40 Movie Stars Who Got Fired While The Cameras Were Rolling
Major movies stand the test of time in large part because of which stars play the lead characters. So can you imagine how different some of your favourite films might have been if these original leading men and ladies hadn’t been sacked from their roles?
40. Harvey Keitel – Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola hand-picked Harvey Keitel to portray lead character Captain Willard in his 1979 classic, Apocalypse Now. However, as Peter Cowie’s 1989 biography Coppola notes, the famous director soon decided that the actor “found it difficult to play him as a passive onlooker” and fired him weeks into filming. Martin Sheen replaced him and went down in celluloid history.
39. Marilyn Monroe – Something’s Got to Give
Screen siren Marilyn Monroe’s final film, 1962’s Something’s Got to Give, was beset with problems, not least the star’s regular absences due to “illness.” Having only completed 12 days of a 33 day shoot, her decision to sing at President Kennedy’s birthday was the final straw for studio Fox, which promptly fired her.
38. Eric Stoltz – Back to the Future
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in 1985’s Back to the Future is one of cinema’s most iconic roles, but originally the part was Eric Stoltz’s. In fact, Stoltz had filmed nearly half the movie before producers – including Steven Spielberg – decided he just wasn’t funny and ditched him for Fox. Ouch.
37. James Remar – Aliens
Life could have been so different for James Remar if he hadn’t been sacked from 1986 sci-fi sequel Aliens during production because of substance issues. “I was initially cast as Corporal Hicks, and I was fired after a couple weeks of filming because I got busted for possession of drugs,” he revealed during a SiDEBAR podcast in 2010.
