Your help helps us to inform the story
Our mission is to ship unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds energy to account and exposes the reality.
Whether or not $5 or $50, each contribution counts.
Assist us to ship journalism with out an agenda.
Nothing riles up actors or their followers faster than a controversial little bit of recasting. Enterprise into any Incredible Beasts hashtag – or the YouTube feedback part for one of many trailers for the franchise – and also you’ll be inundated by Johnny Depp followers condemning his exit from the sequence.
Typically it turns into a poisoned chalice for the movie itself, followers fast to specific their anger on the concept of a Mummy film with out Rachel Weisz, or a Nightmare on Elm Avenue revival with out the unique Freddy Krueger.
Many instances it’s the actors themselves who go public with their upset, from Terrence Howard’s frustrations with Marvel to Julia Sawalha’s disappointment over her exit from the Rooster Run sequel.
Cash is usually on the root of it, however different conditions are arguably much more infuriating: scheduling issues, feuding, a voice that apparently sounds “too outdated”.
We’ve gathered collectively 12 instances when actors have been recast for sequels or reboots of much-loved movies, giving solution to every kind of upset…
Johnny Depp in Incredible Beasts: The Secrets and techniques of Dumbledore
Days after the British Excessive Courtroom discovered {that a} newspaper report dubbing him a “spouse beater” was “considerably true”, Johnny Depp introduced that he’d been requested by Warner Bros to resign from the Incredible Beasts franchise. The actor had performed villainous Gellert Grindelwald over two motion pictures, with Mads Mikkelsen stepping in to exchange him for the third movie The Secrets and techniques of Dumbledore. The transfer sparked an abundance of Twitter outrage, with hashtag campaigns proclaiming help for Depp, and others pledging to boycott the remainder of the Incredible Beasts sequence except the actor is reinstated.
Robin Williams in Aladdin 2
Robin Williams’ voiceover function because the Genie in Aladdin is arguably essentially the most well-known little bit of animated appearing in movie historical past. Much less well-known is the warfare between Williams and Disney that adopted the movie’s launch. The actor publicly condemned the company after he claimed it had ignored his request to solely use his voice for the movie, and never any of its merchandising. “I simply don’t wish to promote something,” Williams mentioned in 1993, “as in Burger King, as in toys, as in stuff.”
At first, Disney denied that it made such a take care of the actor, and despatched him a Picasso portray price $1m as a peace providing. That didn’t work, and Williams refused to return for the straight-to-video sequel The Return of Jafar. After incorrectly assuming it may merely change Williams within the function – Homer Simpson actor Dan Castellaneta stepped in – Disney admitted they’d ignored Williams’ request about utilizing his voice and publicly apologised. Glad with the apology, Williams then returned for sequel Aladdin and the King of Thieves in 1996.
Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2
By the point Iron Man 2 rolled round in 2010, one main forged member appeared very totally different. Don Cheadle had stepped into the function of Struggle Machine, regardless of Terrence Howard originating it within the first movie. The change proved controversial, with reviews claiming that Howard and Marvel had fallen out over cash. Additional reviews claimed that Howard – as a result of he was the very first actor forged in Iron Man – was paid considerably greater than each different forged member within the movie, together with star Robert Downey Jr, one thing Marvel sought to rectify for the sequel.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers solely. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews till cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers solely. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews till cancelled
“They got here to me with the second [movie] and mentioned, ‘Look, we pays you one-eighth of what we contractually had for you, as a result of we predict the second will probably be profitable with or with out you,’” Howard mentioned in 2013. Howard additionally claimed that Marvel used what would have been his wage to beef up Downey Jr’s pay, and that Downey Jr had intentionally ignored his calls when he sought his assist along with his contract re-negotiations. The scenario was decidedly murky, and stays one of many uglier episodes in Marvel casting lore.
Julia Sawalha in Rooster Run 2
The long-in-the-works Rooster Run sequel drew dangerous press in 2020 when the primary movie’s main girl Julia Sawalha claimed that she’d been dropped from its follow-up – Sawalha claimed she’d been advised her voice sounded “too outdated” in comparison with the way it did within the authentic film. “They need a youthful actress to reprise the function,” Sawalha wrote in an announcement. “I’m captivated with my work and I don’t go down with out a battle, so I did my very own voice take a look at at dwelling and despatched it to the producers … Nonetheless, they said, ‘We will probably be going forward to recast the voice of Ginger.’ I really feel I’ve been fobbed off … To say I’m devastated and livid could be an understatement. I really feel completely powerless.” Sawalha ended up being changed within the function of Ginger by Thandiwe Newton, whereas Aardman Animation declined to touch upon the change.
Rachel Weisz in The Mummy 3
Weisz reportedly turned down the possibility to reprise her star-making Mummy function for a 3rd movie as a result of she wasn’t proud of the script. You possibly can’t blame her, with The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor drawing poor critiques after which vanishing with out a hint in 2008. Followers additionally disliked that Weisz was merely swapped in her function by Maria Bello, who adopted a wonky British accent for the movie. “I believe Rachel is so good, and he or she was lovely in that half, however they wrote my character so otherwise, I felt prefer it was a very totally different girl,” Bello defined. “She has the identical title, however she’s fairly a unique character.” Audiences may inform, and revolted.
