Sam Worthington

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

 

  1. Daniel Craig, Casino Royale, 2005.
  2. Channing Tatum, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, 2008.   Chris Evans, Mathew Fox, Mark Wahlberg Sam Worthington were in the loop for Duke in   Hollywood’s crazy toys-as-source-material movies. Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers skewered this one: “I don’t know what to say about the acting, writing and directing… because I couldn’t find any.” Worthington was tied to Avatar and as Captain America, Evans later proved that a Marvel comic hero had better action chops than a Hasbro toy.
  3. Eric Dane, Burlesque, 2009.    Considered by New York writer-director Steve Antin for Marcus in Cher’s first (and last) musical. So were Casey Affleck, Jamie Foxx.
  4. Bradley Cooper,  Valentine’s Day, 2009.    Sam passed on both Holden…
  5. Eric Dane,  Valentine’s Day, 2009.     … and Sean in the 21-star-jammed LA take on Love Actually. Director Garry Marshall struck gold – then re-made it (badly) as New Year’s Eve in New York.
  6. Johnny Depp, The Tourist, 2009.      Using the basic Hitchcock matrix, the hero was supposed to be an ordinary joe caught up in extraordinary circumstances (ie Angelina Jolie!). Sam quit due to more mundane circumstances – “creative differences” with German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
  7. Ryan Reynolds, Green Lantern, 2010.    Mr Avatar was up for everything – even before the mightiest of all blockbusters came out. He was in talks with 007 director Martin Campbell. “I like Martin a lot. I met him on the Bond stuff, and I like his work, but… is it a movie that I’d go and see?” Apparently not! Jack Black, Bradley Cooper, Michael Fassbender. Nathan Fillion, Brian Austin Green, Emile Hirsch, Jared Leto, Eddie Murphy, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake were passed over. Allowing Reynolds to achieve the rare double whammy of playing both Marvel Comics and DC Comics superheroes.

  8. Chris Evans, Captain America: The First Avenger 2010.  
    The first screen version of the WWII propaganda comicbook hero  – Defender of the Defenceless – since Republic’s 1944 serial (with Dick Purcell), two 1979 tele-quickies (Rep Brown) and the 1989 movie (Matt Salinger, son of the monumental JD, no less). A 1981 Universal plan for Jeff Bridges  never flew. Nor did Cannon’s 1984 take which UK director Michael Winner never got around to casting (well, not out loud).  Also missing the 2010 nine-picture deal for sequels, Avengersmovies and cross-overs were… Jensen Ackles, Michael Cassidy, Dane Cook, Chace Crawford, Garrett Hedlund, Kellan Lutz, Ryan, McPartlin, Johnny Pacar, Ryan Phillippe, Scott Porter, Alexander Skarsgård, Will Smith, Sebastian Stan (chosen for Bucky Barnes), Channing Tatum (in last three), Mike Vogel, Sam Worthington.  Plus two of the Jonas brothers  band (Joe and Kevin), three of the TV-Marvelverse: Wilson Bethel (Daredevil), Chad Michael Murray (Agent Carter), Derek Theler (New Warriors).   And John Krasinski. “This is stupid,”he yelled during his costumed test,“I’m not Captain America!” And he wasn’t.  But he was Amazon’s TV’s surprise Jack Ryan  in 2018. While Sam, was James Cameron’s hero, Jake Scully, in Avatar 1,2,3,4and 5, from 2008-2025.

  9. Chris Pine, This Means War, 2011.    Worthington, Bradley Cooper, Colin Farrell were also up for the CIAgent at war with his junior partner (James Franco, Seth Rogen or Justin Timberlake) – over Reese Witherspoon?! Way back at the turn of the century, it was to be a black two-hander for Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock. But they’d all read the script – “whose sensible parts,” suggested New York Times critic Louis Lumenick, “would fit on a napkin with enough room left over for the Gettysburg Address.” Chicago’s Roger Ebert simply added: “So bad it’s nothing else but bad.”  
  10. Ryan Reynolds, Safe House, 2011.      All the other new guys  – Sam, Zac Efron, Jake Gyllenhaall, Garrett Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch, Shia LaBeouf, James McAvoy, Chris Pine, Channing Tatum – also angled to be the freshman CIA babysitter having to rescue Denzel Washington from an attacked safe house in the Hollywood debut of Swedish director Daniel Espinosa.
  11. Luke Evans, Dracula Untold, 2014.   Or, Dracula Year Zero when Worthington was seen as a worthy Vlad. The Welsh Evans took over for what was supposed to kick-start the rebooting of Universal’s 30/40s’ monster movies… with the first Hollywood Dracula number for14 years. But made in – of all places! – Belfast, Northeren Ireland.
  12. Adam Driver, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, 2017.

 

 

 

 

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 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  12