19 Iconic Roles (That Were The Actor's Second Choice)

We love the surprising twists and turns that lead to actors accepting (or rejecting) roles. It’s always fascinating to see how different personalities slip into characters that may or may not be a fit.  We’ve written about famous actors’ early roles that made us cringe, some absolutely massive roles that actors only took for the money and even actors that turned down roles that would have been huge.

Sometimes though, things don’t work out exactly as expected. Imagine being an actor and preparing for the role of a lifetime, physically and mentally. You go in for the audition, you give it your all, and then you get notes from the casting director: 

"We love it! We think you'd be great to play a role that's the polar opposite in every conceivable way. When can you start cutting weight and being universally hateable?" We’d be a shoe in, except for the whole weight cutting thing.

The fact is, that's what lots of these actors went through. Scroll down for more wild stories of surprising role reversals!