Claire Danes turned down the role in Titanic because after the film Romeo + Juliet that she appeared in with DiCaprio, she was no longer very interested in romantic roles.

In the 90s, Scarlett Johansson auditioned for the role in Jumanji that Kirsten Dunst ended up playing.

Will Smith was almost cast in Django Unchained, but told Quentin Tarantino “I’m doing only lead roles” and wanted him to make Django a more central character, but Tarantino didn’t agree.

Michelle Pfeiffer turned down Basic Instinct because of the sexual scenes and nudity; “My father was still alive. I’m kind of prudish…And honestly? I am not that uninhibited about my body. I’m modest.”

Britney Spears was one of the actresses who was considered for the part in The Notebook. She even auditioned with Gosling.

Eddie Murphy was supposed to play the Grinch, but in the end, Jim Carrey got the part.

Julianne Moore was fired from Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Melissa McCarthy got the part and was nominated for the Oscar.

Liam Neeson turned down the part of President Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln, which won Daniel Day-Lewis an Oscar.

Jennifer Hudson was offered the main part in Precious, but she turned it down because she didn’t want to gain weight.

Emma Stone was supposed to play the part of Meg in Little Women, but she turned it down because of the promotion of The Favourite.

Reese Witherspoon auditioned for Cher in Clueless, but wasn’t cast.

Matt Damon had to turn down the role of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight due to a scheduling issue with Invictus.

Charlie Hunnam had to turn down the main part in Fifty Shades of Grey because he was busy with Sons of Anarchy.

Angela Bassett turned down the role of Leticia in Monster’s Ball because she thought the role was stereotypical and humiliating. Halle Berry won an Oscar for it.

The director of Kingsman: The Secret Service took a long time to decide between John Boyega and Taron Egerton.

Renée Zellweger could have gotten the main part in 13 Going on 30 but in the end, Jennifer Garner got it.

The role of Deloris in Sister Act was meant to be played by Bette Midler, but the actress turned it down because she was scared that her fans wouldn’t like her in this role.

Eric Stoltz lost the part of Marty McFly in Back to the Future in the middle of shooting, because the creators didn’t feel that he was good enough in the comedy scenes.

Saoirse Ronan claimed that she had an audition for the role of Ray in Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens.

Sandra Bullock was one of the first candidates for the role in Million Dollar Baby. But when she started working on the sequel for Miss Congeniality, she had to turn the role down.