George Clooney as Ferris Bueller? Eddie Murphy in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Sammy Davis, Jr as… Beetlejuice? These are just a few actors who almost starred in classic ‘80s movies and could’ve changed film history. They aren’t the only ones either. Here is our list of 20 actors who almost starred in classic ‘80s movies.
Tom Selleck (The Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
In one of the more infamous casting decisions of all time, Tom Selleck was offered the part of one of the most iconic characters in film history, Indiana Jones in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. It’s often falsely reported that Selleck turned the offer down, but as he explained to Rachel Ray, he didn’t say no to director Steven Spielberg, CBS did. The network decided to pick up the pilot he shot for Magnum PI and they wouldn’t let him take the time to shoot Raiders. Harrison Ford is very grateful for it.
George Clooney (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)
Yep, that’s right, everyone’s favorite truant, Ferris Bueller, was almost played by George Clooney, instead of Matthew Broderick, in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. According to casting director Janet Hirshenson, she had Clooney read for the part but thought he was too mature for the role and would’ve been "the college student version of Ferris Bueller."
Ethan Hawke (Stand By Me)
River Phoenix had his breakout role as Chris Chambers in Stand By Me, but director Rob Reiner also thought another up-and-coming actor at the time would have been great for the part. In an interview with The Guardian, Ethan Hawke explained that Reiner told him, "You’re really good, but I just gave the part to another kid with a bird name."
Nicolas Cage (Fast Times At Ridgemont High)
Nicolas Cage did make his big screen debut in a small part in one of the best high school movies of all time, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, but he almost had a much more significant role. According to Judge Reinhold, who played the lead, Brad Hamilton, the producers were going to cast Cage (then known by his given name, Nic Coppola) in the Brad role. The part ended up going to Reinhold because Cage was under 18 at the time and that would’ve required working fewer hours due to child labor laws.
Yaphet Kotto (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back)
In one of the coolest and most interesting “what could have been” moments, the now legendary role of Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back wouldn’t have been played by Billy Dee Williams. Alien star Yaphet Kotto was the first person offered the part of the former smuggler-turned-Empire bureaucrat, as Kotto was asked by Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner to star as the character. According to the actor, he turned it down because after having just starred in Alien, he was worried about staying "up there," saying,
I wanted to get back down on Earth. I was afraid that if I did another space film… then I'd be [type cast].
You can't blame a guy for worrying about being type-cast, but missing out on Star Wars must have stung!
Eric Stoltz (Back To The Future)
In another of the more famous “almost-was” casting decisions, it was almost Eric Stoltz, not Michael J. Fox, as Marty McFly in Back To The Future. For six weeks, they filmed Stoltz in the lead role before deciding he wasn’t right for the humor. They went back to their first choice, Fox, who found a way to cram the film into his busy schedule shooting Family Ties, and the rest is history.
Dustin Hoffman (Dead Poet’s Society)
Of all the roles on this list, the one that would’ve dramatically changed its film most (pun intended) is Dustin Hoffman as John Keating in Dead Poets Society. Hoffman was cast in the part early on and according to writer Tom Schulman, the movie would’ve been very different. In the original script, Keating was dying of leukemia, something Hoffman was ready to embrace in the character, per Schulman:
Dustin Hoffman was originally cast to play Keating, and he said to me, ‘I’m going to lose 20 pounds to play this character,’ because he took the note about dying very seriously, and he was planning to extend it all the way backwards and forwards into his character.
A dying John Keating played by a dour Hoffman sounds intriguing, but the tone Robin Williams struck makes for much better movie.
Dustin Hoffman (Blade Runner)
Speaking of another movie that would have been quite different if it had starred Dustin Hoffman, the Rain Man actor was director Ridley Scott’s first choice to play Deckard in Blade Runner. According to the Mirror and production executive Katy Haber, the producers weren’t thrilled with Hoffman, and for the second time in his career, Harrison Ford caught a break and was cast in a film that would become a franchise.
Matthew Modine (Top Gun)
It’s impossible to image anyone other than Tom Cruise in the role of Maverick in Top Gun, or its sequel Top Gun: Maverick, but it almost happened. The part was originally offered to Matthew Modine, but the Stranger Things star turned down the film because of his personal politics, telling Salon,
Cruise said that he felt that Top Gun was a movie about individualism and personal strength. I just thought the movie was jingoistic.
You have to admire Modine for sticking to his personal morals, even if the role he turned down made Tom Cruise one of the biggest stars of all time, to the point where the 2022 sequel hit some major milestones at the box office.
