Have you ever ever give up a job earlier than your first day? I did as soon as (as a result of I had a robust feeling I should not transfer to China for a job instructing English, and thank goodness, as a result of COVID hit, like, a month earlier than I used to be supposed to start out, and I might’ve wound up caught and unemployed on the opposite facet of the world). ANYWAY, actors tackle new jobs (i.e. roles) pretty ceaselessly, and they are often arduous to get, which is why it is shocking once they resolve to stroll away.
Listed here are 17 actors who dropped out of a job earlier than the cameras began rolling:
1.
In 2026, Odessa A’zion signed on to play Zoe Gutierrez in an upcoming adaptation of Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley. The casting announcement sparked immediate backlash as a result of the character is Mexican, and Odessa is white and never Latina. Lots of criticism additionally identified the timing of the choice to whitewash a Mexican character when ICE is concentrating on Latino communities within the US.
A couple of days after the announcement, Odessa determined to drop out. On her Instagram story, she stated, “Guys!! I’m with ALL of you and I’m NOT doing this film. Fuck that. I am OUT. lemme make myself clear… THANK YOU guys for bringing this to my consideration. I AGREE WITH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU! For this reason I like you guys. I am so so sorry that this occurred. It’s SO necessary for me to allow you to in on the way it all went down: I went in for Percy, however was provided Zoe as an alternative and immediately stated sure! I am so pissed y’all, I hadn’t learn the guide and may have paid extra consideration to all facets of Zoe earlier than accepting… and now that I do know what I do know??? Fuck that! IM OUT.”
2.
Equally, in 2017, Ed Skrein was solid as Main Ben Daimio — who’s Japanese American within the comics — within the reboot of Hellboy. He dropped out of the function every week later following backlash to the function being whitewashed.
In an announcement shared to social media, Ed stated, “Final week it was introduced that I might be enjoying Main Ben Daimio within the upcoming HELLBOY reboot. I accepted the function unaware that the character within the authentic comics was of blended Asian heritage. There was intense dialog and comprehensible upset since that announcement, and I need to do what I really feel is correct. It’s clear that representing this character in a culturally correct method holds significance for folks, and that to neglect this accountability would proceed a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority tales and voices within the Arts. I really feel you will need to honour and respect that. Subsequently I’ve determined to step down so the function may be solid appropriately.”
The function went to Daniel Dae Kim, who informed the Hollywood Reporter, “I applaud the producers and, specifically, Ed Skrein for championing the notion that Asian characters ought to be performed by Asian or Asian American actors. He couldn’t have addressed the difficulty extra elegantly, and I stay indebted to him for his energy of character.”
3.
In 2023, Joaquin Phoenix was set to star in an untitled homosexual romance film. Director Todd Haynes informed Selection, “It is a love story between two males set within the 30s that has express sexual content material that or no less than it challenges you with the sexual relationship between these two males. One is a Native American character, and one is a corrupt cop in LA. It is set within the 30s. They need to flee LA in the end and go to Mexico. Nevertheless it’s a love story and with a robust sexual part.”
Nonetheless, a mere 5 days earlier than capturing was scheduled to start out in 2024, the actor dropped out altogether. The mission reportedly hinged on having him on the helm, stopping a recast and thus dooming the movie completely. In response to the Hollywood Reporter, producer Christine Vachon of Killer Movies reportedly made (and later deleted) a Fb publish about Joaquin’s departure. Sharing an article about it, she added, “A model of this did occur. It has been a nightmare.”
He allegedly acquired “chilly toes” concerning the manufacturing, in response to a supply who spoke to Selection. Crew members reportedly speculated that he determined to drop out due to the graphic intercourse scenes, although different sources stated Joaquin was the one who proposed the script to the director within the first place.
4.
Nonetheless, that wasn’t the primary time Joaquin Phoenix dropped out of a job so near the beginning of manufacturing. In 2015, he reportedly backed out of the lead function in Break up just a few weeks earlier than filming.
He was changed by James McAvoy, who later informed Selection, “He’d give a really completely different efficiency than the one I did however an unimaginable one. Generally, coming in final minute is one of the simplest ways. I believe he ditched it two weeks earlier than they began capturing. It was actually last-minute. I had a few weeks [to prep]. Two weeks. The script was nicely put collectively, so loads of it was clear what I wished to do immediately. A pair characters took slightly longer to search out. Patricia got here fast. Hedwig took awhile.”
5.
In 2023, Andrew Garfield was solid because the Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. Nonetheless, he wound up dropping out as a result of scheduling conflicts associated to the Writers Guild of America strike.
