- Val Kilmer, The Doors, 1991. Actor-playwright Jason Miller’s son (Jackie Gleason’s grandson) was among the 14 Jim Morrison wannabes as the rock bio was passed around during a dozen years.
- Eric Stoltz, The Waterdance, 1992. Wesley Snipes alone remained from original trio of paraplegics.
- Gary Oldman, Dracula, 1992. Not all bad news. Jason did get to meet the mighty Francis Coppola. Perhaps, that was not such a big deal when your grandfather was Jackie Gleason. “He was never part of my emotional life so I refuse to make him part of my professional life.” Losing his favourites – Jeremy Irons, Daniel Day-Lewis – Francey looked at everyone else, mainly during auditions at his Napa Valley estate… Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, Nick Cassavetes, Nicolas Cage, Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Andy Garcia, Hugh Grant, Ray Liotta, Kyle MacLachlan, Viggo Mortensen, Dermot Mulroney, Michael Nouri (a long way from Flashdance), Adrian Pasdar, Aiden Quinn, Keanu Reeves, Alan Rickman, Christian Slater and Sting.
- Tom Cruise, The Firm, 1992. Jason actually turned down the Mitch McDeere role… and can probably still explain why. Charlie Sheen was also on the wish-list for author John Grisham’s latest young lawyer hero – this one finding his law firm is run by the Mafia.
- Gabriel Byrne, A Dangerous Woman, 1993. Both Patric and Jeff Bridges were discussed as the alcoholic and unprincipled lover – of a somewhat retarded Debra Winger. And of her aunty (Barbara Hershey). And all this in a real family movie… Steven Gyllenhaal directed, his wife Naomi Foner produced and the cast included the kids” Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
- Christian Slater, Untamed Heart, 1993. Madonna was keen to set it up (with Jason). So were Geena Davis, Demi Moore with Brad Pitt.
- John Travolta, Pulp Fiction, 1993.
- Mel Gibson, Braveheart, 1994. “They didn’t offer it to me to direct,” Gibson recalled in a 2016 Deadline Hollywood interview with Mike Fleming Jr. “They offered it for me to star in… But then I started visualizing it, a lot. You’d have a shot list in your head and visualize what you wanted to see. Two years later, someone said: What do you want to do next? I said there’s this script I read a long time ago. I’d passed on it but I sort of dig it. I described the whole story to him from memory … in a shot list. I said then you’re in a low angle and he was listening to this story. He went and read the script and he said it’s a great script but what you were saying … really got to see it. So I read it again and I thought, I’ve got to do this. So I went and threw my hat in the ring to direct it.” Bingo! Best Picture and Best Director Oscars on March 25 1996.He could only go down from here. And he did.
- Keanu Reeves, The Devil’s Advocate, 1997. Set opposite Dustin Hoffman (after Brad Pitt quit) in a thriller far too close to The Firm. It wound up with Reeves and Al Pacino (finally nailing a role earmarked for Hoffman; it was usually vice-versa).
- Val Kilmer, Wonderland, 2003. Kilmer strikes again. First, Jim Morrison, now John C Holmes…. “Sharon and I were both floored when we first met Val in the guise of John,” says Dawn Schiller, who, like Sharon Holmes, talked to Kilmer about the 13 inched porno king and served as an advisor on the film. “He had the mannerisms down, the things he would say. It freaked me out. “
- James Cazievel, The Passion of the Christ, 2004. Jesus, no!
- Billy Campbell, Copperhead, 2012. Swift change of Abner Beach when Patric was “let go” after allegedly refusing to follow director Ronald F Maxwell’s orders during the US Civil War drama in Canada. Campbell was well on the comeback trail after the US TVersion of Denmark’s The Killing.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 12