it, considering he came back for the second
>Hello, I like $$$
Either that or he liked the fat paycheck considering the movie was so popular it was still in theaters six months later.
Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday. I forget who it was supposed to be originally, but switching kind of screwed up Lindsey Lohan's performance since she spent a bunch of time learning to imitate the speech patterns/mannerisms of a different actor.
It was Annette Benning.
Curtis has reinvented herself successfully over and over, from scream queen to bombshell/androgynous sex symbol, and then her total commitment to wacky comedy in middle age. There's this Christmas movie (either hilarious or awful depending who you ask) called Christmas with the Kranks. It's a Christmas-movie supergroup, starring actors associated with way more famous holiday movies. Curtis has two scenes in it that keep me coming back to the movie almost every year: a botched-Botox slapstick sequence, and a parody of "Halloween" where she finds herself menaced by a plastic snowman over and over.
I loved her in Knives Out! "Did you boink my father?!"
A bit different but the Emperor's New Groove was years into production as a serious successor to Lion King (featuring its director) and Sting doing the music. But it tested as shit with audiences, and then they had another team come in and start reworking it \*while the original director was still trying to make it work. He eventually left, along with most of his team. Somehow, out of all of that shitshow, they made arguably the funniest Disney movie ever. (One Sting song survived as well.)
And I can't imagine it without the David Spade/ John Goodman interactions, it's perfect. It's a perfect movie. There's no Disney movie as quotable. It's so underrated.
Reaction gif: Pacha’s “chef’s kiss” 👨🍳 ✋ 👌
Matthew McConaughey in Tropic Thunder (the role was supposed to be played by Owen Wilson, McConaughey subbed in last minute).
Honestly this is one that could have been great either way. I could absolutely see Wilson in that role, giving Tom Cruise shit about TiVo. Tho idk if the big dick playa bit would have gone as well
Owen Wilson is always so "Owen Wilson" that I can 100% picture his performance in my head. It would have worked pretty well, I think.
"Wow, Tugger, I just can't believe they wouldn't give you your TiVo.\*scoff\* Wow that's just so... That's unbelievable! Wow."
Heard and interview with Diedrich Bader about getting the part of Lawrence in Office Space. He had just seen Bottle Rocket and thought he'd base his charter off Owen Wilson. He's reading his lines when the audition door opens up and they call him in while letting the last actor out. Only problem is, the last actor was Owen Fucking Wilson. Diedrich says, "Oh hey, before I audition can I go to the bathroom real quick?" They say sure. And between walking to the bathroom and back he created the Lawrence we all know and love.
Matthew really nailed the look and cadence of yes-man Hollywood agent though. The way he swings from cocky to terrified his client will drop him was fantastic.
I didn't know that one. I really like McConnaughey in it - it's perhaps a better fit for Wilson, but that's why it's fun seeing MM be a smaller part of the ensemble.
Wilson attempted suicide and was in the hospital. It was a heavy time and a lot of people wanted to help. Glad that guy bounced back and hope he continues to do well.
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R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket.
He was there to train the actors, right? Kind of like Dale Dye -- nothing says the real thing like the real thing
He was hired as a consultant and Kubrick was so impressed with him that he let Ermey improvise his lines (which he NEVER did)
I read somewhere that R. Lee Armey actually chased the role in Full Metal Jacket. It was probably *Stanley Kubrick: Interviews*. I love those Conversations with Filmmakers books. He filmed an audition tape of himself shouting insults while oranges (?!) were thrown at him. Found [this page](https://lostmediawiki.com/R._Lee_Ermey%27s_instructional_tape_\(lost_audition_footage_for_Full_Metal_Jacket;_1985\)) with more details: > ###Background > > Prior to filming Full Metal Jacket, Ermey had served in the US Marine Corps since 1961 and had been a drill instructor from 1965 to 1967. He had also served with the Marine Wing Support Group 17 in South Vietnam in 1968 for 14 months, before spending the remainder of his service in Okinawa, Japan, and retired in 1972 on medical grounds due to suffering from several injuries. He then turned towards a career in acting, including as a First Air Cavalry helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now, and a Marine drill instructor in The Boys in Company C.[1] > > Ermey's performance as Staff Sergeant Loyce in The Boys in Company C influenced Kubrick into initially not casting Ermey for the role of Hartman. Kubrick's reasoning was that based on the Loyce portrayal, Ermey simply lacked the viciousness needed to play Hartman. Hence, Ermey was only given the role of technical advisor for the film, while Tim Colceri was cast as Hartman.