17 Actors Who Originally Turned Down A Role, Then Had To Be Convinced To Take It
“That’s not how I wanted to spend the last years of my life, so I said no over and over again.”
1. First, Jenna Ortega initially passed on playing Wednesday Addams in Wednesday because she wanted to focus more on film. Recently, she told Vanity Fair that she “wasn’t married to the job” when she first found out about it, however a call with creator and director Tim Burton “made [her] want it more.”
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She initially told The Times UK, “I got the email, passed on it. I had done so much TV in my life. All I’ve ever wanted to do is film…You have to prove yourself. It’s only in the last three or four years that I’ve been able to start going up for film. I was scared that by signing on to another television show, it could prevent me from doing other jobs I really wanted and cared about.”
The role earned her wide-spread notoriety and her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
2. Richard Harris turned down playing Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films several times. He originally didn’t want to play the role because he thought, “That’s not how I wanted to spend the last years of my life, so I said no over and over again.” Eventually, his granddaughter convinced him to take the role.
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In an interview with Zap2It, per Express, Richard recalled his granddaughter asking him to play Dumbledore, saying, “She said, ‘Papa, I hear you’re not going to be in the Harry Potter movie’, and she said, ‘If you don’t play Dumbledore then I will never speak to you again.'”
Reportedly, every time he turned down the role, the producers upped his proposed salary, hoping he would sign on.
3. After losing out on the role of Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick to Miles Teller, Glen Powell passed on portraying Hangman at first. At the time, Hangman, named Slayer, was a pilot who reportedly only found himself at Top Gun because of nepotism. In order to keep Glen involved, Tom Cruise and director Joe Kosinski reworked the role for him.
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Glen explained in an interview with GQ, “I said, ‘If I were editing this movie, I would cut him out immediately.'” The character was reworked with Glen’s notes in mind.
He added, “What we were talking about is, how can Hangman service the story and give the flavor of the original Top Gun that you need?”
4. Ariana DeBose “refused four times” to come in to audition for Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, according to casting director Cindy Tolan. Cindy told Variety, “I asked her to come in, and she said no … I had to talk her into coming in.”
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Recalling having to call Ariana to ask her to audition, Cindy told Variety in another interview, “Finally, I picked up the phone, and I called her directly. And I said Ariana — it was 10:30 at night, we were having a big day the next day and we were seeing a couple of other Anitas — and I’m just like, ‘I need you to come in. I need you to come to Brooklyn, and I need you to meet Steven Spielberg.'”
Ultimately, Ariana won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her work as Anita in West Side Story.
5. While he never formally said no to playing Ken in Barbie, Ryan Gosling was extremely hesitant to accept the role and didn’t say yes at first. Director and writer Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie consistently pursued Ryan until he finally accepted the part. Greta told SiriusXM, “Margot was like, ‘Is it weird if I go to his house?’ I was like, ‘Don’t go to his house! Stay put!'”
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Speaking with Rolling Stone, Greta also talked about Ryan’s casting, saying, “It was only ever Ryan Gosling, and it was a long journey. Margot and I just wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Ryan was ultimately nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work as Ken.
6. Ellen Pompeo was initially hesitant to join Grey’s Anatomy. She thought she didn’t want to get “stuck” on a TV show after starring in movies like Old School and Catch Me If You Can. Eventually, her agent convinced her to audition and film the pilot because it was unlikely the pilot would even make it to air.
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Eventually, Ellen decided to take the job at Grey’s for a quick paycheck. She ultimately stayed as a series regular until Season 20, and even now, she returns for multiple episodes a season.
Speaking about the freedom playing Meredith Grey allowed her, she told Good Housekeeping, “I knew as a woman in the [movie] business that I wasn’t going to be paid the same as men … I was just going to be the wife or the girlfriend.” Grey’s Anatomy allowed her to be part of much more important stories.
7. Chris Evans originally turned down the role of Steve Rogers/Captain American when he was approached by Marvel. According to his mom, he was worried he would lose his “anonymity” and become too famous. Chris’s mom told him it was ultimately his decision; however, she felt it would open up so many doors for him in terms of projects he could do in the future, never having to worry about paying rent, etc.
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Speaking about his initial hesitation for The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Chris said, “It’s a big commitment to do these Marvel movies,” Evans said. “Initially, the offer was nine pictures, then it went to six. But six movies can last a really long time. My concern was the fact that this will be a life-changing experience and the following commitment would be more than I could handle. But that did not turn out to be the case. It was the best decision I ever made.”
Robert Downey Jr. also convinced Chris to audition in the first place after he spoke highly of working with Marvel.
8. Amanda Seyfried originally turned down the opportunity to play Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout because it would’ve required her to film in Los Angeles away from her family. After talking through the opportunity with friends and family, she promptly called her agents back the next day.
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Recalling ultimately taking the role with Variety, Amanda said she thought, “It’s really going to be difficult. It’s a huge challenge. But I can’t believe that I get a challenge like this.”
She ultimately won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
9. Rachel Zegler got a call from director Francis Lawrence offering her the role of Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes without even auditioning. However, she turned down the role at first because of having to film overseas and be away from her family for so long. She said she “regretted it” the second she turned it down.
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In an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Rachel elaborated, saying, “I met with [Francis] for like three hours at the Soho Hotel in London. And then he told me that they were filming in Germany and in Poland and I had just gotten to London and I wanted to disappear because I was so far away from home for the first time ever. And I was away from everybody that I knew and loved, and I said ‘No.'”
She continued, saying, “And I regretted it the second I said it. I had another project lined up that fell through that got pushed into 2023, and I just kind of put my name back into the mix and got it and I feel really bad for any of the girls… because I put my name back in and they were just like ‘Yup, OK, cool, we’ll do it.'”
