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VHSGuy123 (11)
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What if James Caan was cast as Michael Corleone?
Script
What Film Roles do you wish Marlon Brando accepted?
Why didn't Robert Blake have a bigger career in the 70s?
Roles Steve McQueen turned down or was considered
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2001: Scary Movie II (Role: Father McFreely) (Actor Who Got It: James Woods) (Reason: Brando had to withdraw when he was hospitalized with pneumonia in April 2001.)
2004: Man Of Fire (Role: Paul Rayburn) (Actor Who Got It: Christopher Walken) (Reason: Brando was the original choice to play Rayburn, less than a year before he died.)
2006: Big Bug Man (Role: Mrs. Sour) INCOMPLETE (Reason: Brando recorded for the voice of Mrs. Sour a month before his death on July 1, 2004. He thought it would be fun to voice a girl for this project. Since Brando's death, there has been no update on the film's progress).
1991: Nostromo (Role: UNKNOWN) INCOMPLETE (Reason: Brando was scheduled to appear with co-star Paul Schofield, Peter O’Toole, Isabella Rossellini, Christopher Lambert, and Dennis Quaid However, when director David Lean died, the production came to a halt.)
1991: JFK (Role: X) (Actor who got it: Donald Sutherland) (Reason: In a interview, Oliver Stone stated he offered the role to Marlon Brando, but Brando turned down the role. "I had been dumb enough to go to Marlon Brando. We all love him, of course. But if he’d said yes I would have been f—–. That scene would have gone on for twice the length.”- Stone)
1992: Batman: Returns (Role: The Penguin) (Actor who got it: Danny (DeVito) (Reason: Tim Burton wanted to cast Brando as The Penguin but Warner Bros rejected the idea)
1995: Divine Rapture (Role: A Priest) INCOMPLETE (Reason: The project included stars like Johnny Depp, Debra Winger, and John Hurt. Production was never completed due to a lack of financing.)
1998: The Big Lebowski (Role: Jeffrey “The Big” Lebowski) (Actor Who Got It: David Huddleston) (Reason: The Coen Brothers wanted Brando to play the role and even had him in mind while writing the script but Brando couldn't star in the movie due to ill health)
1998: American History X (Role: Cameron Alexander) (Actor Who Got It: Stacy Keach) (Reason: Brando was originally considered and envisioned for the role of Cameron Alexander)
1999: Sleepy Hollow (Role: The Headless Horseman) (Actor Who Got It: Christopher Walken) (Reason: Brando was the 1st choice for The Headless Horseman but he turned it down)
1999: Magnolia (Role: Earl Patridge) (Actor Who Got It: Jason Robards) (Reason: Brando was considered for the role after Paul Thomas Anderson for a time couldn't get Jason Robards and George C. Scott turned it down, but Thomas Anderson finally got Jason Robards for the role)
1984: Nineteen Eighty-Four (Role: O’Brien) (Actor Who Got It: Richard Burton) (Reason: Brando was considered for the role, but Brando wanted too much money)
1986: Salvador (Role: Richard Boyle) (Actor Who Got It: James Woods) (Reason: Director Oliver Stone's first choice for the role of Richard Boyle was Marlon Brando, But Brando had become notoriously reclusive by the time this project got underway.)
1987: The Untouchables (Role: Al Capone) (Actor Who Got It: Robert De Niro) (Reason: Brando was considered for the role in case if Robert De Niro was unabled to do the role)
1987: Angel Heart (Role: Louis Cyphere) (Actor Who Got It: Robert De Niro) (Reason: Alan PArker offered the role to Marlon Brando, but Brando declined)
1987: The Last Emperor (Role: Reginald Johnson) (Actor Who Got It: Peter O’Toole) (Brando was considered for the role)
1988: Tucker: The Man And His Dream (Role: Preston Tucker) (Actor Who Got It: Jeff Bridges) (Reason: The director wanted Brando to appear as Preston Tucker in his biopic of the maverick automotive executive that Coppola planned to make after completing The Godfather Part II**. Brando was not interested.)**
1988: The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (Role: Vulcan) (Actor Who Got It: Oliver Reed) (Reason: Gilliam offered the role to Brando, but Brando declined the role)
1990: Dances With Wolves (Role: Major Fambrough) (Actor Who Got It: Maury Caykin) (Reason: Costner originally wanted to cast Brando as Major Fambrough but Brando's reputation as a diva dissuade Costner from the idea to cast him)
1990: The Field (Role: Bull McCabe) (Actor Who Got It: Richard Harris) (Reason: After Ray McAnally sudden death, Jim Sheridan considered Marlon Brando or Sean Connery for the role until Richard Harris, who was cast as the priest convinced Sheridan to cast him in the role)
1972: Child’s Play (Role: Joseph Dobbs) (Actor Who Got It: Robert Preston) (Reason: Brando backed out just before principal photography was to begin when he realized James Mason had the better part. Brando subsequently was sued by producer David Merrick for breach of contract.)
