When it comes to our favourite TV shows and films of all time, it is most often the lead role that reaches icon status.
But as we know, Hollywood is ripe with incredible actors looking for their next big break. So naturally, those iconic roles would have been hot-property for other famous names during audition season.
And while it’s difficult to imagine someone else playing Andy in The Devil Wears Prada or Rose in Titanic, it’s fun to imagine if A-list runners-up actually did get the part.
Below, find out which of your favourite Hollywood star could have played the most iconic characters of all time. But beware, some may surprise you.
Nicole Kidman (Notting Hill)
While Nicole Kidman stars opposite Hugh Grant in HBO’s The Undoing, she could have shared the screen with him decades ago. The Oscar winner told Grant in a conversation for Marie Claire U.S., that she had her heart set on playing Grant’s love interest in 1999’s Notting Hill and in 2003’s Love Actually.
“I think there was something where I think I really wanted a role… maybe I was gonna do a small role in Love, Actually at one point,” said Kidman.
“Were you? Which part?” asked Grant, to which Kidman replied, “I can’t remember. It was not a big role. And I really wanted the role that Julia Roberts played in Notting Hill.”
“Yeah, I did,” she said before modestly adding, “But I wasn’t well known enough, and I wasn’t talented enough.”
Mindy Kaling (Bridesmaids)
The Office alumni Mindy Kaling was almost cast in Maya Rudolph’s role as Lillian, in the 2011 hit Bridesmaids. She revealed the news to Andy Cohen in an episode of Watch What Happens Live. Kaling revealed that she “loved the whole cast” and the movie. “That was one that was a heartbreaker.”
Elizabeth Olsen (Game Of Thrones)
Avengers star Elizabeth Olsen revealed to Buzzfeed that she actually had auditioned for Daenerys Targaryen in Game Of Thrones. But as we know, she lost the role to Emilia Clarke. However, Olsen did admit to forgetting that she even auditioned and declared her love for the series, saying: “I’m obsessed with it and I’m so sad it’s over.”
Courteney Cox (Friends)
Our favourite New York City pals could have looked very different. Apparently, Courteney Cox was originally offered the role of Rachel Green on Friends. Revealing the fact in an episode of the Off Camera with Sam Jones podcast, Cox admits to turning down the role because she felt like she related more to Monica.
“For some reason, I thought I related more to Monica, which maybe it’s because I do,” she explained. “I’m very similar to her …”
Brie Larson (The Hunger Games and Star Wars)
Captain Marvel star Brie Larson could have also been the star of two other major franchise films. Revealed in her first YouTube video, Brie Larson opened up about auditioning for Rey Skywalker in the latest Star Wars franchise.
She also auditioned to play Katniss in The Hunger Games franchise, which ended up going to Jennifer Lawrence. “I auditioned for Star Wars,” Brie recalled in her YouTube video. “I auditioned for Hunger Games. I auditioned for the Terminator reboot.”
She added, “I actually was thinking about the Terminator reboot today because I got a flat tire and I was like, ‘Oh the last time I got a flat tire was when I was driving into my audition for Terminator, got a flat tire at the audition, and then didn’t get the job’.”
Emma Watson (La La Land)
Emma Stone teamed up with her on-screen soulmate Ryan Gosling for the second time in La La Land, but Emma’s role almost went to another Emma: Watson.
During an appearance on talk-show Lorraine, Watson explained that she pulled out of the film due to schedule conflicts for her live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.
“With a movie like Beauty and the Beast it’s like three months prep, it’s like three or four months shooting, it’s in the U.K.,” Watson explained.
“I had to be there to do that and, as I was saying before, you can’t half-arse a project like this—you’re in or you’re out. And I was like, ‘I’ve kinda got to be all in’, and so this was really where my heart was and I knew I had to fully commit and make sure that I did this.”
George Clooney (The Notebook)
It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Ryan Gosling as the loveable Noah, apparently George Clooney almost had the role, with Paul Newman starring as the older version of Noah instead of James Garner.
During a virtual conversation for the 64th BFI London Film Festival, Clooney opened up about his close call with the role, saying: “We [he and Newman] were going to do The Notebook together,” Clooney said, per Deadline.
“Basically, I was going to play him as a young man, and it was funny. We met and said, ‘This is it. It’s going to be great.’ ” Apparently, he then went home and start binging Newman movies, which low-key freaked him out. “He’s one of the handsomest guys you’ve ever seen. We met up [again] and I said, ‘I can’t play you. I don’t look anything like you. This is insane,’” he said. “We just wanted to do it because we wanted to work together, [but] it ended up being not the right thing for us to do.”