Jacob Elordi changed him. Andrew later informed Deadline, “I like Guillermo, and I like Oscar [Isaac] and everybody that he assembled, so I used to be upset. However assembly Jacob felt actually, I do not know, serendipitous, in order that I might actually see and listen to that, Oh, no, perhaps he actually wanted that have greater than me. That was cool to really feel that he had a extremely spectacular time on that job.”
6.
For context, in By no means Have I Ever, professional tennis participant John McEnroe serves because the narrator for episodes targeted on the primary character, Devi. In 2021, Chrissy Teigen was set to relate a Season 2 episode targeted on Devi’s love curiosity, Paxton. Nonetheless, after Chrissy spoke out about going through “relentless bullying” on Twitter, her previous cyberbullying tweets and alleged DMs to Courtney Stodden — who was solely 16 once they famously married 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchison — resurfaced.
Gigi Hadid took over as Paxton’s narrator. Within the episode, she stated, “You could be asking your self, ‘Why is previous Gigers taking outing of her busy skedge to relate the story of a 16-year-old boy?’ Imagine it or not — I relate to this child. We’re each always underestimated as a result of folks solely see us as intercourse symbols.”
7.
On the finish of 2016, Amy Schumer was solid in a live-action Barbie film from Sony. Hilary Winston wrote the script, however the actor reportedly deliberate to rewrite it together with her sister, author/producer Kim Caramele. No director was connected to the mission.
Nonetheless, three months later, Amy backed out. In an announcement, she stated, “Sadly, I am not in a position to decide to Barbie as a result of scheduling conflicts. The movie has a lot promise, and Sony and Mattel have been nice companions. I am bummed, however stay up for seeing Barbie on the massive display screen.”
A number of years later, the film lastly landed at Warner Bros. with Margot Robbie as its star and Greta Gerwig as its director/cowriter. In 2023 — the 12 months the movie was launched — Amy admitted that her script hadn’t felt “feminist and funky” sufficient. She informed Watch What Occurs Stay, “It actually was simply inventive variations. However you recognize, there is a new workforce behind it, and it appears prefer it’s very feminist and funky, so I can be seeing the film.”
(*17*)
8.
Initially, Ben Affleck was speculated to cameo in Barbie! At a Q&A, Michael Cera, who performed Allan, stated, “I wasn’t even speculated to struggle within the film. Am I allowed to say what it was speculated to be? It was speculated to be Ben Affleck. Proper? Am I allowed to say that? … I believe Ben wished to do it, however he was directing his film.”
The filmmakers did not know Ben could not be within the scene the place Allan fights development staff till “the eleventh hour.” Michael continued, “They’re like, ‘Okay, Ben’s out, one thing has to occur right here. So that you’re gonna struggle them.’ So I needed to soar in with the stunt workforce. I had simply gotten over COVID, they usually had me coaching, and I virtually died. Simply doing the warm-up! I needed to lay down in my trailer, they usually despatched the nurse to see me, and I used to be despatched house. So then we had a second rehearsal, and I realized it. That is the story mainly.”
9.
In 2014, Zendaya was set to star because the titular music icon within the Lifetime biopic Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B. Nonetheless, Aaliyah’s household was reportedly against the Lifetime manufacturing and tried to legally block the community from utilizing “any of the music, or any of the images and movies that [they] personal.”
The film was speculated to be filmed in the summertime, however Zendaya dropped out on the finish of June. A month later, she addressed the state of affairs in an Instagram video, saying, “Let me simply clarify one thing. The motive why I selected to not do the Aaliyah film had nothing to do with the haters or folks telling me I could not do it, I wasn’t gifted sufficient, or I wasn’t Black sufficient. It had completely nothing to do with that. The fundamental causes had been the manufacturing worth wasn’t there. There have been issues with the music rights. And I simply felt prefer it wasn’t being dealt with delicately contemplating the state of affairs.”
She was recast with Alexandra Shipp.
10.
Woody Harrelson was reportedly in talks to play Rick Hatchett on The White Lotus. Nonetheless, sources informed the Hollywood Reporter that he was allegedly unhappy with getting the very same pay as everybody else within the solid and tried to barter a better wage with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
In response to the Day by day Beast, he truly did signal on to play Frank, however his reps stated, “It isn’t about cash… He was set to do the present, they usually moved the date. And since they moved to this point, he was not accessible, so that they recast.”
He was changed by Sam Rockwell.
11.
