- Charlie Hofheimer, Black Hawk Down, 2001. Barry Levinson’s Liberty Heights had find had to quit Ridley Scott’s army in the Mogadisghu Mile due to “a leg injury sustained during the basic Ranger training all actors went through.” The intense Bostonian actor recovered to make his name in Six Feet Under, 2005, and as Angel in X-Men: The Last Stand, 2006.
- Jon Foster, The Door in the Floor, 2004. “Hey, you know who’s best for this?” And he passed it to his younger brother. “He’s definitely my best friend and my mentor,” said Jon. “A lot of time my dad was traveling so Ben really raised me.”
- Jon Foster, Stay Alive, 2005. Once again, Ben gave his (horror) role to his brother.Not only generous, but correct – the horror fest about (rather than adapted from) a real killer of avideo game required a younger lead. The freres Foster finally filmed together in the Anglo-German David Spade movie, Pandorum, 2008.
- Jai Courtney, A Good Day To Die Hard, 2012. Justin Timberlake was first chosen for our hero John McClane’s son, Jack, in Live Free or Die Hard, 2006, aka Hard 4. Jack was axed and kept in the Fox fridge until Hard 5. By the time that was ready six years later, Timberlake was gone and the new candidates for McHero Jr were: Courtney, DJ Cotrona, James Badge Dale, Shiloh Fernandez, Ben Foster, Liam Hemsworth, Steven R McQueen (the grandson), Aaron Paul, Milo Ventimiglia, Paul Walker. And Foster from re-making The Mechanic and 3.10 To Yuma.
- Dan Stevens, A Walk Among The Tombstones, 2013. One of the great unmade Hollywood scripts nearly happened in 2002 with Joe Carnahan helming Ford as Lawrence Block’s ex-cop turned (unlicensed) private dick Matthew Scudder. (Jeff Bridges had been the first Scudder in 8 Million Ways Toe Die, 1985). Finally, scripter Scott Frank decided to direct Neeson. Perfect!. While peparing to be disgraced US cyclist Lance Armstrong in The Programme, Foster was up for either brother – Kenny and Peter. Until the Downton Abbey TV find, Stevens, became drug dealer Kenny…
- Boyd Hobrook, A Walk Among The Tombstones, 2013. .. with Holbrook as the drug-addicted Peter. Foster even offered to play both – just to make sure he could be (as the New York Times called him) the twitchy Peter.
- Chris Marquette, Broken Horses, 2014. Change of siblings – again. The violinist and a mentally challenged hitman had also once been Nicolas Cage and Mickey Rourke… in the first Hollywood feature from a Bollywoodian. Vidhu Vinod Chopra had LA fans. For James Cameron, this was an artistic triumph while Alfonso Cuaron was overwhelmed. So were critics. Just not in the same direction. “A cheap, unpleasant movie,” said Jeff Rollins @ cutpfrintfilm.com, “with a hair-brained plot, abysmal dialog, hollow characters and truly bizarre performances. It’s best to put this horse down.”
- Spencer Rocco LoFranco, The Life and Death of John Gotti, 2016. Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr downright refused The Son… While Juniors, writers, directors (Nick Cassavetes, Barry Levinson) and the years sped by, John Travolta remained literally The Teflon Don as Gotti Sr, was known when the untouchable head of New York’s Gambino Mafia family. After numerous discussions with James Franco, Shia LaBeouf, Jeremy Renner, Channing Tatum, even the British Dominic Cooper, Levinson chose Foster from their 1999 Liberty Heights. Canada’s LoFranco was perfect for Travolta… not known for stealing movies.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 8