Hugh Grant was reportedly forced to turn down the role of narcissistic professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts to shoot Two Weeks Notice with Sandra Bullock. Riddiculus! “I know the story is that I rejected it,” Paltrow told Stern. “I think I was really fighting for it, I was one of the last two. I look back at the decisions I`ve made and think, “Why the hell did I say yes to that? And not to that? And you know, you look at the big picture and you think: There`s a universal lesson here. What`s the point of sticking to roles? The Vacation star also said that while she regretted turning down the role, she was happy that Reese Witherspoon ended up as a bubbly blonde lawyer. Christina Applegate was one of them who was offered the role, but turned it down. Christina Applegate wants people to know that she didn`t “turn down” the role of Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde,” she just didn`t feel it was the right career choice for her at the time. Before Renée Zellweger got the role, Charlize Theron was supposed to play Roxie Hart in the film adaptation of “Chicago.” During a meeting with Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show, Theron revealed how devastated she was to have lost the role. However, Applegate was tired of being called a “stupid blonde,” so she turned down the role.
“Desperate Housewives” star Dana Delany revealed to Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb to TODAY in 2015 that she turned down the role of Carrie Bradshaw. “The script came my way and he got married right after I finished [. with kids], and she was a blonde who didn`t win in that first scenario, but ended up going to Yale or Harvard, I don`t remember,” Applegate revealed. I was afraid to repeat myself. Reese Witherspoon perfectly embodies the role of Elle Woods, but the role was initially offered to Christina Applegate to play our favorite blonde on screen. The `Dead to Me` star turned down the role, telling ET she received the script right after packing `Married with Children` and was `scared` of the role. But like any actress who passes a role or simply doesn`t get it, Applegate is definitely happy with how Legally Blonde has become. “Reese deserves it. She did a much better job than I could ever have, and that`s her life,” she explained.
“It`s their way.” When Bette Midler reflected on the mistakes of her career, she admitted she had done a lot, including turning down a role in “Sister Act.” “I was afraid to repeat myself,” she said, later adding that she was hesitant to play another dirty blonde. “What a stupid gesture it was, wasn`t it?” Kate Winslet became a household name for her lead role in Titanic, but the role almost went to Gwyneth Paltrow. “I know the story is that I rejected it,” Paltrow said in a 2015 interview with Howard Stern. “I think I was really fighting for it – I was one of the last two. I think back to the decisions I`ve made and think: why the hell did I say yes to that? And right? And you know, you look at the big picture and you think: There`s a universal lesson here. What`s the point of sticking to roles? Paltrow also told Stern that she dropped the role of drug-addicted star Rollergirl in Boogie Nights because of her “conservative” father and grandfather. While Applegate was naturally hesitant to play another dirty blonde, as she did for 10 years as Kelly Bundy in Married. With the kids, she now admits that turning down the role may not have been the wisest decision. Matt Damon has stated that filming The Bourne Ultimatum prevented him from taking on the role of Jake Sully in Avatar. What`s worse than that? He also claims that he lost 10% of the film`s profits, which Entertainment Weekly said earned him about $120 million.
“I`m going to make history,” Damon said in 2021, according to Deadline. “You`ll never meet an actor who turned down more money.” In a strange twist of fate, Winslet turned down the role of Viola in Shakespeare in Love – a role that earned Gwyneth Paltrow the Oscar for Best Actress in 1999 – because she wanted to focus on independent films. One name that circulated as one of the first contenders was Molly Ringwald. During a Reddit AMA in 2012, the “Pretty In Pink” star confirmed this, saying, “I think I saw a first draft and it was called `$3,000.` I don`t remember turning it down. The script was fine. Josh Hartnett was forced to leave Brokeback Mountain due to a contractual commitment with The Black Dahlia, according to the Daily Mail. The role eventually went to Heath Ledger. Hartnett also rejected Superman and The Dark Knight. After every straight white actor auditioned for Vida Boheme in Hollywood, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon and Patrick Swayze were the finalists. Actress Christina Applegate said the rejection of the lead role in Legally Blonde was one of her “biggest regrets.” Drew Barrymore could have played Nomi, but she declined because she was uncomfortable with the amount of nudity required by the role.
Elizabeth Berkley accepted the job instead. Since Legally Blonde became such a popular movie, fans have been wondering if Christina Applegate regrets turning down the role. In an interview with the New York Daily News, Applegate admitted she regretted not accepting the role. It`s hard to imagine anyone other than Reese Witherspoon playing the role of Elle Woods in 2001`s Legally Blonde, but it turns out another top-tier actress turned down the chance. Christina Applegate has revealed that she didn`t play the role of the character who became one of Hollywood`s most popular blondes because she fears she`s too similar to her role in the TV series Married With Children. * In the end, it was Applegate`s desire to choose a completely different type of role that led her to reject consideration for the role. She never really auditioned for it. Rachel McAdams turned down the role of Andy Sachs not once, but three times. “We started negotiating with Annie [Anne Hathaway] to make a deal, and it didn`t go well with the studio. We gave it to Rachel McAdams three times,” director David Frankel told Entertainment Weekly. “The studio was determined to have it, and she was determined not to have it.” In 2002, Angela Bassett explained to Newsweek why she turned down the role of Leticia in the 2001 drama Monster`s Ball.
“It`s a matter of character,” she said. “I didn`t want to be a prostitute in the film. I couldn`t because it`s a stereotype about black women and sexuality. The role, of course, went to Halle Berry, who became the first black woman to win Best Actress for her performance. Christina Applegate, who later had a connection to Witherspoon through the television series Friends, in which they both played Rachel Green`s sisters, was offered the role but declined. Applegate needed a change after playing Kelly Bundy in the popular family sitcom for a decade, and didn`t want to be hit like the dirty blonde for the rest of her career. As if Cher could have been anyone other than Alicia Silverstone. But the lead role in Clueless (1995) was reportedly offered to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who had to turn it down due to conflicts with her All My Children schedule. The following year, SMG landed the iconic role of Buffy Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The role eventually went to Reese Witherspoon, making her a household name. According to BuzzFeed, most people don`t know about the early 2000s film that the actress decided not to make the film because she didn`t want to be called a “stupid blonde.” It`s nice that Tim Roth did without Severus Snape, because the Hogwarts professor was created to be played by Alan Rickman. Roth turned down the role to film Planet of the Apes and doesn`t really regret it. “Alan took it and ran with it and that was it,” Roth said in an AMA Reddit. It was very different from what I had planned with the character, and that`s okay. Do I regret that? I don`t know if I ever think about things like that.