Rumer Willis (Gossip Girl)
Blake Lively as Gossip Girl‘s blonde bombshell Serena van der Woodsen seems like the obvious choice, but apparently, another celebrity was set to take the role.
Revealing all in an interview with Buzzfeed, casting agent David Rapaport admitted that Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, was the original choice to play the Upper East Side socialite. However, the casting director wanted to go with a lesser known actress, so they chose Blake Lively instead.
Rachel McAdams (The Devil Wears Prada)
According to Anne Hathaway herself, she wasn’t the first choice for her iconic role as Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada. And while it’s hard to imagine another famous face alongside Miranda Priestly, she revealed that Rachel McAdams was actually the first choice.
“I didn’t have to audition,” Hathaway told Variety. “I had to be patient. I wasn’t the first choice.”
Gwyneth Paltrow (Titanic)
According to James Cameron, Gwyneth Paltrow his original choice to play Rose in Titanic. That is, until he found Kate Winslet. Revealing all in an interview with Howard Stern, Paltrow made it clear that she didn’t turn the role down, as is a common misconception, but things simply didn’t work out.
“I know that the story is that I turned it down. I think I was really in contention for it, I was one of the last two. I look back at the choices I’ve made and think, ‘Why the hell did I say yes to that? And no to that?’ And you know, you look at the big picture and think: There’s a universal lesson here. What good is it to hold onto roles?”
Jennifer Lawrence (Easy A)
It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the hilarious role as Olive Penderghast from Easy A, but apparently Jennifer Lawrence was in the running. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Jennifer Lawrence revealed that she also auditioned for the leading role. In a group interview with Emma Stone, Allison Janney, Jessica Chastain, Mary J. Blige, and Saoirse Ronan, the women were asked about their favourite line of dialogue they’ve ever said in a film.
“‘Piss off, Quiznos.’ That’s from Easy A. I shove a Quiznos guy and say, ‘Piss off, Quiznos,'” Stone shared. That’s when Lawrence remarked that she “auditioned for Easy A. I wanted it so bad.”
Emilia Clarke (Fifty Shades Of Grey)
As a result of Game Of Thrones’ several nudity scenes, Emilia Clarke admits that was the reason why she turned down the lead role in 2015’s Fifty Shades Of Grey. During The Hollywood Reporter‘s Drama Actress Roundtable, she revealed that she was offered the role of Anastasia Steele in the erotic thriller, but turned it down due to the excessive nude scenes.
“Well, Sam [Taylor-Johnson, the director] is a magician. I love her, and I thought her vision was beautiful. But the last time that I was naked on camera on [Game of Thrones] was a long time ago, and yet it is the only question that I ever get asked because I am a woman,” Clarke said.
“And it’s annoying as hell and I’m sick and tired of it because I did it for the character—I didn’t do it so some guy could check out my t*ts, for God’s sake,” she continued.
“So, that coming up, I was like, ‘I can’t.’ I did a minimal amount and I’m pigeonholed for life, so me saying yes to that, where the entire thing is about sensuality and sex and being naked and all of that stuff.”
Marilyn Monroe (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
As far as classic Hollywood films go, Breakfast At Tiffany’s is easily one of the most iconic. And while we’ve dreamt of being Audrey Hepburn eating a croissant outside of a Tiffany & Co. store, there was another famous name set to take her role.
Marilyn Monroe was apparently the first choice for Hepburn’s role. “What’s interesting is… Marilyn Monroe was originally being considered for the role,” Crazy About Tiffany’s director Matthew Miele told The Telegraph. “It changed everything about the image so I think they lucked out with that.”
Toni Collette (Bridget Jones’ Diary)
While Renee Zellweger’s role as the loveable and forever-single Bridget Jones was clearly meant to be, Toni Collette actually turned down the role. Speaking to The Scoop in 2005, Collette said:
“I was doing The Wild Party on Broadway when I was offered Bridget Jones’s Diary,” she admitted. “But I couldn’t do it because I didn’t know how long The Wild Party was going to play.”
John Krasinski (Captain America)
According to an interview with Conan O’Brien, John Krasinski was in the last stages of securing the role of Captain America, but dropped out after seeing Chris Hemsworth’s impressive body while filming Thor.
“I was putting on the suit just watching it, and like, this is so amazing. And I got about right to my waist, I was still shirtless and feeling pretty good about myself—wasn’t 13 Hours yet but felt pretty good. All of a sudden Chris Hemsworth walked by as Thor and went ‘Hey mate’, and I went ‘I’m good. This is stupid, I shouldn’t—It’s okay, I’m not going to be Captain America, it’s fine.'”
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