Mickey Rourke (Beverly Hills Cop)
Well, this one is just bizarre. Before Beverly Hill Cop helped establish Eddie Murphy as one the most bankable stars of the 1980s, it was a very different movie. So different, in fact, that the actor originally attached to play the Axel Foley character was Micky Rourke. The idea was for it to be an action flick, not a comedy, and, as producer Jerry Bruckheimer explained, they contracted Rourke to star for a whopping $400,000. Eventually, Bruckheimer changed his mind and we’re all grateful for it.
Eddie Murphy (Who Framed Roger Rabbit)
Eddie Murphy isn’t immune from making the wrong call, either. While visiting with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Murphy talked about how he was offered the role of Jimmy Valient in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. According to the Shrek star,
The only movie I ever turned down that turned into a big hit was Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I was going to be the Bob Hoskins dude and I was like 'What? Animation and people? That sounds like bullshit to me.'
At least it sounds like Murphy is pretty good at not turning down hits on a regular basis!
John Belushi (Ghostbusters)
Sadly, this isn’t a case of an actor or a producer making the wrong (or correct) call by casting someone else in a role, this happened because the actor tragically died. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd were close friends and often castmates. As such, when Aykroyd wrote Ghostbusters, he wrote the role of Peter Venkman with Belushi in mind. Luckily for us, Bill Murray stepped into the part and the film still became a classic.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (RoboCop)
The part of the titular RoboCop is a little different than most others. This time, a big star was very interested in the role but lost out. According to The Movies That Made Us on Netflix, Fubar cast member Arnold Schwarzenegger was very keen to play the role and was riding a wave of success. It all makes sense, right? Well, no, and somewhat ironically, it was Schwarzenegger’s legendary physique that might have lost him the job. While his bulging biceps helped make him a star, the producers of RoboCop were worried he wouldn’t fit into the suit, so the gig went to Peter Weller.
Kris Kristofferson (The Shining)
This one is almost too hard to even contemplate. There is no one that could be Jack Torrance in The Shining other than Jack Nicholson, right? Well, it almost didn’t happen that way. While Nicholson was director Stanley Kubrick’s first choice to play the writer-gone-psycho Jack Torrance, there was a backup plan in case a deal couldn’t be made for the star. Kris Kristofferson was that plan, according to Kubrick historian Lee Unkrich.
Billy Zane (Dirty Dancing)
There has rarely been on-screen chemistry like that between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing. Would you believe it almost never happened? According to writer Eleanor Bergstein in The Movies That Made Us, it was almost Billy Zane in the legendary role of Johnny Castle. Unfortunately for Zane, but fortunately for the rest of us, Bergstein said he danced, "like someone who looked like he had learned to dance beautifully for his bar mitzvah."
Frank Sinatra (Die Hard)
In what must have been the most ridiculous casting pitch of all time, the producers of Die Hard were contractually obligated to offer the role of John McLean to Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra. You see, Die Hard was adapted from a book called Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. That book was a sequel to his 1966 novel The Detective, and that was adapted in 1968 into a movie of the same name starring Sinatra. Because of all this, the legendary singer/actor had the first right of refusal to play the role in future films. Of course, a 70-year-old Sinatra turned down the role and fans rejoice every Christmas when we get to watch Bruce Willis as McLean taking out the terrorists.
What If…
Finally, a few “what ifs” that were never particularly close to being cast, but directors were interested in filling some iconic roles with some really out-there choices. Take, for example, Tim Burton’s desire to cast Sammy Davis, Jr. as Beetlejuice, instead of Michael Keaton. It’s got to make you giggle at least a little bit to picture Davis trying to drive the Deetzes out of their home by crooning “The Candyman Can.”
How about instead of Sly Stallone as the grizzled Vietnam vet John Rambo, audiences got 1970s superstar, Burt Reynolds? The Smokey & The Bandit star was one of many big-name actors the producers contacted in hopes of landing them for the role. In an interview with Empire, Stallone once mentioned a few names that the part was offered to, including Reynolds, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino. Frankly, the movie might have worked with any of them, but we’re lucky it “fell” to Stallone.
Burton also had an out-of-the-box thought for the Joker in his Batman. Instead of Jack Nicholson owning that role, just imagine, for a second, David Bowie as the Clown Prince of Crime. Ziggy Stardust was the director’s dream pick, but it’s pretty safe to say that “settling” on Nicholson is a win for audiences, like almost every casting call on this list.
Somewhere in an alternate universe, all these parts were played by different actors and you have to wonder how the butterfly effect could have changed the course of careers and, indeed the film industry if these casts were different. We all believe the right choices were made, but were they? We'll never know.
