Tobey Maguire

Posted on 6 November 2023by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

Leonardo DiCaprio, This Boy’s Life, 1993. The two close pals auditioned… Scots director Michael Caton-Jones preferred Leo to Tobey as… Toby. Instead, Tobey became Toby’s pal, Chuck. “Honestly, I owe my career to Growing Pains,” said Leo, “and specially to [the star] Alan Thicke. I joined the show [in 1992] for the final seasion and that year I also auditioned for This Boy’s Life. All the young actors in town were after that rôle. Me, my pal Tobey, everybody! And I got it! Can you imagine that? To be working with De Niro… at 15 years old? Except I had the TV contract – two episodes were left. And Alan Thicke said: ‘Let the kid go. Let him make the movie. It complicates the achedule, but we’ll work that out’.” “Wo,” said Brad Pitt. on hearing this story during their joint 2019 Cannes festival interview with Premiere magazine.
Vince Vaughn, Psycho, 1997.
By 1990, Anthony Perkins had played Norman Bates four times. So why should anyone else play him? It’s been (over)done. It’s a classic. And by The Master. Why re-make Hitchcock? Ah, beg pardon, Gus Van Sant called it a reproduction. A bizarre (lazy!) notion of copying – the Psycho script, word for word, action for action, move for move, shock for shock (except the shocks were too famous to shock anymore). “Just shoot it in color and have, for instance, Jack Nicholson play the detective and Timothy Hutton play Norman Bates,” he suggested. “Universal wanted to rope me in, and I said:“Here’s the idea: don’t change anything! It’s never been done before. Isn’t that a great reason to try it?” Not really! What had he said about re-makes? “The essence is missing. You might as well make an original movie.” Right! “One guy in particular has an extreme Tony Perkins quality – Robert Sean Leonard,” Van Sant told Movieline’s Stephen Rebello. “So do… Henry Thomas and Jeremy Davies. [Indeed, Thomas was the teenage Bates in Psycho IV: The Beginning, 1989]. I think of MattDamon for everything I do… But he’s one of those under-30 guys who just didn’t get it. Leonardo would have been fantastic. I knew he knew that he could step into it. But I also knew he didn’t really want to do it. I seriously considered Joaquin Phoenix. He was interested… but busy. So, it was either wait or forge ahead and we forged ahead. Vince was not even in my imagination… But he had a really interesting quality I wasn’t expecting.”The UK’s fast-rising Christian Bale and DiCaprio pal, Tobey Maguire, were also short-listed.
Matt Damon, The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1998. … and again. They were both rejected by UK director Anthony Minghella.
Jared Leto, Requiem for a Dream,1999. Tobey passed on a Hubert Selby Jr role oin a Darren Aronofsky film (!!!), so Jared became Ellen Burstyn’s son, Jennifer Connelly’s lover and Marlon Wayans’ pal – in a cast of drug addicts. All in brilliant form. “We recognise the actors,” praised Roger Ebert, “but barely,”
Henry Thomas All The Pretty Horses, 2000. Tobey had been up for the role in September 1998, when Leo DiCaprio’s agent was talking about $20m!
Jimmy Fallon, Almost Famous, 2000. “Scheduling was the culprit,” explained writer-director Cameron Crowe. “My writing is sort of deceptively natural to read, but tricky to do with the right rhythm. Tobey knows the rhythm. So does Cusack, and Jason Lee, and a number of others.”
Ethan Hawke, Training Day, 2001. All the Movie Brats tested to be Denzel Washington’s cop partner – although being more interested in the result of other tests. For Spider-Man. Maguire won Jake Hoyt, did two months weapons and muscle training, but then Hawke became free, after all. Leaving Tobey in great shape to spin his web.
Edward Norton, 25th Hour, 2001. Tobey or not Tobey… He bought David Benioff’s novel, then decided to swing through Spider-Man. Both guys produced, with Norton using every last cent he got from Red Dragon, 2001, to help the finance the film… and his greatest screen work, worthy of Oscars by the brace.
Henry Thomas, Gangs of New York, 2002. From Steven Spielberg to Martin Scorsese – ET’s guardian really grows up!
Colin Farrell, Hart’s War, 2002. Tobey always looked like any older co-stars’s lunch. And far too young to be in WWII, much less a POW camp.
