18 Actors Who Shared Their Reasons For Turning Down Pretty Major Roles

There are so many different reasons an actor may accept a certain role — they feel a personal connection to the character, they've always loved the franchise, or maybe the money's just really good. However, the reasons they don't take specific parts can be just as — if not more — interesting.
Here are 18 interesting reasons actors turned down major roles:
1. Matt Damon turned down the role of Jake Sully in Avatar — which would've earned him $250 million — because he was contracted to a Bourne movie at the time. In 2023, he told Entertainment Tonight, "It's the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting...I've probably done, like, 50 movies. I've never been in a movie that made $1 billion."
The role went to Sam Worthington.
2. Harry Styles turned down the role of Prince Eric in the live-action The Little Mermaid remake. In 2023, director Rob Marshall told Entertainment Weekly that the singer "really felt like he wanted to go off and do the movies that he ended up doing, which were sort of darker."
The role went to Jonah Hauer-King.
3. Macaulay Culkin turned down an unspecified leading role on The Big Bang Theory. In 2018, he told the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, "They pursued me for The Big Bang Theory, and I said no. It was kind of like, the way the pitch was, 'Alright, these two astrophysicist nerds and a pretty girl lives with them. Yoinks!' That was the pitch. And I was like, 'Yeah, I'm cool, thanks.' And then they came back at me again, and I said, 'No, no, no. Again, flattered, but no.' Then they came back at me again, and even my manager was, like, twisting my arm...I'd have hundreds of millions of dollars right now if I did that gig. At the same time, I'd be bashing my head against the wall."
Though he didn't say which role he was offered, it was likely Leonard Hofstadter or Sheldon Cooper, who were played by Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons respectively.
4. Beyoncé reportedly turned down the role of Plumette, the feather duster, in the live-action Beauty and the Beast remake. In 2017, director Bill Condon — who previously worked with her in Dreamgirls — told Yahoo Entertainment, "But it wasn't a big enough part. She would have been a good feather duster."
The role went to Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
5. Emilia Clarke declined the role of Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey. She said, "The last time that I was naked on camera on [ Game of Thrones ] was a long time ago, and yet it is the only question that I ever get asked because I'm a woman." She was "sick and tired of [the questions] because [she] did it for the character." On The Hollywood Reporter's Dramatic Actress Roundtable, she said, "So, that coming up, I was like, 'I can't.' I did a minimal amount, and I'm pigeonholed for life."
She continued, "So me saying yes to [ Fifty Shades ], where the entire thing is about sensuality and sex and being naked and all of that stuff, I was just like, 'No way am I going to voluntarily walk into that situation and then never be able to look someone in the eye.'"
The role went to Dakota Johnson.
6. Zendaya dropped out of Lifetime's biopic Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B after the project received backlash from the late singer's family. On Twitter, the actor said she was "honored to portray [Aaliyah] and pay tribute to her [but] if she is going to do it, she wants to do it right." She also told MTV, "I just felt the project wasn't 100% there. I feel [that] production-wise everything just felt a little rushed."
"And I think because she's someone I admire and I love so much, it can't be done halfway, or not to the standards I think it should be done at, so I just decided not to do it," she said.
The role went to Alexandra Shipp.
7. Similarly, Will Ferrell backed out of Reagan, a planned comedy about Ronald Reagan experiencing Alzheimer's-induced dementia while in office, after the film received criticism from both the late president's children and the Alzheimer's Association. In a statement, the Alzheimer's Association said, "[This organization] is appalled that anyone would plan to develop a film that satirizes an individual living with Alzheimer's or another dementia. Would filmmakers consider using a fatal form of cancer or another deadly disease for comedy? It's time to stop this forever."
The role went to Dennis Quaid.
8. Angela Bassett turned down the role of Leticia Musgrove in Monster's Ball because she felt the character was "such a stereotype about Black women and sexuality." In 2002, she told Newsweek, "Film is forever. It's about putting something out there you can be proud of ten years later. I mean, Meryl Streep won Oscars without all that."
She also said that her criticism was of Hollywood, not Halle Berry, who won an Oscar for the role.
9. After Richard Harris died, Ian McKellan declined to take over as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. In 2017, he told BBC News HARDtalk, "When they called me up and said would I be interested in being in the Harry Potter films, they wouldn't say what part, but I worked out what they were thinking. I couldn't take over the part from an actor who I know disapproved of me." Richard reportedly once called him "technically brilliant, but passionless."
Michael Gambon took over the role.
10. Brian Cox turned down the role of Governor Weatherby Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. In his 2022 memoir Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, he wrote, "It would have been a money-spinner, but of all the parts in that film, it was the most thankless, plus I would have ended up doing it for film after film and missed out on all the other nice things I've done. Another thing with Pirates of the Caribbean is that it's very much the 'Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow' show, and Depp, personable though I'm sure he is, is so overblown, so overrated. I mean, Edward Scissorhands. Let's face it, if you come on with hands like that and pale, scarred-face make-up, you don't have to do anything. And he didn't. And subsequently, he's done even less."