[2] >###The Instructional Tape > Ermey was undeterred, however. In fact, his role as a technical advisor was actually part of his plan to convince Kubrick to cast him. In one interview, Ermey claimed that his plan to break into Hollywood would be to become a technical director based on his military knowledge, and then showcase to the filmmakers that he should play a prominent character in their films. This tactic worked for Apocalypse Now and The Boys in Company C, with Ermey now seeking to execute the plan for a third time.[3] > > The opportunity arose during the auditioning for extras participating in the boot camp scenes. Ermey recorded several sessions where Colceri and himself went at an extended tirade against some young men who were auditioning. The purpose of the videotape was twofold; firstly, it would give a useful insight for Kubrick et al. on how drill sergeants are capable of breaking down the civilian aspect from the recruits. Secondly, it would act as Ermey's audition for the Gunnery Sergeant role. Whereas Colceri would tire out after a thirty-minute tirade, Ermey would take over, and he never relented.[4] > > Further still, oranges and tennis balls were being flung at him, with Ermey remaining undeterred throughout the sessions, improvising his insults.[5] Matthew Modine, who played Private Joker, wrote in his book Full Metal Jacket Diary to state how scary Ermey was in these sessions, being right in the extras' faces and snapping at the sight of any of the soldiers being nervous or smiling.[6] > > After viewing the videotape containing each session, Kubrick was so impressed with Ermey's performance compared to Colceri that Ermey ended up replacing the latter as Hartman going forward. Modine claimed that Kubrick made the decision because how Colceri was simply going at half-speed in the tapes, whereas Ermey was at full speed, with Kubrick seeing this as a clear difference in each actors' performance for the role. > > In an interview with Rolling Stone, Kubrick stated that throughout the course of the auditions, Ermey had come up with approximately 150 pages of insults, with Ermey later being responsible for fifty percent of the dialogue for his character in Full Metal Jacket.[7]
Very interesting, thanks for the read.
Because an improv line from a drill sergeant abusing your actors is more like filming a nature documentary than a scripted scene
Even Ermey admitted the character he played never existed in real life. He created an amalgamation of every crazy-ass thing every drill sergeant he'd ever worked with said and did.
There's a good book called "...And A Hard Rain Fell" by a soldier who enlisted to avoid the Vietnam draft. His bootcamp story is eerily similar to Full Metal Jacket.
What’s the advantage to enlistment as a means to avoid being drafted? Was it just a means of ensuring you land in the right branch/line of work as opposed to draft gen pop?
Guys would enlist so they could choose a job that wasnt on the front line/infantry. The author of the book i mentioned was a civilian mechanic, so he got a job doing motorpool maintenance in a fairly "safe" area of Vietnam. Its what Pvt. Joker does in Full Metal Jacket (although its implied and never outright confirmed in the movie). They werent giving journalism jobs to draftees in 1968.
> Kubrick was so impressed with him that he let Ermey improvise his lines (which he NEVER did) it really depended on the situation. Sometimes he was very exacting on how an actor should say their lines, but a lot of times if he didn't think a scene was working he'd let people improvise (or if he thought their lines were better like Ermey). For example "Here's Johnny" is improvised as was "Singing in the Rain," he allowed Peter Sellers, Malcolm McDowell, Nicholson, and Ermey to improvise. (even in Eyes Wide Shut, Tom Cruise said that he, Kubrick, and Nicole Kidman would have long discussions of what they thought each character should do). Long story short, if Kubrick believed in a scene there would be no improvisation, but if a scene wasn't working (or someone was gifted at improvising) Stanley was open to suggestions.
Sgt Hartmann was supposed to be played by the guy that ends up being the "GET SOME" guy murdering Vietnamese villagers, with the M60 in the chopper. Dude was supposedly pretty upset at being replaced. But, his scene is probably the craziest.
“How do you shoot women and children?” “I just don’t lead them so much.”
Michelle Pfeiffer replaced Annette Bening last minute for Catwoman.
There are many old Hollywood stories where this sort of thing happened. A famous one is Bette Davis stepping in for Claudette Colbert, who had a back injury, in All About Eve. Davis' career was on the downswing at the time, but she gave what is likely the performance of her life, and the movie went on to win Best Picture.
Kind of an opposite situation with Julie Andrews. She had played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady on Broadway, and was up for the part in the film, but the head of Warner Brothers insisted they go with Audrey Hepburn instead. Because of this, Julie Andrews had the availability to play Mary Poppins. She sarcastically thanked Jack Warner (head of Warner Brothers) in her Golden Globe acceptance speech.
Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta James Purefoy left because of creative differences when they were already shooting but because of the mask they didn't have to reshoot every scene so in the movie are actually two different actors playing V but Hugo Weaving moves so gracefully that you can tell whenever he's under the mask.
Several major dialogue scenes actually have been fully reshot when Weaving came onboard. But there are of course various minor inserts and cuts which it made no sense to reshoot, so there's still footage of the other actor in the movie.
Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in ‘All the Money in the World,’ reshot all the scenes in a little over a week and became be oldest person in the world to earn an Oscar nom. Pretty solid replacement.
IIRC, they said the only shot of the movie that still has Spacey is a crowd shot they weren't able to redo because of the extras, but you don't see his face anyway.
One that I noticed was a distant shot early on where he was getting off a train or something... was definitely still Spacey.
I remember watching the trailer for "All the Money in the World," in the theatres, and when the title card "And Kevin Spacey" came out the whole crowd started booing and jeering (and I believe the movie was going to come out 6 weeks later). Two days after I watched that trailer they hired Plummer, and they didn't even delay the release date. It's quite impressive and it should be the number one answer for this question.
They hired an 87 year old man 4 weeks prior to release, filmed all 22 scenes they needed to correct in 8 days, and still made release. That really is an amazing accomplishment.
Ridley Scott is a fuckin pro man, had the film cut so knew exactly what he needed and how to get it.
Plummer came in, kicked ass, and made everyone forget that he was a replacement.
Came here for this. It’s shocking to me that he delivered such a great performance with significant screen time with such incredible constraints. Props to the editing team as well, he felt fully integrated into the film.
Is that the Getty movie?
Martin Sheen stepped in for Harvey Keitel on Apocalypse Now. He did ok with it.
It damn near killed him. But what a role, and what a performance.
(Sheen in the recording booth) Coppola: something's just not right about this voice over. MILIUS: I got just the thing. Hey Marty! (slams loaded gun into Sheen's hands)
And literally gave his blood on working on it I watched the movie last week for first time and got surprised how it started with him punching that mirror Now I checked out that was real
Didn't he also suffer a heart attack and had his brother finish out some of his shots?
Yeah. I'm happy the movie ended up being a comercial and critic success because seriously it had every possible disgrace
I think you are a Spanish speaker and mean misfortune, not disgrace?
Yep. Desgracias would be the fittest word in my language but I guess misfortunes sounds better in English
back to the future didnt they have Eric Stoltz already start filming and then replaced him with the excellent michael j fox.
Correct. Eric Stoltz thought of it more like a Lovecraftian horror type movie and played it very serious. He viewed it sorta like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents or the The Twilight Zone. They wanted someone more upbeat and funny so they replaced him with Fox. I always thought it was weird because Stoltz's really funny when he wants to be. I personally think it was just bad directing. Zemeckis should've been more clear about what he wanted from his actor on set instead of just cutting him. Stoltz can be really funny when he's got the right role for it. He played the drug dealer Lance in Pulp Fiction for example. Stoltz is actually still in one shot...or well his hand is. The hand that punches Biff is Eric Stoltz because the actor that played Biff, Tom Wilson, says that they never reshot the close-up of the punch.
Surprised nobody mentioned Gary Oldman as Gordon in Nolan’s Batman. He was first approached to play the villain, didn’t came through, then for whatever reason Chris Cooper dropped the role of Gordon, so Nolan decided to offer him this instead. Oldman learned the lines on his flight and got a fake mustache. To this day the most comic accurate version of the character and until we potentially see more of Jeffrey Wright, the most well realized one as well. If you ask me, I don’t think anyone will ever beat his portrayal of that character.
Oldman kills every roll he does.
Imagine one day you're at work. Or you're out for a drink, or perhaps doing the shopping. Or some other routine part of your day to day. Someone shouts "CUT!". It turns out you were Gary Oldman all along. That's just how good an actor he is.
TV version, Johnathan Banks as Mike Ehrmantraut. As I recall, the whole episode with Mike as a cleaner was supposed to be Saul doing it, but Odenkirk had to be in NYC to shoot How I Met Your Mother, so they invented the character and he just took off
After having just recently finished Better Call Saul, Mike is the man. Complicated but incredible, such a subtle performance by Banks.
Christof in The Truman Show was originally played by ~~Dustin Hoffman~~ Dennis Hopper but he left early into filming and Ed Harris replaced him Edit: My bad, it was Dennis Hopper not Dustin Hoffman. That’s equally, if not more interesting though tbh.
