Hugh Jackman almost didn’t play Wolverine. The story of 5 actors who missed out on iconic roles

By Dan Heching and Brian Lowry, CNN

(CNN) — Twenty-five years ago, Hugh Jackman was cast in a role that changed the arc of his career, becoming Wolverine in the 2000 movie “X-Men.” However, he wasn’t the first actor chosen for the part.

The role originally went to Dougray Scott of “Ever After” fame, who had to withdraw from the mutant mayhem because of his schedule on “Mission: Impossible II.”

Jackman has gone on to incarnate Logan a.k.a. Wolverine in nine films and will again portray the sharp-clawed superhero in this week’s “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Scott, meanwhile, joined a long line of alternative universe Hollywood casting stories. Here’s more on him and a few other actors who missed out on playing characters that ended up leaving their marks on pop culture:

Dougray Scott and Wolverine

Scott told the Daily Telegraph in 2020 that when production on “Mission: Impossible II” went longer than had been scheduled, star Tom Cruise insisted he stick around to finish the film. “For whatever reason he said I couldn’t (do the role),” Scott told the publication. Calling Cruise “a very powerful guy,” Scott added that “other people were doing everything to make it work.”

Scott said he also suffered an injury while filming “Mission II” that threatened to delay things further. The domino-like chain of events opened a door for Jackman.

Scott, however, bears no ill will toward the Australian star.

“I love what Hugh did with (the Wolverine role). He’s a lovely guy,” he said.

Will Smith and Neo

“The Matrix” is considered among the best science-fiction films, but at least two big stars were considered for the lead role of Neo before it eventually went to Keanu Reeves.

Will Smith explained in a video he posted to YouTube in 2019 that he was hesitant to do more work in the sci-fi genre after 1996’s “Independence Day” because he “didn’t want to be the ‘alien movie guy.’” (Steven Spielberg, who executive produced “Men In Black,” succeeded in convincing Smith to do that 1997 movie after Smith initially passed on it.) When “The Matrix” came around and directing pair Lana and Lilly Wachowski pitched Smith the project, he balked. He said he had trouble picturing the Wachowskis’ vision of Neo being frozen mid-air during a jump sequence – an example of their now-classic “bullet time” cinematography that was introduced in “The Matrix.”

Smith went on to say how he decided to do the movie “Wild Wild West” – which turned out to be a critical and commercial miss – instead of “The Matrix.”

“I’m not proud of it,” he said in his video, conceding that Reeves “was perfect” in the role.

As for the other star who said “No” to Neo? Brad Pitt, who said in early 2020 that he “took the red pill” instead.

Winona Ryder and Mary Corleone in ‘Godfather Part III’

Much has been written about Winona Ryder dropping out of “The Godfather Part III,” the 1990 threequel that followed a duo of Oscar-winning films in the ’70s.

Ryder had just wrapped the dramedy “Mermaids” opposite Cher, and flew to Rome with only one day of lead time before embarking on the role of Mary Corleone, daughter to Al Pacino’s Michael. And while it was speculated that Ryder dropped out at the last minute due to something wildly scandalous, she was in fact sick and exhausted.

She explained back in 1990 to the LA Times: “The whole thing has been blown out of proportion. I’d done three films in a row: ‘Great Balls of Fire,’ ‘… Roxy Carmichael’ and ‘Mermaids.’ Right after (“Mermaids”) wrapped, I flew to Rome with a terrible upper-respiratory infection and a 104-degree fever.”

“I literally couldn’t move,” Ryder explained at the time. “The studio doctor told me to go home, said I was too sick to work. It wasn’t my choice. It was out of my hands. Sure it’s disappointing, devastating in fact. I wish it didn’t happen … but it did.”

Cher supported her onscreen “Mermaids” daughter, telling the publication in the same article that Ryder “was fried, really fried. She’s not a flake, but you can’t wring out a wet rag. She’s just a little girl… not a superwoman. And you can’t start a film on ‘empty.’”

The role of Mary instead went to Sofia Coppola, director Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter who went on to become an acclaimed film director in her own right. The move was met with much derision at the time.

Luckily, everything worked out for all involved.

Sean Connery and Gandalf

As CNN reported last fall, Ian McKellen spoke about not being the first choice to play the legendary wizard Gandalf in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, a role that has come to define his career. In an interview with Variety, the esteemed actor shared some of the actors who turned down playing the character.

“I don’t think you’re ever the first choice. I certainly wasn’t the first choice for Gandalf,” McKellen said at the time. “Tony Hopkins turned it down. Sean Connery certainly did. They’re all coming out of the woodwork now, and I hope they feel silly.”

Connery, who died in 2020, spoke about his reasoning for declining the part back in 2006, when he explained that he “never understood” the role or the dense fantasy work by JRR Tolkien upon which the Peter Jackson-directed film franchise is based.

“I read the book, I read the script, I saw the movie. I still don’t understand it. I would be interested in doing something that I don’t fully understand, but not for eighteen months,” Connery said at the time, referencing the lengthy New Zealand-based shoot for “Lord of the Rings.”

Tom Selleck and Indiana Jones

It might be hard to fathom after five movies, but Harrison Ford was not actually the first pick to play intrepid archeologist Indiana Jones in the classic 1981 adventure movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The part was initially offered to Tom Selleck, who was not well known yet as he had only just filmed the pilot for “Magnum, P.I.”

Selleck explained how he lost out on the Indiana role earlier this year on the “Today” show.

“I was offered the role and wanted it, but I had done a pilot of ‘Magnum.’ And Steven Spielberg and George Lucas kept the offer out to me,” he said in May. “They said, ‘We’ll work it out and you can do both.’ And the more they wanted me, the more CBS (the network behind ‘Magnum’) said, ‘No, we don’t want to let him do it.’”

Selleck added that the missed opportunity “wasn’t exactly a cross to bear,” as “Magnum, P.I.” eventually went to series and became a hit, spawning eight seasons and netting him an Emmy Award.

“When I signed the deal for ‘Magnum,’ it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.

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