Actors who were kicked out by their directors

Not every actor cast in a movie turns out to be what the director wanted from him. Differences may arise between the two and it is usually the actor who leaves the movie. Harvey Keitel is one example, but there are many more...

Before George Clooney, the casting director had chosen Robert Downey Jr. for the role of Matt Kowalski in 'Gravity' (2013). However, after several days of shooting, the director of the film, Alfonso Cuarón, stated that he did not fit the role and that his acting did not match the special effects. Robert Downey Jr. was shown the exit door.

It was also a question of pounds that led to the schism between Ryan Gosling and director Peter Jackson. Eventually, the actor had to leave the film 'The Lovely Bones' (2009) and was replaced by Mark Wahlberg. Gosling put on weight to better adapt to his character of Jack Salmon, as he told The Hollywood Reporter, but that did not please Jackson and he fired him.

Everyone talks about how complicated the shooting of 'Apocalypse Now' (1979) was, but it was especially so for actor Harvey Keitel. He experienced a tense relationship with director Francis Ford Coppola during filming as he often did not accept his creative suggestions. In the end, he resigned and was replaced for the role of Captain Willard by Martin Sheen.

Stallone was actually the actor chosen to play the role of Axel Foley in 'Beverly Hills Cop' in 1984. However, Stallone's eagerness to try to meddle in the script and oppose the comic elements of the character, annoyed the director, Martin Brest. So much so, that he decided to fire him and replace him with Eddie Murphy.

Not many people know that Michael J. Fox was not Robert Zemeckis' first choice for the role of Marty in 'Back to the Future' (1985). The character was to be played by Eric Stoltz, but after five weeks of shooting, Zemeckis fired him because he considered him too serious and dramatic.

Hunnam was cast for the role of Christian Grey in 'Fifty Shades of Grey' (2015), but his vision of the character and that of director Sam Taylor-Johnson was very different and he resigned emotionally affected by the dispute between them. "I was projecting my narrative onto the film they wanted to make and they weren't interested in that", Hannam said, according to Insider. The role eventually went to Jamie Dornan.

It's not quite clear why Peter Jackson decided to let him go after giving him the role of Aragorn in 'The Lord of the Rings' (2000), but he was fired just before shooting and had been on the crew for two months. "The director wanted me and then apparently thought better of it because he really wanted someone 20 years older than me and completely different," he said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. That someone was Viggo Mortensen.

It is true that Richard Lester was not to blame, but rather Warner Bros., who decided to hire him after dispensing with Richard Donner to direct 'Superman II' (1980). That change didn't sit well with Gene Hackman, who played the role of Lex Luthor and gave in his resignation to Lester. The director had to replace him with doubles and ended up returning to the role in the fourth installment with Sidney J. Furie.

During the first six weeks of shooting, the actor hiding under the mask of V' in 'V for Vendetta' 2006 was James Purefoy, who ended up being replaced by Hugo Weaving. The Wachowski sisters did not feel, in a sudden moment, that his voice was right for the character. Then, they claimed "creative differences".

The director of 'The Truman Show' 1998, Peter Weir, counted on Dennis Hopper to play the role of Christof. However, he would eventually be played by Ed Harris. The actor's behavior on the set and the fact that he could not remember the lines or get involved with the character led Weir to stop counting on him.

The actor who played Tank in 'The Matrix' explained in his documentary, 'The Marcus Chong Story', that the Wachowski sisters defamed him after he denounced Warner Bros. for breach of contract. He claimed he was excluded from the Hollywood industry because of their enmity. As a result, they removed his character from the saga.

For the film 'American Psycho' (2000) and the role of Patrick Bateman, they first selected Christian Bale. Then, they changed their mind and offered it to Leonardo DiCaprio. According to The Guardian, the new actor was dissatisfied with the script, the plot, and, above all, the direction by Mary Harron. He abandoned the project.

It would have been incredible to see Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme together in 'Predator' 1987, but director John McTiernan had other ideas. He let Van Damme go without much reason; something that did not please the Belgian actor. He was replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.

The "creative differences" between actor James Remar and director Ridley Scott were the reasons given to kick the actor out of the film 'Alien' (1979). However, years later, it was discovered that the reason why Scott fired him was that he had been arrested for possession of illegal substances.

Cameron Crowe chose Ashton Kutcher to star in 'Elizabethtown' (2005), but as he told 'First We Feast' in an interview, the director fired him after he didn't convince him in the audition. "He wanted to watch the character rehearsals all the time, and I probably wasn't disciplined enough as an actor," Kutcher said. He was replaced for the lead role by Orlando Bloom.

The problem Ang Lee found with Toby Maguire for 'Life of Pi' (2012) was simply that he was too famous a face to star in the film. Mind you, he only decided this after a few weeks of shooting, much to Maguire's annoyance - and the delight of Suraj Sharma, who was chosen to replace him.

Keaton wanted to work under Woody Allen's orders and succeeded with 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' (1985). However, after ten days of shooting, he was replaced by Jeff Daniels because the director thought he was "too modern and contemporary". A disappointment.

In the fourth season of 'Community', Chevy Chase was frustrated with the direction of the series created by Dan Harmon. According to ScreenRant, it led him to show his anger with a series of racial slurs toward members of the production. The technical crew and cast did not like this, so they eliminated his character.

Shortly before the film 'All the Money in the World' (2017) was ready, with shooting already completed, the news of harassment allegations against Kevin Spacey broke. He played the elderly Paul Getty in this film by Ridley Scott. The director did not think about it for long and reshot all his scenes, replacing him with Christopher Plummer.

Something similar happened to Chris D'Elia in 'Army of the Dead' (2021). In his case, he was accused of harassing minors through social media, and the director of the film, Zack Snyder, decided to dispense with him completely. Even though he had finished shooting, he replaced D'Elia with stuntmen and special effects.

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