10. Laurence Fishburne said he turned down the role of Ike Turner in What’s Love Got To Do With It “five times” before ultimately accepting the role. In an interview on Jemele Hill’s Unbothered podcast, Laurence explained that the initial script was “really strong with respect to Tina’s character, and it wasn’t strong enough with respect to Ike’s character.” He said he ultimately said yes because Angela Bassett was playing Tina.
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He elaborated, saying, “But you know, once I recognized that Angela’s going to be playing Tina, I thought, well, I have to do this now ’cause I was a fan of hers and I worked with her before … I was a huge fan of Angela’s ’cause I had seen her in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone play, and I needed to be there to work with her and provide the kind of support I knew she would need.”
Laurence ultimately helped work on the script and made the role what he wanted it to be. His work earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
11. One Day breakout star Ambika Mod “turned down the audition multiple times.” In an interview with Elle, she explained that she didn’t even read the script but turned it down because she convinced herself that she “wasn’t the right person for the part,” so she didn’t want “to be a waste of everyone’s time.”
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She continued, saying, “I think part of the reason why I just didn’t see myself playing that part was because insidiously and implicitly, that’s a message that I’ve been fed my entire life — that people who look like me aren’t romantic leads, that people who look like me aren’t the people who the male romantic lead will fall in love with.”
Amika said she eventually realized she made a horrible mistake, and her agents got into contact with One Day casting director Rachel Sheridan, who was still hoping she would audition.
12. Helen McCrory initially said no to playing the iconic Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders. She explained that she turned down the role because she worried it would be very one-dimensional. Later, creator Steven Knight approached Helen again and said it was going to be like a Western and it would have an “epic quality” to it, and it wasn’t going to be an “apologetic drama.”
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Recalling turning down the role at first, Helen told Idler Magazine, “I looked at the history of that time and the slums of Birmingham. My own grandparents grew up in the slums of Glasgow and were miners’ kids in Cardiff, and I thought I was going to be there with a mangle saying things like: ‘Gotta get up early to get the wash on in the backyard.'”
She added, “But nobody was doing what Steve was doing which was making these people heroes.”
13. Fantasia Barrino initially turned down Oprah’s request to have her star as Celie in The Color Purple. After playing the emotionally taxing role on Broadway in 2007, Fantasia told Variety that she swore she’d never play the role again. Director Blitz Bazawule was the one who eventually convinced Fantasia to take on the role, as he explained his vision for Celie (and giving her more of a voice) in the new film.
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Fantasia told Variety that starring as Celie in The Color Purple allowed her to heal after previous abusive relationships. She said, “I could let go of every man that’s ever put his hands on me. I freed myself from that.”
She also called the role liberating, adding, “I’m grateful that I did not allow those voices in my head to hold me back from stepping into this woman’s shoes. It was important that I did.”
14. Zoe Saldaña turned down starring as Joe in Lioness for a full year before ultimately taking the role. She told Entertainment Tonight, “I did what every insecure actor does: I ran away. I said no. I self-sabotaged for a year.” Eventually, she texted creator Taylor Sheridan, who texted her back, “I told you, silly, we were waiting for you.”
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She added, “And I decided to believe him, so I jumped on this journey, and I really had a wonderful time. I learned so much about myself, I was inspired, I was repurposed working with my giants. I just felt like I was checking a big item off my bucket list.”
Initially, Zoe wanted to take the project because she wanted to push herself to find roles outside of the big blockbuster movies she’s become known for, which is why she starred in Lioness and From Scratch.
15. Matthew Modine revealed that he initially passed on starring as Dr. Martin Brenner in Stranger Things. He told The Guardian, “I didn’t want to do it.” The Duffer brothers told him that the character was “really important” to the story, but he still wasn’t interested. Eventually, after the Duffer brothers kept calling him, he said it became “really difficult for [him] to say no.”
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He continued, adding, “I responded to their passion, and he became a really interesting, complex character.”
Matthew became integral to helping create the character of Brenner that we see in Stranger Things. He recalled, “When I finally said yes, I said, I want to dye my hair white because evil characters in Japanese anime always have white hair, and I want to wear a suit like Cary Grant in North by Northwest, where if I fall down when I stand up, it’s clean. And give all that dialogue to the people around me. They said yes to all of it. It made his stillness and his quietness that much more compelling.”
16. Elisabeth Moss initially passed on playing June/Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale because she was worried about being stuck on another TV show so soon after Mad Men ended. However, after taking a few days to think about it, Elisabeth realized she would’ve been upset if she watched any other actor play the role.
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“I pictured that in my mind, and then I thought to myself, ‘No, no, no, no, no, someone else is not getting their hands on this,'” Elisabeth recalled to the Independent. “So I said, ‘Yes.’ That’s why I did it – pure jealousy and competitiveness.”
She went on to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
17. And finally, Al Pacino said the first draft of the script for The Godfather Part II was so bad that he turned it down a few times before agreeing to star in it. He said producers kept offering him more money, hoping he would say yes. Eventually, Francis Ford Coppola convinced them that he didn’t want money, but he wanted a “good script.”
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In the end, Coppola helped Mario Puzo rework his initial screenplay.
Recalling to NPR when he finally signed on to The Godfather Part II, Pacino said, “I remember thinking that was a very memorable moment, you know? So then it was done. I said yes. And it was a tough shoot for me because – I just don’t know. It was a time of my life where – it’s hard to describe it without lying down on the couch.”
He was nominated for Best Actor for his work in the movie.
