Some of the biggest movie parts in history were first offered to other actors, including the part of Indiana Jones. Can you imagine anyone else playing that part? Take a look at the actors who turned these parts down below. Do you think the movies would have been as successful if the directors had secured their first choice of actors?

Indiana Jones

Tom Selleck was the first choice for the role of Indiana Jones but he turned the role down because he was still filming Magnum. I love Tom Selleck, but I just can’t imagine anyone playing the party of Indy as well as Harrison Ford did!

Footloose

The role that made Kevin Bacon’s name in Footloose was first offered to Tom Cruise. Presumably they’d seen him dancing in his pants in Risky Business (below) and felt he’d do the dance-scenes justice…?

Cruise was busy filming another movie so couldn’t take the part, so they then offered the part to Rob Lowe who had to pull out because of injury. So Kevin Bacon was third choice!

I was going to show Kevin Bacon’s version from Footloose, but I’m guessing we’ve all seen that a million times, so here is his amazing recreation of it 30 years later on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Joan Collins as Cleopatra

Before Elizabeth Taylor was cast in the role as Cleopatra, various other actresses were tried out. The part was offered to Joan Collins, and Audrey Hepburn was also considered for the role. You can see Joan Collins in her test for the role below:

The Bonds That Never Were

Quite a few actors have turned down the role of James Bond. The most surprising (to me anyway) were Richard Burton, who was offered the role as James Bond but demanded too much money, and Burt Reynolds who felt Bond should be played by a British actor and Cary Grant, who felt he was too old for the part.

What do you think? Would they have done the movie roles justice?