JOHN TRAVOLTA — Richard Gere might want to send John Travolta a bouquet of flowers for his career. Gere snatched up four major roles Travolta turned down. Those include:
An Officer and a Gentleman,
Days of Heaven,
American Gigolo, and
Chicago. Travolta was once asked if regretted turning down those roles, and he said, “not every movie I make has to be a hit.” If I were Travolta, I might say, “yes, and if you notice that my manager mysteriously disappeared, don’t come looking for me.”
ROB LOWE — Rob Lowe turned down Patrick Dempsey’s role in Grey’s Anatomy, and unlike John Travolta, Lowe willingly admits his mistake. He said, “I coulda been McDreamy! It’s an occupational hazard. It happens to everybody. The great thing is that Patrick Dempsey is so great in that part and he’s such a great actor. If I’d have done that I wouldn’t be doing this great part and having this fun on Brothers And Sisters. It all works out.” The irony of that quote is that Lowe eventually left Brothers And Sisters amidst speculation that he hoped to be more of a leading man. He also left The West Wing during the height of its success, in favor of The Lyon’s Den, which was canceled after just six episodes. Perhaps the ensemble cast is the way to go, after all.
MARY LOUISE PARKER — Mary Louise Parker turned down Teri Hatcher’s role in Desperate Housewives. While promoting Weeds on The View, the panel of yentas asked Parker if she regrets her decision, and she simply said, “no, it wasn’t my role.” She was then accosted with the same question fifty more times. Parker held firm, and repeated that “it wasn’t [her] role.” The truth is, this really did work out for everyone involved. What would Weeds be without Mary Louise Parker?
DENZEL WASHINGTON — Denzel’s career has taken a bit of a beating in recent years. But then again, so has Hollywood in general. He admitted in an interview that he turned down the role in I, Robot, which later went to Will Smith. Personally, I didn’t like the film, but it made a killing at the box-office.
WILL SMITH — I’m closing this post with Will Smith, who might be guilty of the worst choice in movie history. He turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix, in favor of Wild Wild West. Enough said.
There’s something suspicious about Ryan Murphy’s recent announcement that he’ll be letting go of his three choice players after Season 3 of Glee. First, all three actors are up for a contract renegotiation, and everyone knows that actors on a hit-show play hard-ball on Season 3 (remember Katherine Heigl’s Grey’s Anatomy debacle?). Second, they are three major stars, and despite Murphy’s proclamation that it’s the right creative choice, there is a huge risk of axing your primary series regulars. Does he seriously think that he can get three more unknown actors to duplicate the current lightning-in-a-bottle success of the show? All signs point to no. Third, what about Mark Salling? Why did he only announce that Lea, Cory, and Chris are leaving and neglect to mention Salling? Is it because Mark is less expensive, and Murphy knows he doesn’t require the same game of hardball? And lastly, the show barely tracked the years of its students, which means Murphy could easily stick to his real-time formula and keep these cast members on for two additional years (presuming they started as freshman). Instead, Murphy insists that “everyone knows they started as sophomores.” Really Mr. Murphy? I guess “everyone” doesn’t include The Dishmaster, because I was under the impression they all started as freshman, which gives them four years on the show — not three. His assumptions are certainly financially convenient — and suspicious.