Orlando Bloom, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. 2002. The first one… Director Gore Verbinski decided that due to The Lord of the Rings franchise. Bloom was more bankable than Maguire, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor, Ben Peyton (a fairly unknown UK TV actor) and Christopher Masterson. A tough role as Johnny Depp was stealing everything but the rudder as his wondrous Captain Jack Sparrow, with mascara, gold teeth and a Keith Richards’ rock ‘n’ roll shuffle.
Jeremy Sumpter Peter Pan, 2003. That’s how young he looked… PJ Hogan also looked at Heath Ledger and signed a 14-year-old Californian.
Lou Taylor Pucci, Thumbsucker, 2004. When still a big deal project with Scarlett Johansson.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Jarhead, 2004. Still up for he same roles as DiCaprio 12 years later.Christian Bale, Josh Hartnett, Emile Hirsch and Shane West were also seen for US marine Anthony Swoff.He who wrote“For most problems, the Marine is issued a solution. If ill, go to sickbay. If wounded, call a Corpsman. If dead, report to graves registration.”
Chris O’Donnell, Max Payne, 2008. The role of Jason Colvin went from Spider Man to Batman’s Robin. To paraphrase another Mark Wahlberg film, this one was all Payneand no Gayne.
Nicolas Cage, Hungry Rabbit Jumps, 2010. Endgame picked up Robert Tannen’s thriller for Maguire – to star in and co-produce. That was in 2008. All changes meant Cage and Mad Mentele-discovery January Jones.
James Franco, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 2010. “The movie you may have been expecting, » said Chicago critic Roger Ebert. “No less, no more.” For the attempt to relaunch the Fox franchise. Tobey had been in the mix for Will Rodman – a tribute to the first Apes scenarist Rodman (ie Rod) Serling.
Jeremy Renner, The Bourne Legacy, 2011. Three was enough for Matt Damon. (Until 2015…!) The studio did not agree and kept the franchise alive by rebooting Jason Bourne as Aaron Cross – “There Was Never Just One.” But who to play him from 20 hopefuls- Erryn Arkin, Adam Brody, Dominic Cooper, Paul Dano, Luke Evans, Michael Fassbender, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Hartnett, Garrett Hedlund, Oscar Isaac (he was made an Outcome super-agent), Taylor Kitsch, Shia LaBeouf, Kellan Lutz, Logan Marshall-Green, Alex Pettyfer, Michael Pitt and Benjamin Walker. Plus Joel Edgerton and Tobey Maguire, who were Great Gatsbying down-under. Renner, Hollywood’s new white hope since The Hurt Locker, 2009, was suggested for the Mission: Impossible.. if ever Tom Cruise retired.
John Cusack, The Paperboy, 2011. Dropping out of director Lee Daniels’ innocent-on-death-row drama because of his Great Gatsby contract caused delays that meant Colombian Sofia Vergara had to quit, as well.Her Modern Family series came first.
Rafe Spall, Life of Pi, 2011. Change of Writer in what Chicago critic Roger Ebert called Ang Lee’s “miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery” – covering the 227 days spent by a teenage boy, drifting in a lifeboat with… a Bengal tiger aboard! The Taiwainese Lee went even further in his breaking visual boundaries in his his 2015 film, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.
Martin Freeman, The Hobbit trilogy, 2011.
Bradley Cooper, Jane Got a Gun, 2013. Natalie Portman’s fifth outing as a producer ran into all kinds of trouble. Michael Fassbender quit(replaced by Joel Edgerton) after clashes with Scots director Lynne Ramsay. Then, she quit. Then, Jude Law quit Edgerton’s original role – Lynne being the only reason why Law hadagreed to make the Santa Fe Western in the first place. Bridges was the (way) oldest of Law’s potential successors: double the ages of Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal. (Ramsey’s exit allowed her to join Steven Spielberg’s 2013 Cannes festival jury).
Cillian Murphy, Transcendence, 2013. Christopher Nolan’s usual cinematographer Wally Pfister was spoilt for choice of stars eager about his directing debut. Murphy had been in the Chris ’n’ Wally shows: The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises.
Chis Pine, Z For Zachariah, 2014. Production was halted and by the time all the problems were ironed out, Maguire had reported to another gig. Star Trek’s Pine subbed as Loomis, part of an eternal triangle – which was just a dystopian couple in Robert C O’Brien’s book… and the 1984 BBC TV version.

Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 24

WELCOME

to the films the stars did not make. The movies that never were. The most definitive collation of casting stories. Check up on all the films - of yesterday, today and tomorrow - that your favourite stars never made... A cast of thousands - 8,063 actors - to click on... More than 40 years in the making! And 2,777,633 words of spirited text.

The ultimate in movie trivia ... Better! Exactly the kind of history that Hollywood deserves. Back to front. Upside-down. Inside out. Full of flashbacks, close-ups, tracking shots (and, alas some badly edited sequences - sorry about that!) forming a fascinating, new and often bizarre flip-side perspective on your treasured movies and stars

HE SAID

“They’re doing stuff, but not with me. I’m not doing any more.” – Adam Driver on no more Kylo Ren/Ben Solo ... Or is it that there will be no more Star Wars?

“I’ve been acting for 42 years and then you make one cocktail…” – Stanley Tucci on his new fame as a TV food and cookery expert.

"The point is it's very hard work and you have to really want to do it. It has to be something that you're burning to say." – Martin Scorsese on directing at 80 and thinking “possibly only one more”.

“Whether you are a competent actor, or an artist, is incidental. The main business is: you’re product. I had a hard time steadying myself against that stuff.” – Robert Redford.

“I’ve never done the same thing twice and how many people can say that?” – Tom Hanks… forgetting his two successive Oscars.

“I was so excited when I got the script for Silent Night. There’s no dialogue in the entire movie! I thought this would be very good for me because it lets me use my gifts for telling a story visually. – John Woo on his Hollywood comeback at 77.

“I’ve gotta be nice about Marvel movies, because I named myself after a Stan Lee character named Luke Cage. What am I going to do, put Marvel movies down? Stan Lee is my surrealistic father.” – Nic Cage.

“The man who invented mornings was no Christian.” – Peter O’Toole.

“The moustache did the acting.” – Anthony Hopkins on Howards End.

“It’s very difficult to get 100 million people to watch anything,” – writer-director Joe Russo.

“I gave him a little part in Looper, where he got to be shot in the face by Bruce Willis. He was just so overjoyed… like a little kid.” – director Rian Johnson on his father.

“I'm not an actor - and I've got 64 films to prove it!” – Victor Mature.

“If you cast it right, you don’t have to tell the actors what to do.” – John Huston.

CCC CLIPS

>> Name Game. James Spader really started something with his Blacklist series. He played – remember? – Reddington. And now we have Austin Butler and, Emma Stone are in making Eddington… and newbie Glenn Powell is Huntingdon, his tenth gig since Top Gun: Maverick. Perhaps it’s time to re-issue Carrington… with, among others, Steven Waddington!

>> Christopher Nolan says “No, sadly no – no truth to those rumours.” About making the next Bond. So, no Cillian Murphy as Jimbo, then?

>> Rolling Stone. Those Poor Things, Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, are – naturally – in the next release of their Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. It’s Emma’s third Yorgos collaboration. Most likely she’ll be in his next one, too, a re-make of the South Korean hit, Save the Green Planet. That was a comedy. But one can never categorise a Lanthimos experience. After all this one was first titled… And.

>> Taylor Swift’s guy, US football superstar Travis Kelce, is making moves on movies. To be as famous as Dwayne Johnson. Although people are now beginning to ask: Dwyane Whosis?

>>Brandon Routh was Superman back in the day. Today he’s in…Ick.

>> A star sure was born! Lady Gaga now getting $10million for Joker 2…

>> Sean Ono Lennon says Emma Stone should play his dad. Now there’s a thought. After all, Cate Blanchett played Bob Dylan…

>> Sly Stallone has come this far without bothering with serial killers but that’s what he’s chasing in The Epiphany. He plays a retiring cop - what else at 78?

>> Thirty years after the first, Neve Campbell returns in Scream 7. She refused #6 over a money row…

>> Beatles director Sam Mendes made Skyfall and Spectre and another actor who has played John Lennon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, might yet be the next 007…

>> Ryan Gosling tipped to be join the Marvelverse. (They need him more than he them). Henry Cavill may follow – so definitely no Bond then. Not after Argylle. If anyone witnessed that accident, could they call the appropriate authorities.

>> Will Smith comes back (or so he hopes) in an almost suicide squad blasting drug dealers in Sugar Bandits… while Colin Farrell settles for just Sugar – back to his usual smoothie looks after The Penguin…

>> White Lotus 3 resurrects Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Charlotte Le Bon, Scott Glenn and introduces Patrick Schwarzenegger. But which one is going to flash…something?

CHAMPION'S LEAGUE

The battle for the top spot between Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson has – I think – come to an end. Recently, we‘ve seen Marlon leading Jack by one or two movies – and then, almost immediately, vice-versa. The gap is much wider now between the former Mulholland Drive neighbours. Latest research dug up more titles for Jack - Mr Mom, A Christmas Story, Striptease, The Bicentennial Man, Expend4bles – so that he is now safe (?) at the top of league with 177 films he chose not to make compared to Brando’s 172. But you know - you never know…

(The full list of their huge lists of bypassed films are not on their pages for now - one of the hassles being tackled in our - yes, very slow! – restructuring).

