Stars who turned down legendary roles- Page 3

[StockardFan]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 9:48pm

This is a very interesting thread! I knew about a few of these but not all of them.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 9:53pm

"Shirley McClaine was supposed to play the mother in POLTERGEIST (she turned it down at the advice of her spiritual adviser)."

I'd never heard that before. I would assume there must have been some pretty big rewrites to the script before, or after, they cast JoBeth Williams, especially since in the movie it is stated that the character is 32 (and thus showing that the oldest daughter was the result of a teenage pregnancy).

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 10:03pm

I think it was The Exorcist she turned down.

ETA: Scratch that. Apparently the character The Exorcist was based on her.
Updated On: 6/20/13 at 10:03 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 10:13pm

Yes, I knew that Blatty had used her as a model for the character when he was writing the novel. I wonder if Maclaine was offered Beatrice Straight's role (Dr. Lesh, the paranormal investigator who first comes to the house) and Hollywood legend has morphed it into her being offered the role of Diane.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 10:15pm

No, it was rewritten to fit a younger, more unknown cast. Remember when big movies could have near-unknowns in them?

Another one from THE EXORCIST: Roy Scheider was seriously considered for Karras until Friedkin met Jason Miller.

AND edit again to add another: Richard Dreyfus in ALL THAT JAZZ. When things didn't click with Fosse, Dreyfus suggested Scheider.

Updated On: 6/20/13 at 10:15 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 10:28pm

The role of Chris McNeil in The Exorcist was written with Shirley MacLaine in mind, both for the book and the movie.

This fictional character is actually based on (or rather inspired by) her and her daughter Sachi.

Updated On: 6/20/13 at 10:28 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 10:30pm

I don't know if that's your work or something you pulled off of Google, but it did make me laugh out loud. Thanks, best12.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 10:31pm

I did a search on Google and found it.

LOL

EDIT: It's kinda scary how much they both look like Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair in that second shot.

Not a coincidence either.

Updated On: 6/20/13 at 10:31 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/20/13 at 10:35pm

Here is Shirley talking about The Exorcist herself

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/21/13 at 9:52pm

For those as dense as I, but who DON'T go to best12's link, it should be noted that MacLaine means Blatty based incidental character details on her and her daughter. Until I heard her, I thought the claim here was that the possession and exorcism were based on MacLaine and her family.

(IIRC, the events of the book were inspired by an actual case where the possessed child was a boy.)

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/21/13 at 10:19pm

I always thought Burstyn kind of looked like Maclaine in the film. But I'll need confirmation from doodle that it was intentional.

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 6/22/13 at 12:49am

Bette Davis turned down Mildred Pierce

Brain DePalma wanted everyone but Sissy Spacek to be Carrie. He wanted Sissy to be Chris, and he considered Amy Irving and Nancy Allen (Sue and Chris) for Carrie. Linda Blair, and Farrah Fawcet turned the role down. There was another really popular actress who turned it down. Glad Spacek snagged it. She was amazing!

Rachel McAdams turned down Devil Wears Prada.
Apparently Rachael McAdams is very selective and Anne Hathaway has picked up a few roles that she's rejected.

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/23/13 at 11:43am

On the Carrie DVD they talk about how weird the casting was for the film. They had a joint (low budget) casting call for both George Lucas's Star Wars and De Palma's Carrie.

At the same time. People read for Lucas and De Palma.

William Katt talks about how he went in for Luke Skywalker and got cast as Tommy Ross in Carrie.

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 6/23/13 at 8:06pm

I remember that documentary.

I thought of some others,

Tina Turner, and Chaka Khan turned down the role of Shug Avery in The Color Purple film. Brenda Russel was passed over for the same role.

Whitney Houston and Halle Berry turned down the role of Tina Turner in What's Love got to do with it? Jenifer Lewis was passed over for Tina and offered the role of her mother.

This isn't a turn down, but there was a movie version of Dreamgirls being built around Whitney Houston, but she wanted to seeing Effie's songs as Deena. Also there was another Dreamgirls movie in the works with Lauryn Hill as Deena and Kelly Price as Effie. Now that, would have been something to see.