Great movies are a product of a special, unpredictable alchemy between actors, directors, screenwriters, editors and a public ready and willing to receive a story. This is doubly so for geek films, which is why many movie nerds still say a silent prayer of thanks that Nick Nolte didn't get cast as Han Solo in Star Wars. (
Patton Oswalt being the exception that proves this rule.)
The truth is, there are many such spine-chilling near misses in geek cinematic history, to the point that imagining "What If Casting (or Directing) Were Different?" has become a meme and industry unto itself. Richard "Lethal Weapon" Donner directed the first two modern Superman films, but betwixt
Superman: The Movie and
Superman II, he had a falling out with the studio. Thus Richard Lester was brought in to reshoot the sequel just enough to screw Donner out of a directing credit (and also edit the expensive Marlon Brando out of the film). Not to worry,
Superman II: The Donner Cut is available to undo this nerd cinema wrong.
Eric Stoltz was also famously the original lead in
Back to the Future, but was replaced part way through principle photography. While there isn't a "Stoltz Cut" of
BttF, this well known revamp did earn a
glaring geek in-joke in a recent episode of
Fringe, in which we visit an alternate universe where the recast never happened.
What's even more intriguing about the
Back to the Future casting tweak is that Stoltz wasn't even the original choice. Producer Steven Spielberg originally wanted Ralph "Karate Kid" Macchio to be Marty McFly. On a similar note, Will Smith was envisioned as the original Neo in
The Matrix, and Russell Crowe was Peter Jackson's first choice for Aragorn in
Lord of the Rings. While Jackson didn't actually cast Crowe, he did pull a Stoltz-esque switch and fire his original Aragorn just before principle LOTR photography in favor of Viggo Mortensen.
Who was the original Aragorn in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy?
Image via Wikipedia
