Roles they DIDN'T get.... — Page 4

"I've also heard talks of Roseanne and Kathy Griffin being approached to fill in for Jackie Hoffman, but then Whoopi getting the role. Not sure of the validity of those two, though. "

Yup. Griffin passed and I imagine Roseanne did, too.

Continuing the Cyndi Lauper train, she was signed to replace as the Witch in the original Into the Woods, but chickened out.

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Not totally broadway per say, but Shirley Temple was supposed to be Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz movie.

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Brave Sir Robin2, it was for Flotsam and/or Jetsame.

Wayne Brady was set to play the Scarecrow in La Jolla's revival of The Wiz, but dropped out.

Phil Silvers was approached to play Pseudolus in the original production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He turned it down, then played Marcus Lycus in the movie. Then, in the 80s he played Pseudolus in a Broadway revival.

James Cagney turned down the role of Alfred Doolittle in the My Fair Lady movie and Cary Grant turned down Henry Higgins, saying that he refused to ever even see the movie if Rex Harrison wasn't cast.

Jo Anne Worley screen tested for the part of Gussie Granger/Ernestina Simple in Hello, Dolly!, a role she had played in touring companies.

Julie Andrews turned down the films, Camelot, Bedknobs and Broomsticks (finding it to be too close to Mary Poppins), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a cameo offered to her in The Boy Friend.

Before going to Madonna, Gloria Estefan was invited to play the role of Evita but did not accept because of political connotations the character might have. Jennifer Lopez said she auditioned for the movie.

Richard Dreyfuss was cast as Joe Gideon in All That Jazz, but dropped out before filming began. Paul Newman turned down the role.

Jodie Foster auditioned to play Roxie Hart in the Chicago movie. Director Rob Marshall is quoted as saying "For Roxie, I saw 10 or more women: Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Charlize Theron, Christina Applegate, Ashley Judd, Lucy Lawless, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Toni Collette, Milla Jovovich, etc. I saw some beautiful women, exploring who could do it. Then I met with Renee." Mandy Moore auditioned for the role of Kitty Baxter, but was turned down because she was too young. Charlie Sheen read for the part of Amos.

Gale Sondergaard was originally offered the part of the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz, but turned it down after a screen test, saying she refused to play an ugly character. Also, Buddy Ebsen was originally the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (before that, he was the Scarecrow), but was replaced. Here's the story to that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdpB8wkZOIw

Not Broadway, but Penny Marshall auditioned for the role of Witchie Poo in H.R. Puffnstuff.

I love this thread..

John G Jnr was offered what????

I've always wondered why they auditioned Cyndi Lauper for the '05 revival of SWEENEY if Sondheim had already promised the role to Patti LuPone, isn't that kinda fvcked up?

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Jonartdesigns, I don't know if it was salary disputes with Laura Bell Bundy and Wicked. The rumour is she was fired from her standby role as Glinda, when she wasn't at the theatre to go on for Kristin.

BTW: Kristin Chenoweth played Millie in Throughly Modern Millie with Bea Arthur as Mrs. Meers

Kerry Butler did readings of both The Little Mermaid (Ariel) and Legally Blonde (Elle), and said in an interview that she was happy she got Xanadu, because she had workshopped two shows and her roles were given away.

Let's not forget Barbra Streisand was looked at for the Evita movie.

Judy Garland was sought after to replace Angela Lansbury in Mame, but the producers weren't sure if she could commit to 8 shows a week.

Finally, the infamous early 1990's movie reading of Into The Woods with Robin Williams (the Baker), Goldie Hawn (the Baker's Wife), Cher (the Witch), Steve Martin (the Wolf), Danny DeVito (the Giant), Elijah Wood (Jack), Roseanne (Jack's mother), Bebe Neuwirth (Cinderella's stepmother), Mayim Bialik (Little Red Riding Hood), Samantha Mathis (Rapunzel), Brendan Fraser (Rapunzel's prince), Moira Kelly (Cinderella), Kyle MacLachlan (Cinderella's prince) and Michael Jeter (Cinderella's father). Penny Marshall was on to direct.

Thanks for the backup, Blaxx.

