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    The category? Actors replaced in major roles after filming on the movie/TV show had already commenced
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    The category? Actors replaced in major roles after filming on the movie/TV show had already commenced

    1) Stuart Townsend as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings. Replaced with Viggo Mortensen.

    2) Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back to the Future. Replaced with Michael J. Fox.

    3) Joan Crawford as Miriam Deering in Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Replaced with Olivia de Havilland.

    4) Geneviève Bujold as Captain Elizabeth Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager. Replaced with Kate Mulgrew (whose character was renamed Kathryn Janeway).

    …

    Any other good submissions?

    Posted by RedHeadedSicilian52

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    35 Comments

    2. GoodCauseYerGoin on

      In Stuart’s defense , he auditioned for Legolas , the casting director said no I want you for Strider, he didn’t argue because .. It’s a paid gig and then Peter Jackson filmed him for a few days and couldn’t get over how young he looked so he got cut. I think he would have been a great Legolas.

    3. annakarina3 on

      Michael Biehn replaced James Remar in Aliens, allegedly due to Remar’s drug addiction at the time.

      Christopher Plummer famously replaced Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World, with all of Spacey’s scenes reshot with Plummer.

      Reese Witherspoon was originally cast as Merida in Brave, and left because she couldn’t do a Scottish accent, as well as a lot of production drama with switching directors, and Kelly MacDonald replaced her as Merida.

    5. LRS_RC on

      Sure. In The Wizard of Oz, the original Tin Man actor, Buddy Ebsen, was replaced by Jack Haley because Ebsen had a life-threatening allergy to the silver makeup.

    6. j_turn2000 on

      emilia clarke replaced tamzin merchant as daenerys targaryen after they filmed the disastrous original pilot of game of thrones.

      tamzin was originally cast as dany, but later stated that she didn’t feel a connection to the story or character and that filming was a grueling experience. she actually tried to break her contract before filming but was convinced to stay and film the pilot. it ended up being so shitty they had to scrap the entire thing and recast a few characters. she ultimately left on her own accord afterwards, and thus emilia clarke was later cast.

      the og pilot has never been released.

      ![gif](giphy|UQ1LQCGpFHGgz0Y28W)

      *edited to add the gif and fix spelling errors

    9. Ebe6660 on

      Or William Friedkin thinking he’d cast Francisco Rabal as Frog 1 in French Connection and going to meet him at the airport and being met by Fernando Rey.

    10. Tryhard_3 on

      1. Viggo single-handedly saving the LOTR production from itself by taking the role sight unseen.

      2. Eric Stoltz losing the part because he was basically too annoying to work with at the time, which takes a lot.

      3. Not aware of this one, these types of movies are a little out of my wheelhouse.

      4. I don’t necessarily have strong opinions about this except that I’m glad that Voyager moved away from TNG’s occasionally casting grandmothers in parts (Mulgrew is 13 years younger).

      Others:

      * James Remar was busted at the border with drugs just before *Aliens*, which is a really tough way to lose a really big break.
      * Tamzin Merchant played Dany in the unaired, $10 million GoT pilot, which is just a wild amount of money to blow on an unaired pilot IMO.
      * Richard Harris was honestly too old to play Dumbledore, and now they are doing it again with John Lithgow. I love John Lithgow but fuck anything Harry Potter at this point anyway.

    11. JPree on

      Tig Notaro replaced Chris D’Elia in Army of the Dead after his sexual allegations. She had to green screen his exact movements.

    12. bunchofthingstodo on

      Ryan Gosling was fired from The Lovely Bones. Replaced with Marky Mark.

    13. Kurandaand on

      There are so many!

      One of the sadder ones is Aaliyah had filmed a little bit of her role in Matrix Reloaded and of course had to be replaced.

      Jodie Foster replaced Nicole Kidman in Panic Room when Nicole injured her knee.

      And some of us will remember the Aunt Viv saga during *The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air!*

    14. CliveCandy on

      Stuart Townsend also got fired from Thor and was replaced with Josh Dallas, although I think that was a few days before filming officially started.

    15. Electronic_Snow_4685 on

      I’m not sure if unaired pilots count but if they do…

      John Posey filmed the Full House pilot as Danny Tanner before it was reshot with Bob Saget (this is kind of different because Saget was always the first choice, he was just too busy too shoot the pilot).

      Mitchel Musso voiced Aang in the unaired pilot of Avatar the Last Airbender but was replaced by Zach Tyler Eisen after Musso got on Hannah Montana.

