Role Reversals on the Silver Screen Trivia Game | Movies

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. For most people, Tom Hanks absolutely nailed the title role in 'Forest Gump'. However, he was not the first choice for the lead. Who was?

Answer: John Travolta

Hanks picked up one of the six Oscars (Best Actor) that 'Forest Gump' earned after its 1994 release. The others were Best Director, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Writing and Best Film.
Travolta seemed to be a serial turner-downer of roles. He rejected the leads in 'Days of Heaven' (1978), 'American Gigolo' (1989) and 'An Officer and A Gentleman' (1982). I hope Richard Gere was suitably thankful when he landed all three. Travolta also said no to 'Splash' in 1984, and again Hanks was the beneficiary. On the other side of the coin, Travolta was not first choice for the role of Vincent Vega in 'Pulp Fiction' in 1994, but got it when Michael Madsen passed.
Much of the information used in this quiz was taken from 'Top movie role reversals', by Andrew Banks of news.com.au, June 12, 2007. [www.news.com.au/entertainment]

2. Actors could be fickle people. Which actor turned down a chance to play James Bond, later spurned the opportunity to play Han Solo and then watched as a substitute walked away with an Oscar for yet another role he rejected?

Answer: Burt Reynolds

In the 1970s, Reynolds passed on the chance to play 007 and was not interested in 'Star Wars'. He also walked away from Kevin Kline's role in 'Soapdish' (1991) and Bruce' Willis's part in 'Die Hard' (1998). In 1983, Jack Nicholson won an Academy Award for the role in 'Terms of Endearment' that Reynolds rejected. Nicholson also benefited when he was preferred to Reynolds for a role in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975) - the director had wanted Reynolds but the studio did not think he was enough of a pull at the box office. On the other hand Reynolds got a part in 'Deliverance' (1972) after three other actors, Marlon Brando, James Stewart and Henry Fonda, turned it down.

3. 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was a favourite movie for many people and they all raved about the performances of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Redford, though, was not the first choice to play the Sundance Kid in the movie released in 1969. Who was?

Answer: Marlon Brando

In 1968, Newman took over the production of the movie from Steve McQueen. It was originally titled 'The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy' and McQueen was to play The Kid. With him out of the picture, literally and metaphorically, the role was offered to Brando, who passed.
(Pedantic note: I'm differentiating McQueen's intended but not made version from the version that went into production).
Brando, meanwhile, was also first choice for the role of Richard Boyle in 'Salvador' (1986), but it went to James Woods.

4. In 1987, Cher won an Academy award for 'Moonstruck', but which actress passed on the role?

Answer: Sally Field

Meanwhile, Judd turned down Pamela Anderson's role in TV's 'Home Improvements', while Fonda also preferred movies over TV's 'Ally McBeal'.
Helen Hunt beat Teri Hatcher to the role of Jamie Buchman in 'Mad About You' (1992).

5. Woody Harrelson must have felt like saying 'cheers' to an actor who stepped aside from roles in 'White Men Can't Jump' (1992), 'Indecent Proposal' (1993), and 'The Cowboy Way' (1994). Who was that benefactor?

Answer: Charlie Sheen

Maybe Sheen was right about 'Indecent Proposal'. Although it won six awards, three of them were 'Razzies', including Harrelson for 'worst supporting actor'.
Sheen had also been considered for Tom Cruise's role in 'Born On The Fourth of July' (1989).

6. "We're off to see the wizard" sang Judy Garland in 1939, but she was not the immediate choice for the role in 'The Wizard of Oz'. Who else was considered?

Answer: Shirley Temple

The movie won two Oscars, including Best Song for 'Over The Rainbow'.
The documentary 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic' (1990 TV production) claimed that while the studio wanted Temple, Mervyn LeRoy (an uncredited director) listened to Temple sing at an unofficial audition, but decided she was not right for the part.

7. It's hard to think of anyone but Bruce Willis playing John McClane in the 'Die Hard' series, but he was not the first choice. All but one of the actors below were offered the role, but turned it down. Who was NOT offered the role?

Answer: Steven Seagal

Sly Stallone, Burt Reynolds and Arnold Schwarzenegger - and Richard Gere - all passed on the chance to wander around in a dirty undershirt. The four movies in the series: "Die Hard' (1988), 'Die Hard 2: Die Harder' (1990), 'Die Hard With A Vengeance' (1995) and 'Live Free Or Die Hard' (2007) grossed $1,122,739,477 worldwide at the box office.

8. Halle Berry took the role of Leticia Musgrove in "Monsters' Ball" (2001), but she was not the first choice. Who was?

Answer: Angela Bassett

Angela Bassett, who won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Tina Turner in the feature film "What's Love Got to Do with It" (1994), balked at the nude scenes in "Monsters' Ball". Halle Berry took full advantage and won an Oscar.