Some of these stories are inaccurate. ray, you come the closest to the facts about the Chicago movie casting:

Was Toni Collette actually offered Roxy? Or did she just audition?
Speaking of CHICAGO, the choice for Mary Sunshine came down to Christine Baranski and Kristin Chenoweth (who I beieve also auditioned for Roxy, but they were gonna cast that role with a star)...obviously Baranski got the part.
Nicole Kidman also got offered Roxy but turned it down to do MOULIN ROUGE. Both Catherine Z. Jones and Renee Zellweger auditioned for that movie, but Kidman got the part. Interestingly enough, Zellweger was pretty crushed when she put herself through the audition process (which obviously included singing and dancing) for that movie and didn't get the part, this almost kept her from meeting with Rob Marshall about CHICAGO. On the other hand, Jones was allegedly given the choice to play either Velma or Roxy.

Toni Colette tested for Roxy, and several on the creative team (including Bill Condon) really wanted her. Once Renee tested, that was that. She was a bigger name and worked better for the studio and the director. And Marshall thought she was best for the part. Zeta-Jones was, indeed, offered her choice of roles.

As far as Ragtime, LaChanze was the original Sarah in the workshop of Ragtime. She ultimately turned the part down, because it wasn't big enough. She was not ousted and "replaced" by Audra for the Broadway run. At the time of the workshop, Sarah was a smaller part. "Your Daddy's Son" hadn't been written yet, and there was no appearance at all in Act II. After LaChanze left and Audra was signed to play Sarah, they beefed up the role and added material for her. If only LaChanze would have waited. But perhaps it was the casting of Audra that inspired them to write that material. And yes, LaChanze ultimately played Sarah in the American Premiere production of Ragtime in Los Angeles and subsequently replaced Audra during the Broadway run.

Some other older "classic" replacements. Film star Jean Arthur was fired out of town from the original pre-Broadway production of "Born Yesterday." They worked hard with her, but ultimately didn't like her performance as Billie Dawn. Sadly, Jean had turned down the role of Mary Bailey in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" to take the stage role instead. She was replaced by an unknown New York actress named Judy Holliday, and Mary Bailey was ultimately played by Donna Reed.

There were a lot of last-minute switches at the studios for various roles. Gene Kelly broke his foot during rehearsals for the movie Easter Parade, and was replaced by Fred Astaire (who had just "retired" and had to be lured back to do it). June Allyson found out she was pregnant during the rehearsals of Royal Wedding, so she was replaced by Judy Garland. Two weeks later, Garland was fired from the film (and dropped from her studio contract), and replaced by Jane Powell. Buddy Ebsen was replaced after six weeks of filming Wizard of Oz by Jack Haley. He became seriously ill from inhaling the toxic aluminum dust used to make the Tin Man's face silver. They switched it to a paste for Haley. (Interesting trivia: they never rerecorded the group singing in the film, only Ebsen's solo lines were rerecorded by Haley, so when they all sing "We're Off to See the Wizard," you can still hear Buddy Ebsen's voice as the Tin Man in the movie.)

As mentioned before, Garland was replaced in Annie Get Your Gun. She was also replaced in Valley of the Dolls by Susan Hayward.

Norma Shearer turned down the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. She also turned down the title role in Mrs. Miniver. (Both are Oscar-winning classic roles in Oscar-winning classic films.)

Back to Broadway ... Michele Lee replaced Lanie Kazan in See-Saw out of town.

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Updated On: 5/14/11 at 06:18 AM

Angela Lansbury and Lucille Ball were also interested in playing Miss Daisy. Studio executives also considered a Bette Midler/Eddie Murphy pairing.

Not to keep harping on the Toni Collete/Chicago thing but....


Vanessa williams was supposed to do wild party but dropped out

Toni Collete was offered the lead in Bridget Jones Diary but turned it down to play Queenie on Broadway...the role went to Renee Zellwegger.

Toni Collete was auditioned for and was seriously considered for the role of Roxie in Chicago, but the role went to Renee who had just come off of the great success (and box office reciepts) of Bridget Jones Diary.

She also heavily petitioned for the role of Mrs. Lovett but I don't think she was ever seriously considered