- Timothy Dalton, The Living Daylights, 1986.
- Thomas Gibson, Far and Away, 1992. Seen by director Ron Howard for the villainous suitor of Nicole Kidman. Another suitor was Tom Cruise. Nolo contendere… Forget the name – Sean is not Irish. Hollywood doesn’t get it and considered him to rival Tom Cruise in this Irish epic. Bean won a tougher Irishman and a scar over one eye from when Harrison Ford accidentally boathooked him in Patriot Games, a better film by far and away.
- Mel Gibson, Pocahontas, 1994. Hmm, yes, well, went the suits… But we really need an actor – a voice – an accent ! – better known Stateside. Enter: Gibson voicing John Smith based by character designer John Pomeroy and his team upon Errol Flynn in swashbuckle mode.
- Pierce Brosnan, GoldenEye, 1994.
- Paul McGann, Doctor Who (The Movie), TV, 1996.
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Denzel Washington, Man on Fire, 2004.
Tony Scott backed out of directing the first version in 1986, but helped Denzel Washington retrieve his lost taste for acting in this re-make. Sergio Leone chose Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando nearly played A J Quinnell’s ex-CIA hero turned mercenary (certainly helped re-write him) but Scott Glenn won the role. Tony Scott had wanted Robert Duvall. The new scriptwriter, Brian Helgeland, recalled going into the LA Video Archives store in the 80s and asking the clerk: “What’s good?” The clerk said: Man on Fire. The clerk was Quentin Tarantino. In both films Creasy is trying to rescue a kidnapped girl, almost a daughter to him, that he’s bodyguarding. Yeah, rather like a matrix for Liam Neeson’s Takens. So no surprise to find Liam among some 25 actors up for Creasy. Alec Baldwin, Sean Bean, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Andy Garcia, Mel Gibson, Ed Harris, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, Viggo Mortensen, Gary Oldman, Dennis Quaid, Keanu Reeves, Alan Rickman, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Will Smith, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis… even our dear old Bob Hoskins. Creasy was later Bollywooded by the inimitable Amitabh Bachchan (at age 63!). There were three songs, of course! - Jim Caviezel, Outlander, 2007. Change of the alien Kainan in what Chicago critic Roger Ebert was tempted to call preposterous. “But a movie about an alien spaceship crashing into a Viking fjord during the Iron Age is likely to be preposterous.”
- Michael Douglas, Ant-Man, 2014. The micro-superhero had been rolling around Hollywood ever since New World’s 1988 plan was tossed out because Disney was into Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. Well, nowDisney was Marvel and, started prepping in 2006 with the great (Ant Man fan) Edgar Wright writer-directing. By 2013, the script was done, effects tests shot and Douglas (or his Oscar) was chosen over Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Buscemi, Gary Oldman, for Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, mentoring Paul Rudd as his successor. Then, Marvel maven Kevin Feige shook Film City by replacing Wright (for being Edgar Wright!) with the obedient Peyton Reed
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 87