Star Misses: 10 Career-Changing Roles That Weren't

Imagine "Pretty Woman" starring Molly Ringwald. Or "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with Tom Selleck as leading man. How about "The Graduate" with Robert Redford playing Benjamin Braddock -- instead of Dustin Hoffmann?

Those were studios' early choices to fill now-legendary film roles. Hard to believe? Little wonder. "The essence of a good casting decision is that you simply take it for granted," says Janet Hirshenson, a casting agent behind some of Hollywood's biggest films, including "A Beautiful Mind," "When Harry Met Sally," and "A Few Good Men."

The way she sees it, it's only on the rare occasion that viewers try to imagine a different cast that they realize the impact of such decisions.

In Pictures: 10 Career-Changing Roles That Weren't


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"I think that when it all comes together and it works, how could you imagine anybody else?" adds Jane Jenkins, Hirshenson's casting partner and co-author of "A Star is Found: Our Adventures of Casting Some of Hollywood's Biggest Movies." "It only sticks out like a sore thumb when it doesn't work, but usually those movies don't do well enough for anybody to even notice."

Try to consider the 1980s sitcom "Family Ties" without Michael J. Fox playing uber-Republican Alex P. Keaton. It seems almost impossible now, but the television studio only offered the now-iconic part to Fox after first-choice Matthew Broderick passed on the role.

At the time, the show's producers felt Fox was simply too short for the gig. To make the point, NBC Entertainment Chief Brandon Tartikoff asked the show's creator Gary David Goldberg if he could imagine Fox's face on a lunchbox. Some years later, after "Back to the Future," Fox's face did find its way to lunchboxes -- and he was sure to send one to Tartikoff, with a note attached that reportedly read: "Dear Brandon, this is for you to put your crow on. Lots of Love, Michael J. Fox." Rumor has it Tartikoff kept the lunchbox in his office for the rest of his NBC career.

Making the right casting call is crucial to financial success in entertainment, which is why a casting director (either employed by the studio or working on a freelance basis) as well as a director, producer, and studio executives weigh in on the decisions.

In an increasingly crowded entertainment universe, a film's opening-weekend box office figures (or a TV show's premiere ratings) have become a vital measure of a project's success; that's why casting directors often come up with the same lists of stars at the beginning of the process. After all, there's only a select cadre that can not only secure funding, but also turn a profit. Of late, that group consists of a handful of names -- all of them male -- including Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Mel Gibson, and Matt Damon.

According to Hirshenson and Jenkins, actors typically pass on starring roles for two reasons: money and time. More specifically, they can't get enough of the former or they don't have enough of the latter. But other times, stars are simply uninterested -- or uncomfortable -- with the roles. And when you're on the industry's A-list, you're allowed to be picky.

Take Mark Wahlberg, who has admitted to passing on "Brokeback Mountain." "The Departed" actor told the press he turned down the opportunity because he was "a little creeped out" by the homosexual cowboy storyline and its subsequent sex scene.

Wise move? Probably not. The landmark film scored Heath Ledger an Oscar nod and generated $80 million -- as well as accolades -- at the box office.

Same goes for Anne Hathaway -- she was all set to play Alison Scott, an entertainment reporter whose one-night stand with a slacker leads to a surprise pregnancy in last summer's comedy "Knocked Up," but dropped out for creative reasons. Hathaway later told the press: "I turned down another movie because it was going to show a vagina -- not mine, but somebody else's. And I didn't believe that it was actually necessary to the story."

The move worked out well for her replacement, "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl. The raunchy flick proved a smash hit at the box office, and the role catapulted the small-screen actress to big-screen stardom.