Rachelle Lefevre in Twilight
Lefevre was forged as coven chief Victoria within the Twilight movies, solely to get replaced halfway by way of the franchise by Bryce Dallas Howard. It was a contentious resolution, with each Lefevre and manufacturing firm Summit Leisure going at it within the press. “I’m deeply harm by Summit’s shocking resolution to maneuver on with out me,” Lefevre mentioned in an announcement, after she insisted that her involvement with the movie Barney’s Model wouldn’t conflict with the manufacturing schedule for Twilight sequel Eclipse. Summit disagreed, writing in their very own assertion that Lefevre demonstrated a “lack of cooperative spirit” by allegedly taking the Barney’s Model function with out checking with Summit first. Howard, in the meantime, stayed out of it, revealing in 2017 that she and Lefevre have been cordial with each other and that the choice to recast had “nothing to do with [them]”, including: “Nothing comes between girls, and he or she’s superior.”
John Goodman and Rick Moranis in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
Each Goodman and Moranis weren’t contractually signed to make a sequel to the 1994 smash The Flintstones, that means Common Footage needed to make do with out them for 2000’s Viva Rock Vegas. To work round such a difficulty, Common made the movie a prequel and recruited the decidedly lower-wattage pair of Mark Addy and Stephen Baldwin to play Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble as a substitute. Audiences have been unimpressed and the movie was a colossal flop, killing the franchise as an entire in its tracks.
Kathleen Cauley and Jennifer Smith in Harry Potter
Within the early Harry Potter movies, Hogwarts pupil Lavender Brown was performed by two Black actors, Kathleen Cauley and Jennifer Smith, who have been virtually extras. By the point Lavender’s function within the sequence grew to become extra distinguished – and acquired precise dialogue – it made sense to recast, significantly with a extra skilled actor. However the sequence confronted backlash from followers for casting white actor Jessie Cave within the half, with Warner Bros by no means explaining why a choice was made to vary the character’s race simply as she acquired extra to do.
Ryan Gosling in The Pretty Bones
Gosling appeared set for Oscar consideration after signing as much as play a grieving father in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Pretty Bones. Nonetheless, Gosling was fired days into manufacturing and changed by Mark Wahlberg. Rumours swirled concerning the firing, with Jackson reportedly sad with Gosling’s resolution to placed on weight for the function. Years later, Gosling appeared to substantiate the hypothesis, saying that he and Jackson “had a unique concept of how the character ought to look”. He continued: “I actually believed he needs to be 210 kilos. We didn’t speak very a lot throughout the pre-production course of, which was the issue … I simply confirmed up on set, and I had gotten it flawed. Then I used to be fats and unemployed.”
Crispin Glover in Again to the Future Half II
Glover is a standout within the authentic Again to the Future, taking part in Michael J Fox’s nerdy father George McFly. For the sequel, although, Glover balked at what he thought of an insufficiently low wage, and expressed points with the script. Peeved, the sequel’s makers recruited a brand new actor – Jeffrey Weissman – and did the whole lot they might to make audiences imagine Glover was nonetheless taking part in the half, together with utilizing prosthetics to make Weissman look extra like him, and hanging the character the wrong way up at one level within the movie.
Weissman claimed that he heard the movie’s cinematographer seek advice from him on set as “Crispin with out the difficulty”, whereas actor Lea Thompson – who performed George’s spouse Lorraine – has revealed she discovered it tough to work with an “impostor dude” who wasn’t Glover. Glover ended up suing the movie’s producers for utilizing his likeness within the movie – by way of prosthetics – with out his permission, with the matter being settled out of courtroom.
Robert Englund in A Nightmare on Elm Avenue
The 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Avenue was the primary to not function veteran horror star Robert Englund as dream-haunting assassin Freddy Krueger, changing him with Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley. Followers have been understandably upset, with the movie swapping Englund’s manic humour within the function for Haley’s grave eeriness. Englund, to his credit score, all the time praised Haley to the hilt, however admitted in 2012 that the movie itself wasn’t for him. “It was a bit chilly,” he mentioned. “However Haley made Freddy his personal.”
Edward Norton in The Avengers
It took three tries for an actor to look snug as The Unbelievable Hulk, with Mark Ruffalo entering into the function of mild-mannered Dr Bruce Banner for 2012’s The Avengers. Eric Bana and Edward Norton had performed the function in separate motion pictures earlier than him, however solely Norton publicly condemned Marvel after he wasn’t invited to return.
After Marvel CEO Kevin Feige mentioned that they’d dumped Norton in favour of an actor “who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit” of the franchise (gulp), Norton fired again in an interview with The Impartial. Claiming that his exit was solely all the way down to cash – and never any rumoured clashes on the set of 2008’s The Unbelievable Hulk – Norton mentioned: “I discovered it an affordable and pointless illustration that it was about issues apart from cash. They got here to me avidly to speak about it after which, on the finish of the day, it was only a flat out enterprise resolution … Marvel’s going to must take care of their very own karma – they’ve acquired greater issues than me.”
