- Colin Farrell, Daredevil, 2002. The new Irishman in town had to pass on the blind title role, and before he found time to be Bullseye, the character was offered to Wilson. He was also in the Fantastic Four mix in 2004, before winning his own comicbook movie: Watchmen, 2008.
- Ioan Gruffudd, Fantastic Four, 2004. Before the Welshman became Marvel’s Mr Fantastic – the timid, brilliant and broke scientist Reed Richards giving superpowers to his three pals – other possibilities had been George Clooney, Brendan Fraser, Jeff Goldblum, Hugh Jackman, Dennis Quaid.
- Jason Behr, Shooting Livien, 2005. Two Tony nominees – Oklahoma’s Wilson and Rent star Adam Pascal – were also in contention but Behr won the prize: losing weight, sleep and learning the guitar as the disillusioned titular musician.
- Karl Urban, Loft, 2011. First choice for Vincent in the Hollywood re-make of the Belgium movie (both directed by Erik Van Looy), but his series, A Gifted Man,got in the way.
- Eddie Cibrian, Playboy, TV, 2011. The Broadway star passed… And Jeff Hephner (but not Hefner!) won the series – for three days before being replaced by Cibrian.
- Chris Pine, Into The Woods, 2013.
- Bobby Cannavale, Ant-Man, 2014. Never that easy to crash into (or out of!) the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wilson was in the running for Paxton. Cannavale ran faster… and also into his own series, Vinyl – exec produced by Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese!
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 7