Horror Movies: Who Else Almost Got The Role?

From Tom Cruise  as an apocalpytic survivor and Gwyneth Paltrow as a zombie killer we have a great list of stars who almost go the role when it comes to major horror film roles. I love horror trivia and one of the great parts of having a Facebook community with almost 14,000 fans is we have a great place to talk about horror and fun and interesting facts relating to our favorite genre.

Recently on Facebook I shared a fun fact about American Psycho and that Christian Bale very nearly did not play the role of the American psycho. Leonardo Dicaprio was actually originally cast in the role but left to work on The Beach.

This led to me getting dozens of great comments back from the community with really cool `Who Else Almost got The Role`comments.

This editorial is a summary of that conversation and the great horror tidbits that were shared by our community members. Hopefully you are a member of our Facebook Community and did not miss out on the great conversation.Jack Nicholson played Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubbricks masterpiece psychological thriller The Shining but he wasnt always the one set to play the key role. Robin Williams was also up for the role.

Anthony Hopkins played one of the best cannibailistic serial killers ever on film in Silence of The Lambs but apprently the role almost went to Gene Hackman.

Constantine is not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination but its also not a horrible movie. Alot of us love to bag on Keanu Reeves and his acting ability.. or lack of it but he wasnt the only choice. Nicolas Cage at one time was slated to paly the role of Constantine. Tough call which was the better choice.

Brandon Lee made the role of The Crow famous and he also tragically lost his life in the film may he RIP. But he was not always the first choice to play the role as both River Phoneix and Christian Slater were up for the role at one time.

The Devil`s Advocate is one of my favorite supernatural horror films of good vs evil. The film starred Keanu Reeves as a lawyer who makes a deal with the Devil played by Al Pacino. Keanu Reeves role however was almost played by Brad Pitt.

Sam Raimi`s Drag Me to Hell is a fun film that we were actually just discussing on our facebook page. Its a great homage to classic horror. Alison Lohman did a great job as Christine the female lead in the film but the role was almost played by Ellen Page best known for her role in Hard Candy and Juno. No offense to Alison Lohman but I would have loved to see Ellen Page take the role.

Christopher Lee has been in everything from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings and from 1947 has built a massive career appearing in well over a hundred feature films. That said the one role he apparently turned down was the role of Dr Loomis in John Carpenters 1978 Halloween.

Hellboy is a movie that is near and dear to many comic book fans hearts and Ron Perlman did a great job bringing Hellboy to life. Imagine however if they had cast Vin Diesel as Hellboy instead as he was reportedly in the running for that role.

I am Legend is a cgi heavy apocalyptic movie starring Will Smith and is basically a remake of 1971`s Omega Man. Crazy as it might sound initial plans were for the title role of Robert Neville to be played by Tom Cruise and not Will Smith.

Drew Barrymore was in a pile of great genre films when she was a child including ET and FireStarter but one role she was up for and did not end up doing was that of Carol Anne in Poltergeist.

Resident Evil is a movie we have been talking about online for quite some time what with Resident Evil 5 just around the corner. Milla Jovovich has made that role and continues to draw fans in, in droves but apparently the role almost went to an actress I woudl have never chosen…. Gwyneth Paltrow.

Nimrod Antals Vacancy starring the incredibly talented and gorgeous Kate Beckinsale is a great couples thriller but she was not the only big name in talks to take the role. Sarah Jessica Parker was apparently also up for the role and let me just say I am glad they gave it to Kate! Also I apologize for the photo below my intent is not to offend our female readers but what in the hell is Parker doing in that photo???

This one we take a slight break from actors and look at the movie FireStarter which starred Drew Barrymore as we just mentioned. Originally John Carpenter was apparently going to direct the project but was promptly fired after his remake of The Thing tanked in theaters. Frankly I am shocked to think that The Thing is now considered one of the greatest scifi-horror movies of all time and at the time it was released was somehow a failure.

Arnold Schwarezenegar launched a film career and frankly built that into a political career off playing Terminator. He faced off against the T-1000 played by Robert Patrick but apparently Blackie Lawless almost got the role.

Last on our list but certainly not least we look at a non horor related but definitely one of my favorites. Mark Hamill was made famous when he was cast as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars movies but he would not have gotten that role apparently had it not been for his good friend who auditoned and told him he should as well. That good friend was Robert Englund.

So there you have it a whole pile of `Who else Almost Got the Role`according to our Facebook community page and a few of my own. If you think of some good ones we missed leave them in the comments and maybe we will do a second edition of horror stars that almost were!