When Shakespeare in Love went into manufacturing in 1991, Julia Roberts was reportedly signed on to play Viola de Lesseps. She was allegedly useless set on getting Daniel Day-Lewis, who’d simply received Greatest Actor on the Academy Awards, to play her William Shakespeare. Nonetheless, he was already dedicated to a different mission, forcing him to reject the function.
The studio had her display screen check with all types of actors — Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Sean Bean, Jeremy Northam, and Ralph Fiennes. However none of them seemingly measured as much as her imaginative and prescient, so she determined to depart the function.
After a number of years in growth hell, the film discovered a brand new main girl — Gwyneth Paltrow, who received an Oscar for the function.
12.
In 2023, Steven Yeun was reportedly set to play Sentry in Thunderbolts*. Nonetheless, Marvel by no means formally confirmed it.
A 12 months later, following the SAG-AFTRA strike, he needed to step away. He informed Selection, “I believe for me, time passing and issues shifting sort of pulled me out of it. However Jake [Schreier, the director], I do know, goes to do an unimaginable job. I wanna do a Marvel film … It took loads of drafts on e mail to ensure that I conveyed the sincerity of how sorry I used to be to need to again out.”
Lewis Pullman in the end performed Sentry.
13.
In 2018, Scarlett Johansson was set to play real-life crime kingpin Dante “Tex” Gill in Rub & Tug. Nonetheless, the announcement drew backlash as a result of she was a cisgender lady being solid as a transgender man, quite than a trans actor being solid within the function.
Initially, Scarlett responded to the backlash with this assertion to Bustle: “Inform them that they are often directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for remark.”
Nonetheless, she in the end listened to folks’s considerations and stepped down from the function. She informed Out, “In mild of current moral questions raised surrounding my casting as Dante Tex Gill, I’ve determined to respectfully withdraw my participation within the mission. Our cultural understanding of transgender folks continues to advance, and I’ve realized quite a bit from the group since making my first assertion about my casting and understand it was insensitive. I’ve nice admiration and love for the trans group and am grateful that the dialog relating to inclusivity in Hollywood continues. In response to GLAAD, LGBTQ+ characters dropped 40% in 2017 from the earlier 12 months, with no illustration of trans characters in any main studio launch.”
14.
Jennifer Lawrence was solid as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in Adam McKay’s film Dangerous Blood for Apple TV+. Nonetheless, in 2022, she determined to exit the function after watching Amanda Seyfried’s Emmy-winning efficiency as Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout on Hulu.
Jennifer informed the New York Times’s Kyle Buchanan, “I believed she was terrific. I used to be like, ‘Yeah, we needn’t redo that.’ She did it.” The film was by no means made.
15.
In 2013, Charlie Hunnam was set to play Christian Gray in 50 Shades of Gray, a job that felt shocking to a lot of his followers. Nonetheless, a month later, Common launched an announcement that they “agreed to search out one other male lead given Hunnam’s immersive TV schedule which isn’t permitting him time to adequately put together for the function of Christian Gray.”
Two years later, the actor informed V Man, “Oh, it was the worst skilled expertise of my life. It was essentially the most emotionally damaging and troublesome factor that I’ve ever needed to take care of professionally. It was heartbreaking.”
The function went to Jamie Dornan.
16.
In 2016, Will Ferrell was introduced because the star and producer of Reagan, an upcoming comedy about President Ronald Reagan coping with dementia induced by his Alzheimer’s illness throughout his time period. In an open letter criticizing the storyline, the late president’s daughter, Patti Davis, stated, “Maybe you’ve gotten managed to retain some ignorance about Alzheimer’s and different types of dementia. Maybe in case you knew extra, you wouldn’t discover the topic humorous.”
Two days later, Will exited the function. His spokesperson informed the Hollywood Reporter, “The Reagan script is one in every of numerous scripts that had been submitted to Will Ferrell, which he had thought-about. Whereas it’s not at all an ‘Alzheimer’s comedy’ as has been prompt, Mr. Ferrell just isn’t pursuing this mission.”
17.
And at last, in 2020, Nicholas Hoult was introduced to play Gabriel Martinelli in Mission: Inconceivable — Useless Reckoning Half One. On Instagram, Director/co-writer Christopher McQuarrie stated, “Care to boost slightly hell?” and the actor replied, “Although why cease at slightly?”
Nonetheless, he needed to again out as a result of scheduling conflicts. In 2023, he informed the Guardian, “I screen-tested for Batman and did not get it. Display screen-tested for High Gun, did not get it. Then I acquired the decision from Tom Cruise: ‘Hey, how about Mission Inconceivable?’ OK. Bought it. Then I needed to drop out as a result of I used to be already connected to do some extra of The Nice.”
He was changed by Esai Morales.
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