1972: Fat City (Role: Billy Tully) (Actor Who Got It: Stacy Keach) (Reason: Huston initially wanted Brando to star. When Brando informed Huston repeatedly that he needed some more time to think about it, Huston finally came to the conclusion that the star wasn't really interested and looked out for another actor until he finally cast the then relatively unknown Stacy Keach.)
1973: The Exorcist (Role: Lankester Merrin) (Actor who got it: Max von Sydow) (Reason: Warner Bros wanted Brando for the role, but Friedkin refused, arguing that once Brando was cast, it would be a Marlon Brando picture)
1974: The Great Gatsby (Role: Jay Gatsby) (Actor Who Got It: Robert Redford) (Reason: Paramount studio brass wanted him to appear as the titular character, but he wanted $4 million, an unheard-of salary at the time.)
1974: The Godfather: Part II (Role: Vito Corleone) (Reason: Brando was scheduled to make a cameo appearance in the film, in the flashback at the end of the film in which Vito Corleone comes back to his home and is greeted with a surprise birthday party. In fact, he was expected the day of shooting but did not show up due to a salary dispute.)
1975: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Role: Randle Patrick McMurphy) (Actor Who Got It: Jack Nicholson)
1976: A Star Is Born (Role: John Norman Howard) (Actor Who Got It: Kris Kristofferson) (Reason: Brando was considered for the part)
1977: Equus (Role: Martin Dysart) (Actor Who Got It: Richard Burton) (Reason: The Producers originally wanted Marlon Brando to play the role)
This was before Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke were attached. Originally it was supposed to be Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand, but they couldn't get along, so they both departed.
1978: Superman (Role: Clark Kent / Superman) (Actor who got it: Christopher Reeve) (Reason: He was offered the role, but he turned it down)
1979: Apocalypse Now (Role: Benjamin Willard or Colonel Kurtz) (Actor who got it: Martin Sheen) (Reason: Steve McQueen was Coppola's first choice to play Willard, but McQueen did not want to leave America for three weeks and Coppola was unwilling to pay his $3 million fee. In another Interview, Clint Eastwood, revealed that when he was in discussions for the role, which he turned down, McQueen tried to convince him to play Willard; McQueen wanted to play Kurtz because he would have to work for only two weeks)
1980: Raise The Titanic (Role: James Sandecker) (Actor who got it: Jason Robards) (Reason: McQueen was offered the role, but he felt the script was flat)
1982: First Blood (Role: John Rambo) (Actor who got it: Sylvestor Stallone) (Reason: When Sydney Pollack was attached as Director, he wanted Steve McQueen and McQueen expressed interested in the role, but was turned down by the Producers as they thought, at 45 years old, he was too old).
1990: Quigley Down Under (Role: Matthew Quigley) (Actor who got it: Tom Selleck) (Reason: As Early as 1979, Steve McQueen was attached to the role, but by the time production began in 1980, McQueen was ill. The project was scrapped after he died, until it was later revived with Tom Selleck in the lead Role)
1992: The Bodyguard (Role: Frank Farmer) (Actor who got it: Kevin Costner) (Reason: He was offered to star alongside Diana Ross when the project was first developed in 1976, but the film did not reach production until years after McQueen's death; the film eventually starred Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston in 1992.)
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