You may already know that Tom Hanks was only able to star in Forrest Gump (and Apollo 13, and Splash) because John Travolta turned the part down for Pulp Fiction.
As it happens, neither James Cameron nor Céline Dion wanted My Heart Will Go On to end up in Titanic, either.
Pretty Woman very nearly lost one of its iconic stars too ― partly because the actor says they “didn’t understand” the role.
In a 2024 episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, Richard Gere revealed he struggled to see his character’s role as anything more complex than “just a suit”.
He played well-off businessman Edward Lewis in the 1990 movie, a character who hires sex worker Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) and treats her to a lavish few days in a pricey hotel.
Though Richard says he’s “so proud of that movie and proud of the work process that we did to create that movie,” he admitted that his first thoughts were: “There was no character... I read this thing, and I said, ‘It’s not for me.’”
He added he was “uncomfortable” meeting director Garry Marshall for the part (which was originally far darker than the one we saw after its Disney takeover), only accepting the role thanks to a note from co-star Julia Roberts.
The director called a young Julia into his office to meet Richard.
According to the actor, “I said, ‘She’s adorable. She’s great.’ And while I’m talking to him, she takes a Post-It off of my desk and she writes on it something.”
“Then she moves it across the table to me and it says, ‘Please say yes.’ So how could you say no to that?”
Julia herself would go on to temporarily lose the role when Disney bought the original movie from its bankrupted first company.
She told Variety: “This small movie company folded over the weekend, and by Monday, I didn’t have a job.
“Garry Marshall came on, and because he’s a great human being, he felt it would only be fair to meet me, since I had this job for three days and lost it.”