9. Sometimes you had to feel sorry for the makers of movies. In which movie did the producers lose their first choice lead (he died) then their second choice pulled out and when they went ahead, the third choice died before production had finished?

Answer: The Crow

The first choice for the lead in 'The Crow' (1994) was River Phoenix. After he died of a drugs overdose in October 1993, the producers wanted Christian Slater, but he turned it down. They started filming with Brandon Lee, but he was accidentally killed on set before it was competed.

His death came after technicians put blank cartridges into a gun that had a dummy bullet lodged in its barrel and he was shot in the stomach.

10. Charlie Sheen gave a memorable performance in the multi-Oscar winner 'Platoon' in 1986. However, he was not the first choice to play Private Chris Taylor. Who was?

Answer: Keanu Reeves

Oliver Stone picked up the Best Director Academy Award; Claire Simpson won for Best Film Editing, John Wilkinson, Richard D. Rogers, Charles Grenzbach and Simon Kaye won for Best Sound and the production snapped up the Best Picture title.
Reeves also passed on 'Heat' (1995), with the role going to Val Kilmer, but he replaced Kilmer on 'Johnny Mnemonic' in the same year.

11. Sometimes, for actors, movies could be like buses: none for ages and then several at the one time. Which actor had a role in a 1993 movie written especially for him, but had to turn it down because he was still busy with another picture?

Answer: Kevin Costner

The role of the President in 'Air Force One' was written for Costner, but he was still busy with 'The Postman'(released in 1997). I wonder if it was worth it. He won Best Actor and Best Director Razzie Awards in 1998 for 'The Postman'. Harrison Ford took the role that Costner could not play.
Costner was also wanted for the role of Bill in 'Kill Bill' (One and Two, 2003 and 2004) but turned it down as he wanted to direct 'Open Range' (2003).

12. Lucky escape time? Sometimes turning down or getting passed over for a movie was not always a bad thing. 'Pearl Harbor' (2001) was slated by many as being an expensive turkey. Alec Baldwin was the guy who stepped in when another actor turned down a leading role. Who was that lucky actor?

Answer: Kevin Costner

In 2002, 'Pearl Harbor' won an Oscar for Best Sound Editing, but it was condemned by many veterans of the battle and contained numerous historical inconsistencies and inaccuracies. The critic A.O. Scott wrote in the 'New York Times': "Nearly every line of the script drops from the actors' mouths with the leaden clank of exposition, timed with bad sitcom beats."

13. There but for fortune: The casting process for any movie could be traumatic and disappointing. Who tried out for Harry Potter but lost to Daniel Radcliffe?

Answer: Liam Aiken

Daniel Radcliffe payed the boy wizard Harry Potter in five movies between 2001 and 2007. J. K. Rowling, the author of the books, said "Having seen Dan Radcliffe's screen test I don't think [director] Chris Columbus could have found a better Harry".
Liam Aiken, meanwhile, was a star on Broadway stage, prevision and the silver screen.
Michael Fishman was best known for playing the son of Roseanne Barr and John Goodman in TV's 'Roseanne'.
Ben Foster also had numerous TV and movie roles including '3:10 to Yuma' in 2007 and a recurring role in 22 episodes of 'Six Feet Under' (2001 to 2005).

14. Some actors were second choice for their roles, but how many turned down 'Basic Instinct' before it went to Sharon Stone?

Answer: Five

Meg Ryan, Kelly Lynch, Kim Basinger, Melanie Griffith and Julia Roberts all said no to the role that earned Sharon Stone a Golden Globe for Best Actress in 1992. In 2007 she 'won' a Razzie award for Worst Actress in 'Basic Instinct 2'. (Stone won or shared nine Razzie awards between 1988 and 2007).
Meanwhile, Roberts was not first choice for the female lead in 'Pretty Woman' (1990), Darryl Hanna and Molly Ringwald both passed. Melanie Griffith turned down Geena Davis's role in 'Thelma and Louise' (1991).

15. Heads or tails? When he was making 'Man on the Moon' for a 1999 release, Milos Forman, the director, could not decide between two actors for the part of Andy Kaufman. He left it up to the studio, which decided to go with Jim Carrey. Who was the other actor Forman was undecided about?

Answer: Edward Norton

Jim Carrey won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the tragic Andy Kaufman, an actor best remembered for his role in the TV sitcom 'Taxi' that aired from 1978 to 1982 on ABC, and on NBC in 1982 and 1983. Kaufman had not really liked his role, he was, after all, a gifted comedian with many more strings to his bow and had hated being stereotyped. Kaufman died of kidney failure in 1984.

He was aged 35.

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Nannanut before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Role Reversals on the Silver Screen Quiz

How many times have you watched a movie and thought "wow, wasn't he, or she, great in that role?" But not all parts were played by the first choice actor, many went to second (or worse) choices. Try to spot them.

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