- Nicolas Coppola, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, 1981. The US high school movie..! Researched and written by Cameron Crowe, directed by Amy Heckerling. In the Brad mix with Matthew Broderick, Nicolas Cage, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn – and his agent wanted more than any of them! It is not known, of course, if Macchio would have used a dildo (like Reinhold) in his masturbation scene – so realistic it made co-star Phoebe Cates freak out. Her shocked expression is not acting! Macchio’s day would come, soon enough, in the Karate Kid franchise, starting in 1983.
- Michael J Fox, Back To The Future, 1985. The Karate Kid was not impressed. “A kid, a car and plutonium pills ?!” Also rejected by every studio in town, the now iconic role of Marty McFly was always planned for Fox. However, when his TV series, Family Ties, got in the way, his possible successors were John Cusack, Johnny Depp, C Thomas Howell and the Canadian singer Corey Hart – who never made a movie before or since. Filming actually began with Eric Stoltz, who hadn’t got the heavy Mask out of his system. He was fired. That’s when exec producer Steven Spielberg finally brokered a deal with Ties producer Gary David Goldberg… and poor Fox worked as Alex P Keaton all day and Marty McFly all night. And survived for two sequels.
- Neil Patrick Harris, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, 2003. One of the scenarists, Jon Hurwitz, explained the plan to the New York Times. If NPH passed on the role called Neil Patrtick Harris, it would have become… Ralph Macchio. However, NPH loved the idea of sending himself up. As a result he won his hit series,. How I Met Your Mother. And made sure he got guest shots for the Harold & Kumar stars: John Cho and Kal Penn.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 3