- Matt Damon, All The Pretty Horses, 2000. Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio also backed off from the role of the young Texan drifter John Grady Cole in actor Billy Bob Thornton’s one chance of directing glory. Until producer Harvey Weinstein – aka Edwards Scissorhands (and much else) tore the film to piece. Said Damon: “You can’t cut 35% of the movie and expect it to be the same movie.” Ben Affleck called the 3 hrs-40mins cut “brilliant, a masterpiece.”
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Ben Foster, X-Men: The Last Stand, 2005. The franchise’s new director, Brett Ratner, hunted his Angel/Warren Worthington III through Jed Bernard, Nick Stahl, and Mike Vogel (too busy sinking with the Poseidon). No fun being an angel. Foster reported his wings were way too heavy and had to be lightened; worse, he hated heights.
- Christian Bale, Terminator Salvation, 2007. Stahl had been surprised to to win Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, 2002 (after five auditions, three screentests). Yet when asked to continue being John Connor in Chapter 4, he shook the team by wal;king. “I don’t care really, to be honest. I don’t have much interest… Sometimes you find that there is better material in small and more independent movies. There’s more risk-taking. I want to keep doing that.”
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 3