Marlon Brando – 177
Jack Nicholson – 172
Paul Newman – 160
Cary Grant – 150
Robert De Niro – 140
Tom Cruise – 135
Dustin Hoffman – 126
Mel Gibson – 118
Sean Connery, Al Pacino – 117

Highest Brit remains, as always, Sir Sean at 117… followed by Laurence OIivier, 93; Richard Burton, 87; Peter O’Toole, 79; Elizabeth Taylor, 73; Peter Sellers, 72; Dirk Bogarde and James Mason, 68; Olivia De Havilland, 58; Vivien Leigh and Gary Oldman, 57.

Highest lady is Bette Davis, 97; Jodie Foster, 84; Michelle Pfeiffer, 81; Katharine Hepburn, 79; Julie Christie, 76; Meryl Streep, 75; Elizabeth Taylor, 73; Nicole Kidman, 72: Jane Fonda, 70; Julia Roberts, 68.

Younger Brigade: Johnny Depp 108; Leo, 75; Jim Carrey, 70; Madonna, 62; Natalie Portman, 57; Aishawarya Rai Bachchan, 40; Bridget Fonda, 36: Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Uma Thurman, 35; Jake Gyllenhall, 33: Ben Affleck, 31.

(You'll find the full list at Champions in the Main Menu)

A BOND MISS

Is Léa Seydoux now a spy…or, to be more polite, a talent scout for Eon Productions? 007’s girl in both Spectre and No Time to Die appears to assisting the (rather quiet) search for the next Jimbo. In La bête (The Beast), one of her many new French films, Léa co-stars with Hammersmith’s George MacKay - Sam Mendes’ find for 1917. He learned French for the film, so this may not be his last Paris booking.

As Gabrielle and Louis, they work extremely well together as star-crossed lovers in three time-lines: 1904, 1914 and 2044. And he looks the business in his retro tuxedo. ‘Twould be fascinating to cast an eye over her report for Barbara Broccoli’s eyes only. On verra as Léa (and now even George) would say. We’ll see.

SHE SAID

“You need your parents to set boundaries and hold you accountable and keep you away from, like, weird people.” – Scarlett Johansson on surviving as a child actor.

“I was so deeply in love with Bella, it terrified me not to live up to her as a character. I felt like I was failing her in the first week, and failing Yorgos [Lanthimos]. ). It was just difficult. I could talk to him about it, but I couldn’t talk to her about it. “ – Emma Stone on making Poor Things, leading to her second Oscar.

“Everything was so beautiful up on that screen. That make-believe world was much more pleasant than anything I was experiencing. I didn’t like reality. I wanted to be in the movies, even though I knew I didn’t look like the other women on the screen. My mother said, ‘you better learn to type,’ but I didn’t listen. Somehow, some way, thank you God, it all came true.” – Barbra Streisand, receiving lifetime achievement honour from the Screen Actors Guild.

“If I arrive at a moment in the history of cinema where I am legally obliged to have some kind of police on my set telling me what I’m allowed to do, I would rather stop filming sex scenes completely.” – French director Mia Hansen-Løve.

“I’m not one to sit around doin’ nothin’, I would never retire, I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song onstage, someday, hopefully one I’ve written.” – Dolly Parton.

“Playing it safe doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere. You have to take chances. especially if you’re a black woman. You have no choice.” – Halle Berry.

“The more famous an actress becomes, the less she's allowed to eat.” – Lana Turner.

“I don’t do T&A very well because I haven’t got much of either.” – Tea Leoni.

“I was an idiot in terms of career-building, but I had a great time.” – Sally Kellerman.

“As you get older, you realise your parents aren't these superheroes. They're actually people.” – Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.

“Everybody thought I was crazy. And by the way, I thought I was crazy.” – Jennifer Lopez on spending $20m of her own money on making This Is Me … Now: A Love Story.

“It’s dangerous to repeat performances. It becomes the sole thing on your gravestone.” – Helen Mirren on playing The Queen in The Queen and on stage in The Audience.

“I think I was offered every Marilyn Monroe script ever. I was like: Is this the end of the road creatively?’” – Scarlett Johansson on surviving as a star.

WAIT & SEE...

This is such a busy year for movies that various releases have been postponed until 2025… Captain America: Brave New World, Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, Games of Thrones spin-off The Hedge Knight (not about a gardener), Ke Huy Quan’s actioner With Love, John Wick’s spin-off, Ballerina, Fast X :part 2, Avatar 3, Jurassic World 4, Black Mirror 7, Mission: Impossible 8, Fantastic Four, Superman and the dreaded Michael bio – more like horror film, surely. Oh and no The Batman 2 or Harry P TV series until 2026.