- Josh Hartnett, Pearl Harbor, 2000 Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow as the three pretty leads(only Ben was available) and Bentley as Danny Walker. No way!
- Tobey Maguire, Spider Man, 2001.
- Heath Ledger, Monster’s Ball, 2001. No thank you. He was tired – asked his Four Feathers co-star to take it on. He was right. Sonny Grotowski was not either of the main roles – Hank Grotowski (Sonny’s Pa) and Leticia Musgrove, aka Billy Bob Thornton and… becoming the first black Best Actress Oscar-winner, the supreme Halle Berry.
- Stuart Townsend, Queen of the Damned, 2001. A rush job. Instead of filming the next two Anne Rice novels after Interview With A Vampire, Warner Bros had an eye on the clock of their rights – and -mish-mashed them into a single sequel. Rice hated it. So, apparently, did Cruise. He certainly refused to reprise the vampiric Lestat. Wes Bentley won the gig, then quit. Josh Hartnett and Heath Ledger were seen but finally, the Irtish Townsend was selected. He had the voice, said Rice. He also had her heart… She had created a character called Stuart Townsend in her Witching Hour book. Eleven years before meeting him
- Stephen Dorff, Shadowboxer, 2005. Who could refuse a chance to work with Helen Mirren?
- Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy, 2013. The most Lucasian of the Marvel films… The bulked-up Parks and Recreation TV star won Marvel’s Peter Quill aka Star Lord chief of the alien superheroes from… 19 more usual prerequisites… Six TV finds (Cam Gigandet, Jack Huston, John Krasinski, James Marsden, Lee Pace, Aaron Paul), three science fiction favourites (Jensen Ackles, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Rosenbaum), a couple of triples (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Logan Marshall-Green), two hot Brits (Eddie Redmayne, Jim Sturgess), a brace of Aussies (Joel Edgerton, Sullivan Stapleton), two total outsiders (Glenn Howerton, Chris Lowell). And an ex-hottie on the comeback trail – Wes Bentley.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 6