- Patrick Swayze, Uncommon Valour, 1983. Swayze replaced Remar in Colonel Gene Hackman’s squad of ‘Nam veterans going into Laos to rescue his son from a POW camp. A Colonel Ernest Borgnine reprised the idea – but in Angola in Skeleton Coast.
- Michael Biehn, Aliens, 1985. “James Remar got into trouble,” recalled Biehn, “got kicked out of the country and they needed a replacement for him in a hurry. Gale [Anne Hurd, the producer] called me on up on Friday, asked me if I had a passport that was up to date, and… Monday morning I was on the set!” As Corporal Dwayne Hicks. Needless to add, one Remar shot remains in the final cut. To thank Biehn, director James Cameron damn nearly killed him in their next one, Abyss. In all his Cameron films, a Biehn hand gets bitten.
- Chris Conrad, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, 1997. Auditioned for Johnny Cage and won the bigger role of Earth Realm warrior leader Lord Rayden, when Christophe(r) Lambert could not reprise his role from the first film based upon the video game. Remar’s fight double was Ray Park, the future Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I, 1999.
- Lee Horsley, The Hateful Eight, 2014. In a snit when his script wes leaked on-line, this is the Tarantino film that nearly wasn’t. And isn’t. A movie, that is. It’s a single-set stage play with enough speechifyin’ for a UN climate congress. And badly in need of scissors. Remar had been Quenyin’s Butch Pooch/Acde Spek and Horsley was Sheriff Gus in Django Unchained, 2012. QT was “crazy, gaga, eyes popping out of my head happy” with his second Western (third if you count Reservoir Dogs). Good for him. Not for us. He was punching below his weight.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4