John Phillips / Getty Images for Warner Bros Pictures
"But people love him. Or they did love him. They don't love him so much these days, of course. If Johnny Depp went for Jack Sparrow now, they'd give it to Brendan Gleeson," he said.
The role went to Jonathan Pryce.
(c) Walt Disney / courtesy Everett Collection
11. Anne Hathaway turned down the role of Alison Scott in Knocked Up because of the explicit birth scene. In 2012, she told Allure, "Having not experienced motherhood myself, I didn't know how I was gonna feel on the other side about giving birth. And by the way, I could pop a kid out and think, 'Oh, well, I really should have done that movie.'" She gave birth to her first child four years later. However, she hasn't publicly discussed whether becoming a mother made her reconsider her decision to turn down the role.
John Nacion / Getty Images
The role went to Katherine Heigl.
©Universal / courtesy Everett Collection
12. Amanda Seyfried declined to play Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy because she didn't "wanna be green." In 2020, she told ComicBook.com, "I remember Jennifer Lawrence talking about once, how long it took her to get blue [for X-Men ]. And I was like, 'That seems like hell on earth,' because then you get to set, and you're only there for a couple hours, and then you have to take everything off. And that was literally the reason." Additionally, after doing wire work for Pan, she was uncomfortable doing stunts.
Taylor Hill / WireImage / Via Getty
However, she later told The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, "I didn't want to be part of the first Marvel movie that bombed. ... The script was great; it was all based in not wanting to be 'that guy.' Because if you are the star of a giant movie like that, and it bombs, Hollywood does not forgive you. I've seen that happen to people, and it was a giant, giant fear, and I thought, is it worth it?"
The role went to Zoe Saldaña.
©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
13. Selena Gomez reportedly turned down the role of Mitchie Torres in Camp Rock. In 2020, her former Wizards of Waverly Place costar David Deluise told The Wildchat Show, "Selena knew that if she passed on it, Demi [Lovato, her childhood friend] would get the part. So she passed on it, which was very nice of her to do."
Gilbert Flores / Penske Media via Getty Images
The part indeed went to Demi, becoming their breakout role.
Disney Channel / Via Disney+
14. The role of Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction was written with Laurence Fishburne in mind, but he turned it down. In 2020, he told Vulture, "I just had a problem with the way the heroin use was dealt with. I just felt it was a little cavalier, and it was a little loose. I felt like it made heroin use attractive. For me, it's not just my character. It's, What is the whole thing saying?"
Alberto Rodriguez / Variety via Getty Images
He also said, "My intuition guides me absolutely."
The role went to Samuel L. Jackson.
© Miramax / courtesy Everett Collection
15. Jack Nicholson rejected the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. In 2004, he told Movieline, "Back then I believed that Indians should play Indians and Italians should play Italians. Mario Puzo had written such a great book that if you go back to it you'll see so much of what was special about the movie. There were a lot of actors who could have played Michael, myself included, but Al Pacino was Michael Corleone. I can't think of a better compliment to pay him."
Lester Cohen / WireImage / Via Getty
Al Pacino was, of course, a perfect fit for the part.
Paramount Pictures courtesy Everett Collection
16. Warren Beatty declined to play the titular character in Kill Bill. In 2016, he told The Playlist, "I didn't want to leave my kids…He was shooting the movie in China, and I thought [Quentin Tarantino was] going to be over there for a long time. And he said, no [it won't be that long]. In fact, he was over there for exactly the time that I predicted."
Taylor Hill / FilmMagic / Via Getty
"I would love to work with Quentin," he added.
The role went to David Carradine, who Warren had suggested "would be best for it."
Miramax / courtesy Everett Collection
17. After rising to fame on Saturday Night Live, Aidy Bryant rejected many roles she felt would've been an offensive portrayal of fatness, including an unnamed production where "a man was in prison and the other guys in prison were like, 'You've got to get an ugly girl to be your prison wife and she'll come and bring you food and have sex with you!'" In 2019, she told Adweek, "I remember being like, 'Oh, they think that this is a fun thing for me, and it's so insulting.' Those were some of the moments where I was like, 'Is this what it is in Hollywood? I think I might have to write for myself...'"
Michael Buckner / Variety via Getty Images
So, she co-created the Hulu series Shrill and cast herself as the lead.
Allyson Riggs / ©Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection
18. And finally, about three days into his role as the titular character's voice in Howard the Duck, Robin Williams quit out of frustration because he was "being handcuffed in order to match the flapping duck's bill." The puppet's mouth movements had already been filmed to match the puppeteers' bland delivery of the lines, essentially rendering the comedian's iconic improvisation style impossible. Chip Zien, who replaced him, told The Hollywood Reporter, "What I was told was by the third day, Robin said, 'I can't do this. It is insane. I can't get the rhythm of this. I am being confined...'"
Michael Caulfield / Via Getty
Chip continued, "So, on Memorial Day 1985, I got a call from my agent, who said, 'You have to get right to the airport! Robin Williams just quit, and you're now Howard the Duck. You need to get there tonight. There is a ticket waiting for you at the counter.' I was incredibly excited."
This is what the character looked like.
(c) Universal Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
What are some roles you think actors should have rejected? Why? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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