- C Thomas Howell, The Hitcher, 1985. Our young hero (who finds finds an amputated finger in his french fries) could have been Modine, Tom Cruise, or brothers Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen – instead of Howell, scared stiff by the titular Rutger Hauer.
- Tom Cruise, Top Gun, 1985. Among those passing on cocky USNavy jet pilot Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell were: Kevin Bacon, Scott Baio, Jim Carrey, John Cusack, Robert Downey Jr, Michael J Fox, Rob Lowe, Matthew Modine (took exception to the script’s Cold War politics), Patrick Swayze, Eric Stolz John Travolta (too pricey) – and brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. Too young, at 20, Sheen sent the whole movie up in Hot Shots!, 1991.
- Jean-Marc Barr, Le grand bleu, France, 1988. “Ideal for the role,” said realisateur Luc Besson. “I saw him in New York, with a six-month-old baby in his arms. He’d just come out of eleven months with Kubrick. I didn’t insist…”
- Bill Campbell, The Rocketeer, 1990. Johnny Depp, Vincent D’Onofrio, Emilio Estevez, Bill Paxton, Dennis Quaid, Kurt Russell were also in the Disney frame for Cliff Secord flying around 30s’ LA in Alan Arkin’s rocket backpack. When interviewing Campbell – in Paris for the opening – he told me he’d spent the previous night climbing the North face of… Notre Dame cathedral! For fun. Not a camera in sight.
- Charlie Sheen, The Rookie, 1990. Craig R Baxley directing Hackman and Modine was thwarted by the 1988 Screen Actors Guild strike. Clint Eastwood directing himself and Charlie Sheen (plus a record 80 stuntmen) was way better.
- Kevin Costner, JFK, 1991.
- Tom Hanks, Philadelphia, 1993. Instead of director Jonathan Demme’s fiction about AIDS, Modine told the full true history of the disease in And The Band Played On for HBO television.
- Steven Weber, Jeffrey, 1995.vvAmong the starry names discussed before the gay comedy was made with cheaper leaders.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 7