Casting changes happen all of the time.
Usually it is for boring reasons, time constraints, budget cuts, and travel issues.But, sometimes the story behind a recasting is more entertaining then the actually movie or show it is for.
So here are 6 last-second casting changes that changed movie history:
#1 Shrek
Farley had competed a majority of the movie “Shrek” before he died. Production was halted and the script was re-written for Mike Meyers.
#2. Django Unchained
Will smith refused to play Django in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar winning movie because “Django wasn’t the lead”. Will Smith would later choose to work on “After Earth” which bombed in the box-office.
#3 Full Metal Jacket
R. Lee Ermey was never one of Stanely Kubrick’s choices for the role of Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in the movie. He was only brought on as a technical advisor. But, when Ermey asked Kubrick for the role, Kubrick said he wasn’t scary enough. In response, Ermey made a videotape of himself improvising insulting dialogue to a group of Royal Marines while poeple off-camera threw oranges and tennis balls at him. Despite being pelted with objects Ermey rattled off an unbroken 15 minutes worth of insults without repeating himself or flinching. Ermey would later replace, Tim Colceri.
#4 The Shining
Robin Williams was almost cast as Jack Torrance in The Shining but Stanley Kubrick, the director said he was too psychotic for the part. He would later choose Jack Nicholson.
#5 The Wrestler
Nicholas Cage was orginally in talks to play Randy “The Ram” Robinson in The Wrestler, but the role eventually went to Mickey Rourke. Cage later claimed that he resigned from the project because he does not want to use steroids to achieve the look of a wrestler.
#6 Terminator
O.J Simpson was considered to be the Terminator but, James Cameron said he would be miscast and couldn’t be seen as a killer.