    16. Street-Lifeguard-330 on

      Chris Farley recorded most of the dialogue for Shrek and tragically passed away. They re-recorded the movie with Mike Myers.

    17. enchillita on

      The original Buffy pilot was not Alyson Hannigan playing Willow, but Riff Regan.

    18. BungCrosby on

      Chris D’Elia was fired from *Army of the Dead* a **year** after filming was concluded for being a creep. Tig Notaro was CGI’d in all his scenes. I don’t think she actually filmed any scenes with any cast members.
      ![gif](giphy|qL0pvARi7o86sE0B2T)

    19. Upbeat_Tension_8077 on

      John Boyega was originally the lead in Rebel Ridge, but he abruptly left after filming started & Aaron Pierre replaced him.

      I like John as an actor, but Pierre was a great replacement

    20. turquoisebead on

      Related to #2 – Melora Hardin (Jan from The Office) was originally Jennifer, the girlfriend in Back to the Future. When Eric Stoltz was replaced, the studio execs thought she was too tall alongside Michael J Fox so she was replaced. She’d signed a 2-movie deal and already filmed for 6-weeks.

    21. rickylancaster on

      This will mostly only be known to Gen Xers. Actress Dominique Dunne had completed many of her scenes as teenager Robin Maxwell in the 1983 NBC TV science fiction miniseries “V” when, rehearsing in her quiet West Hollywood home one evening with a costar for an upcoming scene, she was tragically murdered by her ex-boyfriend John Sweeney.

      Her completed scenes needed to be reshot with actress Blair Tefkin (of “Fast Times
      at Ridgemont High”) recast in the role.

      One key shot of Dominique remains in the film, showing the character from the back, as Robin and her family and neighbors watch a giant spacecraft hovering above Los Angeles.

      “V” went on the become a major hit for NBC, one of the highest rated miniseries in the network’s history, spawning a sequel miniseries, a short-lived weekly series, and a 2009 reboot.

      The story of the murder of Dominique, up to that point best known for her role as Dana Freeling in the movie “Poltergeist,” and of her killer’s trial, conviction, and subsequent parole, is long and winding.

      She was the daughter of author Dominick Dunne, brother of actor Griffin Dunne, and niece of writer John Gregory Dunne (husband of writer Joan Didion).

      The closing credits of “V” include “In Loving Memory of Dominique Dunne. Her Friends Miss Her.”

    22. cocksherpa2 on

      Eric Stoltz looks amazing as Marty though, very out of place with the final movie and liked he stepped out of the 90s/00s, but he looked amazing

    23. thisisallme on

      ![gif](giphy|ERrDRCCXVTPqhlMuBk|downsized)

      Johnny Depp’s character became Mads Mikkelsen’s in the Fantastic Beasts series

    25. IAmNotMyName on

      The pilot for the Middle was shot with Ricky Lake replaced by Patricia Heaton

    26. ReadySettyGoey on

      Frank Langella was fired midway through filming the Fall of the House of Usher due to misconduct on set. Replaced by Bruce Greenwood, who was fantastic imo.

    28. xena_70 on

      Samantha Morton performed all of the voice work for Samantha in Her, and then in post production Spike Jonze had Scarlett Johansson redo the entire role for the final film.

    31. behold-my-titties on

      Honestly, kate melgrew made Voyager. She’s so good
      Edit: name correction

    33. Legal-Afternoon8087 on

      Going old school here, but Fred Astaire came out of retirement to do Easter Parade with Judy Garland because Gene Kelly broke an ankle. This was 1945, I believe. Four years later, Fred and Judy were ready to make a kind of sequel (different setting and names, but the whole “he made her into a star” vibe) with The Barkleys of Broadway. Unfortunately, Judy was becoming unreliable and very frail, so the powers that be decided to bring in Ginger Rogers, who hadn’t done a movie with Fred since 1939. It’s the only one of their 10 films together at MGM (the others were RKO); the only one in color; and the only one where they start the film as a married couple. Legend has it that Judy was not pleased with the move, and brought a razor and shaving cup to the set as a gift for Ginger and her “peach fuzz” on her face. Brazen!

    34. WowStupendousHey on

      Alexis in Schitt’s Creek was played by Abbey Elliot (Chris Elliott’s daughter) in the pilot but had a scheduling conflict and was replaced by Annie Murphy who absolutely kills it.