9 iconic film and TV roles that almost went to someone else: from Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt being asked to star in Brokeback Mountain, to Amy Schumer leading Barbie and Gwen Stefani in Mr & Mrs Smith
- Gwen Stefani as the lead in Mr & Mrs Smith, Vince Vaughn as Joey in Friends or Emma Watson as Mia in La La Land seem odd choices in hindsight – but to casting directors at the time, they made sense
- Beloved shows like Modern Family and iconic films Titanic, Barbie and Star Wars would have been very different had Matt LeBlanc, Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Schumer or Eddie Redmayne been involved
It’s impossible to think of anyone other than Matt LeBlanc playing Joey in Friends, or Kate Winslet as Rose in Titanic. But casting is a long and arduous process, with several interested parties in the filmmaking process all vying for their personal choice of actor or actress to play a particular role.
And sometimes actors just fluff their audition. Eddie Redmayne called his attempts to win the part of Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as “catastrophically bad”, telling Uproxx that after several failed goes at nailing the character’s voice in front of famed casting director Nina Gold, he admitted defeat: “After like 10 shots she’s like, ‘You got anything else?’ I was like, ‘No’.” The part eventually went to Adam Driver.
So who else missed out on some of the most iconic parts in film and TV history, and do they regret it? Here are some of our favourite could-have-been moments.
1. Gwyneth Paltrow as Rose in Titanic
When asked about rumours she’d turned the part down by radio host Howard Stern, the actress said: “I think I was really in contention for it. I was one of the last two,” adding that though she’s regretted some choices over the years. “There’s a universal lesson here. What good is it to hold onto roles?”