Regrets? We’ve had more than a few!
As Michelle Pfeiffer ponders the big parts she rejected, other A-listers who turned down acclaim, awards and billion-pound paydays
MICHELLE PFEIFFER has more than a few regrets. Her latest movie, the black comedy French Exit, isn’t one of them. Due to open in Britain next month, lockdown permitting, it’s already being tipped to earn the three-times nominated star that elusive Oscar.
But when she looks back on her career, it’s the roles she turned down that haunt her. Pfeiffer rejected the leads in Pretty-Woman, which launched Julia Roberts to stardom, and Bugsy, which propelled Annette Bening to fame.
She even turned down Silence Of The Lambs, which made Jodie Foster a household name. “I think of that one a lot,” says Pfeiffer, aged 62, admitting her “regret about that”.
Thelma and Louise was another winner that slipped through her fingers, giving Susan Sarandon her biggest hit, and she also turned down the lead in Evita, allowing Madonna to prove she’s no Michelle Pfeiffer.
Sharon Stone owes much of her career to Pfeiffer, inheriting the lead roles in Basic Instinct and Casino after she walked away.
“A lot of these films turned out amazing,” Pfeiffer admits, citing the difficulties of juggling a career with being a mother to her two children. “I just got pickier and pickier because it was hard to leave them,” she says.
Yet she is hardly alone in turning down roles of a lifetime. Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars still kick themselves for rejecting parts that could have defined their careers.
Matt Damon laments turning down Avatar and a 10 per cent share of its box office earnings. With four sequels it would have made him a billionaire.
“That sucked and that’s still brutal,” says Damon. “But my kids are all eating. I’m doing OK.” John Lithgow also turned his back on a fortune when he declined to play The Joker in 1989 blockbuster Batman. Auditioning for director Tim Burton, Lithgow recalls: “I tried to persuade him I was not right for the part, and I succeeded.” Jack Nicholson ultimately took the role, and the £79million payday. Gwyneth Paltrow missed out on a lucrative cut of the box office when she turned down the lead role in 1997 blockbuster Titanic, which made Kate Winslet a star.
“My mother will kill me,” said Paltrow when she saw Titanic earn more than £1.8billion. “I look back at the choices I’ve made and think, why the hell did I say yes to that, and no to that?” A sentiment echoed by Eddie Murphy, who turned down the lead in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and admits: “Every time I see it, I feel like an idiot.”
Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon all passed on the chance to star in Oscar-winning gay cowboy drama Brokeback Mountain, leaving the way clear for Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.
“Nobody wanted to do it,” says director Gus Van Sant, who passed the reins to Ang Lee because stars kept turning down the roles. “They all said no.” Will Smith regrets turning down the role of Neo in The Matrix, which went to Keanu Reeves. “In the pitch, I just didn’t see it,” says Smith. “Very rarely do I say this, but I would have messed it up. At that point I wasn’t smart enough as an actor to let the movie be.”
Julia Roberts walked away from Shakespeare In Love when she couldn’t get Daniel Day-Lewis to costar, leaving Gwyneth Paltrow to fill her shoes and win the Oscar. “Daniel wasn’t interested, so Julia withdrew,” said co-star Simon Callow. And Nicolas Cage rejected the title role in The Wrestler, which revitalised Mickey Rourke’s flagging career and won him an Oscar. While some stars resist the temptation to wonder what
might have been, others suffer years of regret. British hunk Charlie Hunnam still laments turning down S&M romance Fifty Shades Of Grey, opening the way for Jamie Dornan. “It was the most emotionally destructive and difficult thing that I’ve ever had to deal with professionally,” he says. “It was heartbreaking.” Harry Potter star Emma Watson gave up the lead in La La Land to Emma Stone, who went on to win an Oscar for the role.Watson had signed to star in Disney’s live-action Beauty And The Beast later that year, and decided that with months of dance rehearsals and horse training ahead of her, she didn’t have the energy to make La La Land as well. “It just didn’t work out,” says Watson. John Travolta made his name with Saturday Night Fever and Grease, but his star was fading when he was offered the title role in Forrest Gump. He turned it down to instead take the lead in Quentin Tarantino’s hit Pulp Fiction, which went on to win one Oscar in 1995, while Forrest Gump swept six awards including best actor for Tom Hanks.
SIR SEAN Connery just couldn’t see himself as Gandalf in Lord Of The Rings, which allowed Sir Ian McKellen to step in for three lucrative films. “I never understood it,” said Sir Sean, who died in October, aged 90. “I read the book. I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don’t understand it.” But few stars have turned down as many great movies as Burt Reynolds, whose biggest regret was declining to take over from Sean Connery as James Bond. Reynolds told producer Cubby Broccoli that fans would never accept an American 007, but later admitted: “It was a stupid thing to say. I could’ve done it, and I could’ve done it well.” Reynolds also turned down the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, after Marlon Brando threatened to quit if he was hired, so it went to Al Pacino. “I was flattered that he was upset,” said Reynolds, who died in 2018, aged 82. He also rejected Die Hard, which made TV actor Bruce Willis a movie star, and Jack Nicholson’s roles in both One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Terms Of Endearment. Most painfully, Reynolds refused the part that launched Harrison Ford: playing Han Solo in Star Wars. “I just didn’t want to play that kind of role at the time,” he said years later. “Now I regret it. I wish I would have done it.” The roles he spurned haunted Reynolds, who confessed: “They all would have changed my career, without a doubt.” He even turned down the lead in Pretty Woman, which went to Richard Gere, explaining in words that many of his colleagues might echo: “because I’m an idiot”.