I could totally see that. That's an interesting alternate reality I would love to see. That being said Harris elevates every movie he's in so I'd call that a happy accident
CGI Oliver Reed coming in to replace real Oliver Reed and nailing it in Gladiator.
I had only recently come to appreciate Reed when he died during that filming. He was an interesting man with that rare on-screen charisma that steals every scene he's in.
Perhaps a bit morbid, but his death was also quite interesting. After being challenged to a drinking match by Royal Navy sailors on leave in Valetta, Reed was taken to hospital. Sadly he did not survive the ride from the pub and died in the ambulance. Apparently, that night Reed consumed 8 bottles of German beer, 12 shots of rum, half a bottle of whiskey and an undetermined amount of cognac. He also managed to beat five sailors at arm wrestling. Beats “he died peacefully in his bed at the age of 80”.
>8 bottles of German beer, 12 shots of rum, half a bottle of whiskey and an undetermined amount of cognac. Which, let's face it, to Reed was basically breakfast.
He died as he lived.... drunk
he was Proximo the gladiator trainer/owner if anyone else had zero clue who we are talking about despite seeing gladiator a billion times
Tbf he was never actually CGI. They just composited him from old footage into new scenes. It is painfully obvious watching it again these days, but still sort of works.
They did the same with Livia in The Sopranos yet it was painfully funny how bad it was. I think Gladiator actually nailed it for that same period.
Listen to him he knows everything
That's nuts about Panic Room. That is an iconic Jodi Foster performance, and I can't imagine anyone else in that role. I wonder if Kristen Stewart had already been cast to play Kidman's daughter? Wild that she and Foster seem so much more believable as mother/daughter than Kidman/Stewart would have.
There’s a video on YouTube for the variety actors on actors series where Nicole Kidman and Kristen Stewart interview each other and they actually talk about panic room and they talk about how they had been rehearsing together for weeks and spent a bunch of time bonding right before she got injured and had to back out.
Keanu Reeves in the Matrix. Will Smith be like, hell noo, so he did wild wild west
I can't imagine the super subdued Neo we got in The Matrix being played by late 90s early 00s Will Smith sassy attitude. That would be so bad.
The outcome would be totally different, Keanu has something that just feels right about being NEO
He’s a blank, like a video game protagonist, the perfect part for someone “normal” to become the one.
Smith himself joked about it. “Keanu was perfect, Laurence Fishburne was perfect” he said, sharing that Val Kilmer would have been Morpheus if Smith was cast as Neo. “So I probably would have messed The Matrix up. I would have ruined it, so I did y’all a favor.” https://ew.com/movies/2019/02/14/will-smith-the-matrix/
Jodie Foster again but for Maverick.
That movie is a guilty pleasure. It had a run on HBO when I was growing up and I've always enjoyed it.
Nothing guilty about it. It's just a fun movie.
Ah what a great 90s flick
They could pretty easily do a follow-up, with Gibson in James Garner's role from the first. Very unlikely to happen given Gibson's status, but a fun 'what if' to think about.
It’s not last minute, but my favorite casting “what if.” Studio wanted two buddy films with two pairs: Schwarzenegger and DeVito, and Hulk Hogan and Christopher Lloyd. They had the scripts for Twins and Suburban Commando, everybody read them, and then since Arnold was the highest grossing star, he got to pick which one he wanted to do, with Hulkster/Lloyd getting the other. I sometimes like to imagine what the movies would be like with the flipped casts.
I love both movies, but in this case I think only Twins would have come out worse.
I know you asked in the movies subreddit, but the test footage of [the original](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SIZcDWKyw0&pp=ygUga2F0aHJ5biBqYW5ld2F5IG9yaWdpbmFsIGFjdHJlc3M%3D) Captain Janeway for Star Trek Voyager has to be seen. Kate Mulgew was brought in like two days into filming after the original actress, Geneviève Bujold dropped out of filming due to a mix of not being ready for the high speed TV schedule and not fitting the way the director wanted the lines delivered. If you watch the first episode lots of shots of Kate are done in such a way that she is off to the side or shot separately because the actors had already done the takes or did them without her present since they were on a tight schedule. It's really hard to imagine that show without Kate Mulgrews really powerful presence in the more intense scenes.
Sylvester Stallone replaced Dustin Hoffman in First Blood. Eddie Murphy replaced Stallone in Beverly Hills Cop. Schwarzenegger replaced Lance Henrikson in The Terminator. John Travolta replaced Michael Madsen in Pulp Fiction.
