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13 Comedians Who Nearly Played Major Movie Characters

December 13, 2021

Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's new deep-dive series on funny business. (Also, you can stay up to date with the ComedyNerd newsletter -- sign up here.)

Turns out, famous comedians were in the running for many, many of your favorite roles (both dramatic and comedy).

13

COMEDY NERD They wanted Tim Allen to play the lead in the 2003 The Cat in the Hat movie. In fact, he was the original choice, and Mike Myers only stepped in because he dropped out due to scheduling issues. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

COMEDY NERD Seth Rogen almost got Elijah Wood's role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Не auditioned for it but, he says, it was just like one of a thousand movies that I did not get cast in. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Seinfeld

COMEDY NERD At one point, they wanted Danny DeVito to play George Costanza in Seinfeld. Paul Shaffer, Steve Buscemi, David Alan Grier, Nathan Lane, and Larry Miller were some of the other actors they looked at- eventually, though, Jason Alexander got the role. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

COMEDY NERD Adam Sandler almost played Willy Wonka in the 2005 Tim Burton movie. Sandler was considered alongside a bunch of other actors, like Brad Pitt and Will Smith, but Johnny Depp won out. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

COMEDY NERD They nearly got Paul Rudd to play Vinnie Van Lowe in Veronica Mars. Не turned down the part because he'd been getting more and more movie roles at that point (in the mid-'00s), though. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

COMEDY NERD Turns out, Jim Carrey nearly played Edward Scissorhands in, well, Edward Scissorhands. Не was one of the actors they were looking at-but, at that point (in 1990), Carrey didn't have a lot of experience in drama, and that might have nixed the deal. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Eyes Wide Shut

COMEDY NERD Steve Martin could have gotten Tom Cruise's role in Eyes Wide Shut. In an early form of the project, anyway - Stanley Kubrick had tried to make it back in the '70s, as a comedy, with Martin as the male lead. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

COMEDY NERD At one point, they considered getting Chris Tucker in Django Unchained. AT ORT He'd have played Django, of course-but talks fell through at some point, and Jamie Foxx ultimately got the role. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

COMEDY NERD Dan Aykroyd could have played David Kessler in An American Werewolf in London. Universal Studios wanted Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as the movie's leads, but John Landis absolutely refused, and the studio ultimately caved. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

COMEDY NERD Bill Murray auditioned for Han Solo way back when they were casting Star Wars. A ton of other actors did, too, including comedians like Steve Martin and Chevy Chase. Anyway, Bill Murray as Han sounds totally absurd, yet somehow strangely intriguing. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

COMEDY NERD Ben Stiller was originally also going to play the agent in Zoolander, Maury. But there wasn't enough for the effects they'd need to pull that off- so he cast his dad Jerry. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Indiana Jones

COMEDY NERD In an alternate universe, Chevy Chase is famous for playing Indiana Jones. But that's probably a universe we don't want to inhabit - yet somehow, apparently, he was on the list of people considered for the role. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

COMEDY NERD Eddie Murphy came this close to playing Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters. B KS LI K V eR. Dan Aykroyd really wanted Murphy for the part, but Murphy's initial thoughts on the movie were This sounds like a crock... to me. CRACKED.COM — Source

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