Jim Broadbent

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors
  1. David Jason, Only Fools and Horses, TV, 1981-2003.       Creator John Sullivan’s  first notion for the iconic BBComedy role of Derek “Del Boy” Trotter was just into a West End stage role. Second choice, Enn Reitel, was likewise, contracted elsewhere. Broadbent later joined the series for three episodes as DCI Roy Slater, aka The Slag.
  2. -Patrick Stewart, Lifeforce, 1984.
  3. -Aubrey Morris, Lifeforce, 1984.  
  4. -Chris Sullivan, Lifeforce, 1984.
  5. John Hallam, Lifeforce, 1984.  
  6. Jack Galloway,   Doctor Who #131: The Awakening, TV, 1984.        Up for Joseph Willow in the Doc5 Peter Davison trip – Broadbent, Galloway, Alun Armstrong, Nicholas Ball, Tom Chadbon, John Hallam, Prentis Hancock, Del Henney, Roy Holder, Alan Lake, Terry Molloy, Edward Peel, Jeff Rawle, Carl Rigg, Paul Shelley, Donald Sumpter, Malcolm Tierney were familiar names from (scandalous) producer John Nathan-Taylor’s casting/dart board. He also voted for three newcomers: Geoffrey Bateman, Scott Fredericks, Ian Talbot.
  7. Maurice O’Connell, Doctor Who #132: Frontios, TV, 1984.        Seventeen possibles for Cockerill opposite Doc6 Peter Davison. O’Connell won. And lost. Most of his work was cut. Huge sigh of relief from…   Broadbent, Alun Armstrong, Nicholas Ball, Tom Chadbon, Maurice Colbourne, Forbes Collins, Michael Elphick, Michael Gothard, John Hallam,. Del Henney, Philip Jackson, Alan Lake, Terry Molloy, Tony Osoba, Edward Peel, Donald Sumpter and Stephen Yardley.
  8. Ben Roberts, Doctor Who #133: Resurrection Of The Daleks, TV, 1984.       Broadbent lost Tropper to Roberts in the latest Doc5 Peter Davison escapade. Broadbent was always far too busy to Whove – knocking off 162 screen roles during 1971-2017 and winning an Oscar for Iris on March 24, 2002.
  9. Stephen Yardley, Doctor Who # 138: Vengeance on Varos, TV, 1984.      Not quite matching the Lifeforce movie’s 203 candidates for 18 roles that year but as many as 58 guys were seen for just three roles in this Doc6 Colin Baker episode – most of them being Lifeforcers! (They did not share the same casting director, so how did Cannon get hold of the Whoverse lists?) For example, there were 19 contenders for Arak… Bradbent, Yardley, Alun Armstrong, Nicholas Ball, Andrew Burt, Tony Caunter, Tom Chadbon, Peter Childs, Kenneth Cope, Paul Darrow, Tom Georgeson, John Hallam, Brian Miller, Tony Osoba, Edward Peel, Carl Rigg, Colin Scully, Donald Sumpter, Dave Warwick.
  10. Paul McGann, Doctor Who (The Movie), TV, 1996.    
  11. Paul McGann, Doctor Who (The Movie), TV, 1996.  
  12. Harold Pinter, Mojo, 1996.    The UK underworld with a Tarantino twist – had the distinguished playwright Pinter suddenly taking over Broadbent’s gay gangster versus a gay manager for the heart and mind and body of a rising rock star in 1950s Soho.
  13. Bill Nighy,   Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, 2005.     The second one… “I don’t do Dutch,” stated the ever-so-English Nighy on winning the (apparently Dutch) Davy Jones of Locker fame. Then, to the Sean Connery/Brian Cox manner born, he added: “I’ll try Scottish.”  And he found an accent he could mess with in Alex Norton’s Still Game sitcom. “I had to find an accent no one else had.” Not even his rivals for the role: Jim Broadbent, Ian Glen (stuck on Game of Thrones) and Richard E Grant. Remaining aboard for #3: At The World’s  End, Nighy  was well nigh perfect. As per always.
  14. Peter O’Toole, Venus, 2005. “Don’t see the point of juggling yoghurt with this mad fucker any longer… I think he is genuinely crazed. It’s like dealing with a six-year-old. He is clearly under the illusion that he is a genius. Alas, his last good film was 20 years ago.” Notting Hilldirector Roger Michell’s diary notes about Peter O’Toole’s final film. He interferred with the script and the castingand“made the whole process… as miserable as possible from practically the first moment,” said Michell, who even discussed replacing him with  Broadbent, Michael Caine, Michael Gambon or John Hurt. Shooting was delayed when O’Toole cracked a rib and contracted a chest infection, returning to work as “a very doddery O’Toole, who was knackered, ill, slow and fragile. But I must finish the film before he croaks [He looked like a corpse on the poster], breaks a bit more of himself or contracts MRSA” End result: O’Toole’s eighth and final Oscar nomination. He never won any of them.  Not even for Lawrence of Arabia.
  15. Christopher Walken, Hairspray, 2006.       Director Adam Shankman thought about the Brit or an off-the-wall Billy Crystal as John Travolta’s husband, a Baltimore novelty shop owner. Hence, the light-up bow-ties. They had a showshopper dance number: “You’re Timeless To Me.” Not easy with Travolta’s fat suit.
  16. Christoph Waltz, Tulip Fever, 2014.   Desire. Obsession. Betrayal (And produced by Harvey Weinstein!).  Waltz had been an earlier choice for 17th Century merchant –  “king of peppercorns”  – whose wife ran off with the artist he’d hired to paint her portrait.

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  16