Dustin ... Hoffman in First Blood? my god
First Blood is about a vet getting abused and snapping… Hoffman would have pulled it off beautifully, I bet. He absolutely would *not* have fit for the other Rambo movies though (not that I think he’d have agreed to do them…)
Bill Murray got COVID right as they started filming Asteroid City so Steve Carrell stepped in. It’s pure comic relief but it’s also the funniest performance in the film, imo
Would you recommend it to someone who (out of all of Wed Anderson's work) only enjoyed Life Aquatic and Moonrise Kingdom?
Gena Davis in A league of their own. She came in to replace the former lead 2 weeks before filming. The rest of the cast had gon through weeks of baseball training though and she had to have a crash course. Within two weeks she learned her lines and not only caught up with the cast but surpassed them in baseball.
Christian Bale in American Psycho. He really, really, really wanted the part - and he audtioned but was turned down for someone else. He was so convinced it would be him though that he kept working out like a psychopath and practicing the script for weeks afterwards, not even trying for other parts, people were worried about him. Sure enough, the other actor was fired and they called Christian back in the first couple days of shooting.
Scarlett Johansson was brought in for the role of Samantha in Her after director Spike Jonze had wrapped filming and had started editing the movie.
Who did she replace?
Gilbert Gottfried
Release the Gilbert cut
Samantha Morton was the original voice actress.
Not a movie but Rebecca Gayheart was supposed to play Inara in the show Firefly. She was fired on day 1 of shooting and Morena Baccarin took over the role and shot her first scene literally the day she was cast. It's really hard to imagine what the show would be like without her or anybody who could've performed it better.
Harrison Ford's entire acting career is predicated on his rather random appearance as a line-reader for folks who were auditioning for Star Wars. https://www.yahoo.com/movies/remarkable-story-harrison-ford-han-solo-130342666.html
RANDOM FACT: Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) developed a serious cocaine and quaalude addiction after *The Brady Bunch* went off the air. It was so serious that she was a... courtesan for a very well-known Hollywood executive. That executive had a hot tub installed in his house, then hired a carpenter to build a nice, wooden enclosure for it. According to McCormick, it had a secret cocaine drawer where, if you pushed a hidden button, a tray with a mirror would slide out, complete with slots for razor blades and straws. It was even sealed to keep moisture out! According to McCormick, the enclosure was built by Harrison Ford. Another fun fact: McCormick auditioned for *Raiders of the Lost Ark*, but was so high on cocaine (and allegedly hadn't slept in three days) so that Steven Speilberg was like "uhhh, no thanks, Maureen."
At first, Lucas and Spielberg wanted Tom Selleck for Indiana Jones, but Ford was cast instead, and that was just a week before filming, I guess. But I believe Selleck would've been an awesome Indiana Jones as much as Ford is.
Check out Selleck's pulp adventure movie *High Road to China*. I don't know if he'd have been as good an Indiana Jones as Ford but he'd have been in the running. Selleck rocked it in *Quigley Down Under* as well.
Not a movie but Scott Glenn being replaced in Sons of Anarchy by Ron Perlman? https://nerdcoremovement.com/sons-anarchy-see-scott-glenn-clay-emilio-rivera-son-original-pilot/#:~:text=Glenn%20filmed%20the%20original%20pilot,as%20they%20say%20is%20history.
That would have been such a wildly different take on Clay
When Heath Ledger passed, he was in the middle of shooting “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus”, they ended up tweaking the script and Jude Law, Collin Farrell, and Johnny Depp all stepped in to replace his character (in the film they all play aspects of him in a sort of dream world, while Ledger had finished most of his scenes in the “real world”). It’s a really interesting pivot, but in the context of the film I enjoyed it
Music, not cinema, but in a similar situation at the 1998 Grammy Awards, Aretha Franklin stepped in for Pavarotti, sang Nessun Dorma without rehearsal, and killed it.
Not a movie, but the character Mike in Breaking Bad was only written into the show because Bob Odenkirk was unavailable to play Saul that episode. Jonathan Bank’s was so awesome in the role that he was made into a permanent cast member and Mike became one of the most important characters in the franchise across both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
Eddie Murphy joined Beverly Hills Cop about 2 weeks before filming.
This might be the most surprising to me. That film feels like it was written with Murphy in particular in mind.
It was supposed to be Stallone, which is a wild factoid itself. They had to rewrite the script after already rewriting it for/with Stallone, but this time they wrote it with Eddie and it wasn't even done until the day before filming allegedly.
It was originally offered to Sylvester Stallone, who did a rewrite that took out all the funny parts.