“What Actor Or Actress Stupidly Left A Movie Franchise Or TV Series Thinking They Were Too Good For It, Only To Never Be Popular Again?” (30 Answers)

In fact, there are various reasons why actors and actresses leave projects, and probably the main one is that no one can ever be sure that this or that film or series will gain mainstream or cult fame. Now, almost a quarter of a century later, we are amazed at Will Smith's shortsightedness as he turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix for the disastrous Wild Wild West, but then, in the late nineties, the situation was a little different.

Smith had an incredibly successful experience working with director Barry Sonnenfeld on the first Men in Black movie, and the Wachowskis' project seemed to have a strange future those days. In the same way, for example, as The Lord of the Rings, the success of the film adaptation of which, despite all the talents of Peter Jackson, was doubted by many in Hollywood. And many actors then rejected roles in the great adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien.

We often talk about Stuart Townsend, who was already cast as Aragorn, spent several months on the set, but then for various reasons (one of which was a conflict with the film crew) was fired and later replaced by Viggo Mortensen. But much more epic is Sir Sean Connery's refusal, who was offered the role of Gandalf several times by the producers, but the legendary actor flatly refused without even reading the plot.

Writer Ian Nathan, in his book "Anything You Can Imagine. Peter Jackson & The Making Of Middle-Earth", says that the bosses of New Line Cinema were so eager to get Connery on board that they even offered him 15% of the proceeds of the upcoming trilogy. Considering that The Lord of the Rings grossed about 3 billion dollars worldwide, Sir Sean's fee could be almost 450 million!

Terence Howard was good as Col. Jim Rhodes in the first Iron Man, and was the highest paid actor on the team - simply because he signed his contract first. Yes, you read that right - he was making more money than Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges. "And once the project fully came together, it was too late to renegotiate his deal," says journalist Nicole Sperling in her article on EW, dedicated to Howard's exit.

However, some Hollywood insiders note that Howard was being difficult during the filming of the first movie, so the studio just radically decided on the atmosphere on the set. Be that as it may, after Iron Man, the actor's filmography went downhill (to the point that in 2019 he was even going to retire as he was allegedly 'tired of pretending'), but Don Cheadle, who replaced him, on the contrary, got a great boost to his career.

"Cinema is not only a business, but, above all, an art - so no one guarantees that a film or TV series will be successful," says Dmytro Kosygin, a Ukrainian film director and screenwriter, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for a comment. "So even if you put together the most impressive cast, put an Oscar-winning superstar in the director's chair, and give them the best team with an impeccable script, it will in no way give you confidence that the film will be successful."

"No one, in the end, canceled such a thing as chemistry between members of the crew, and this is perhaps one of the most important things. Making a film is somewhat like preparing a magic potion - even if you mix all the ingredients in the right proportion, the result may well turn out to be disgusting. And vice versa - even the most low-budget and unprofessional project can get the love of critics and viewers as well," Dmytro admits.

As for Tamzin Merchant, whom we mentioned at the beginning of this post, she played Princess Daenerys Targaryen in the Game of Thrones pilot episode, when actually very few people realized the potential of the future hit. Shortly after that, HBO announced that the actress left the project, and a little later, Emilia Clarke joined the team, without whom it is now impossible to imagine the world of Westeros.

However, if Merchant regretted parting with Game of Thrones, she didn't regret it for long - in the end, several years of successful filming in Salem and the first season of Carnival Row awaited her ahead. By the way, the second season of Carnival Row starts very soon, so do not plan anything for the coming evenings and, of course, prepare some popcorn in advance!