- Joaquin Phoenix, Signs, 2001. Mark Ruffalo quit when diagnosed with a brain tumor (benign. Phoenix beat Sarsgaard to the role and director M Night Shyamalan kept Joaquin for his next feature, The Village, 2004. The tumor was more fun.
- Michael Reilly Burke, Ted Bundy, 2002. Sarsgaard (ex-Scarsgaard) was was not alone in refusing to portray serial killer Theodore Robert Bundy (1946-1989). Rob Lowe, Kiefer Sutherland also passed on the necrophiliac rapist and murderer who confessed to killing 30 women between 1974-1978.
- Jason Statham, Cellular, 2004. When Sarsgaard passed on Ethan, Statham agreed to tackle his first ever villain. If he had second thoughts, Sarsgaard was lucky enough to find almost an Ethan-clone the following year in Flightplan. So it goes…
- Steve Coogan, What Goes Up, 2008. Nine other actors were in (and out) during the much delayed and budget-slashed mess about a New York journo involved with the youth population of the small home of town of “the first teacher in space”Christa McAuliffe – when she dies in the 1986 Challenger Shuttle explosion.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4