SUPERMAN RETURNS, STARRING WILL SMITH

Some roles are so closely associated with a specific actor that it’s hard to imagine that he or she wasn’t the first choice for the part. Can you imagine, for example…

JOHN BELUSHI AS ARTHUR (Arthur, 1981)
The part of the millionaire alcoholic became the definitive role of Dudley Moore’s career and earned him an Oscar nomination, a rare feat for a comic performance. But the producers’ first choice for the role was Belushi, one of the biggest comic actors of the era. Belushi thought the script was excellent, but turned it down. Reason: After playing a hard-drinking guy in Animal House, he didn’t want to play another hard-drinking guy in Arthur and risk getting typecast as a substance abuser.

WILL SMITH AS SUPERMAN (Superman Returns, 2006)
Filmmakers considered many B-list actors, including Josh Hartnett and Ashton Kutcher, but director Bryan Singer wanted the industry’s biggest star: Will Smith. Obviously that would have been a controversial choice, because Superman is white, and Smith would have been the first black actor to take on the role. Smith wanted no part of that controversy. “You can’t be messing up white people’s heroes in Hollywood,” Smith said to a reporter. “You’ll never work in this town again!” In the end, Singer hired a largely unknown soap actor named Brandon Routh.

BETTE MIDLER AS ANNIE WILKES (Misery, 1990)
In 1989 Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures was producing an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Misery, about a crazed fan who kidnaps and tortures her favorite author. Touchstone repeatedly offered the role of crazy Annie to Bette Midler, who they had under an exclusive contract. Midler repeatedly turned it down because she thought the script was distasteful and frightening (it was based on a Stephen King novel, after all). The part ultimately went to stage and TV actress Kathy Bates. It made her a film star…and won her an Oscar.

That’s another excerpt in our series of bits and pieces from the brand spanking new Uncle John’s 24-KARAT GOLD Bathroom Reader! You can about read more unlikely lead role picks, as well as hundreds of other stories – at 30% off the usual price as part of our annual HOLIDAY SALE! And that’s 30% of ALL our books.

• Past excerpts can be found by hitting “Excerpts” in the tags blow this post.