- Josh Hutcherson, Red Dawn, 2012, The future Maze Runner lost Robert Kitner to the future Mr Hunger Games in the totally unecessary re-hash of the totall unnecessary John Milius original, circa 1984.
- Tom Holland, Captain America: Civil War, 2015. Wanted: a new and young Spider-Man for what amounted to The Avengers: Part 2.5 and, of course, a teaser for future Spideyverse tales. Despite vigorous interest from Brits Daniel Radcliffe to Freddie Highmore, the reported ten finalists to succeed Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker were: O’Brien, Timothée Chalamet, Canadian Liam James, Logan Lerman, Judah Lewis, Matt Lintz, Charlie Plummer, Chandler Riggs, Charlie Rowe, Nat Wolff. Plus Londoner Asa Butterfield, way too tall in his tests with a shorter Robert Downey Jr (but OK to co-star with Chalamet in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,2015). During a 2013, Holland said what he wanted an action movie with humour. “Maybe Spider-Man, in ten years’ time. The reboot of the reboot, if they do that.” They did. He did – becoming the youngest Spidey on June 23, 2015. The hero was 15, the actor was 19. His predecessors, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were 25 and 27 back in their day.
- Tye Sheridan, X-Men: Apocalypse, 2015. “A big monster of a movie,” declared propducer-director Bryan Singer. “A kinda conclusion of six X-Men films, yet a potential rebirth of younger, newer characters.” O’Brien from The Maze Runner, Jamie Blackley, Luke Bracey, Timothée Chalamet, Taron Egerton, Ben Hardy, Josh Hutcherson, Dylan O’ Brien, Jesse Plemons and Charlie Rowe – they were all listed to succeed James Marsden’s Scott Summers/Cyclops from the opening quartet, 1999-2013
- Taron Egerton, Robin Hood: Origins, 2016. Not the catchiest of titles – compared to Nottingham & Hoodor just plain Hood– but Leonardo Di Caprio’s production beat the rivals to the off. Hoult, Dylan O’Brien and Jacks Huston and Reynor were also up for director Otto (Peaky Blinders) Bathurst’s Sherwood… A major flop ! “I don’t regret it,” said Egerton. “The pitch was genuinely interesting… sounded like a legitimate, gritty reimagining of something that’s always been dealt with in a flowery, glossy way.”
- Ben Schwartz, Sonic the Hedgehog, 2019. For the new movie version of the video game, 11 actors tested for the voice of the Blue Blur: Charlie Day, Dane Dehaan, Adam Devine, Will Forte, Josh Gad, Bill Hader, Freddie Highmore, Dylan O’Brien, Adam Pally (also seen for Sonic, he wound up as Wade, Tom’s deputy), Chris Pratt, Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, Justin Timberlake, Milo Ventimiglia, Owen Wilson and Marsden, who was ready for “as many as they want to make. it was so much fun to see Jim enjoying himself again.”
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 5