WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN

In an alternate universe, Sean Connery starred in The Lord of the Rings

Image: Felipe Bustillo

Ever wonder what could have been if your favorite actors had landed different roles? From scheduling conflicts to creative differences, Hollywood is rife with tales of missed opportunities.

Here are 10 instances where actors narrowly missed out on starring in iconic films, altering cinematic history forever.

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Did you know that Will Smith almost took the red pill and became Neo in the 1999 sci-fi blockbuster The Matrix? Despite being the first one considered for the role, Will Smith turned down the part of Neo to star in Wild Wild West. He later recalled that, at the time, he was tired of doing action sci-fi films, and that motivated his decision to reject the role. Keanu Reeves eventually took on the iconic role, catapulting him to superstardom and solidifying the film's place in pop culture.

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Gwyneth Paltrow was initially offered the role of Rose in James Cameron's Titanic, in part because the director didn’t want to be "too obvious" with his cast choices. But Paltrow turned the role down, as she didn’t want to take on such a demanding role at the time. As we all know, ultimately Kate Winslet took on the role, and her portrayal of the spirited Rose captivated audiences worldwide.

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The legendary Indiana Jones didn’t always have the familiar face of Harrison Ford. Magnum, P.I. star Tom Selleck was originally cast for the role of Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but he had to drop out due to previous contractual obligations with the popular TV show. The role then went to Ford, solidifying his status as a rugged action hero and launching the Indiana Jones franchise to great success.

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Now we can’t hardly think of anyone other than the lovely Sir Ian McKellen playing the mightiest wizard of Middle Earth. But initially, it was Sean Connery who was offered the role of Gandalf in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, he didn’t like the script, and turned the offer down, unknowingly missing out on one of the most successful fantasy films of all time.

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Did you know that John Travolta was initially considered for the titular role in Forrest Gump?

However, he didn’t take the role because he had already been offered a chance to star in Pulp Fiction. Thankfully for fans of both movies, this decision brought us dozens of unforgettable scenes in Tarantino’s film and cleared the way for Tom Hanks to deliver an Oscar-winning performance of what would become one of the most beloved characters in film history.

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Although Henry Cavill was never contacted by the Twilight production, he was originally considered for the role of Edward Cullen in the Twilight saga. However, the director eventually decided that Robert Pattinson would be best for the role of the centenary vampire. Later, Cavill said that though he didn’t know at the time, it would have been interesting to have a chance at the role.

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Michelle Pfeiffer was the first choice to play Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, but she eventually declined the role due to its dark subject matter. She said she was uncomfortable with the direction the script took, and the amount of "evil" portrayed in the film. Jodie Foster ultimately took on the role, delivering an unforgettable performance that earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

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After Sean Connery's departure from the popular spy franchise, Burt Reynolds was the first considered to take on the larger-than-life character. Although he later regretted his decision, he turned the role down because, at the time, he believed that the public would never accept an American James Bond. His decision eventually paved the way for Roger Moore to step into the iconic spy's shoes.

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Angelina Jolie was initially chosen to star in 2013 sci-fi thriller Gravity, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with her directing work on Unbroken. Alfonso Cuaron lamented the decision, stating that she was perfectly suited to the role, and considered several names before finding a replacement. Eventually, the role went to Sandra Bullock, who delivered a captivating performance that earned her critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination.

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Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future but was replaced by Michael J. Fox a few weeks into filming due to creative differences. According to members of the production, Stoltz's method acting and lack of humor clashed with the script’s lighthearted spirit.

Ready, set, vocabulary!

Learn these 10 sport-related expressions and win hands down!

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Popular idioms appear in conversation all over the English-speaking world every minute of the day and we hardly ever stop to think about where they come from. Have you ever heard someone say "I'll have to start from scratch"? Have you wondered what "in the nick of time" means? What all these expressions have in common is that they originated in the world of sports. Want to know more? Get the upper hand and discover all those phrases you often say but didn’t know are related to games and sports!

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Down to the wire is an idiom used to describe a situation, sporting or otherwise, whose outcome is not decided until the very last minute. This expression comes from horse racing and experts suggest it originated in America in the late 19th century.

Before the days of televised sports, racetracks would string a wire across the finishing line above the riders’ heads. A steward would then be placed at a vantage point, looking down the line so that a winner could be more easily established during neck-and-neck finishes. The first written record of the phrase can be found in an 1889 article from Scribers Magazine and since then it has been widely used, even today.

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You’ve probably used this expression many times, but did you know it has a sport-related origin? The phrase can be easily traced back to the 19th century when sporting referees, who usually wore hats, would raise one into the air, alerting competitors to be ready. Then, they would drop it to signal the start of the event. The method was commonly used in boxing and horseracing, where the races or matches were considered started "at the drop of a hat".

Nowadays, the phrase is used to imply something would be carried out immediately, without delay. It is sometimes thought to be of American origin but the practice has long been used by English-speaking people on both sides of the Atlantic.

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To have the upper hand implies that a person has the advantage or control over someone or something in a particular situation. In sports, when a team goes first in a game we say they have the upper hand. But where exactly did this expression originate? Well, there are many theories and none are definitive.

Some suggest that this phrase dates back to the 15th century and is related to an obsolete pastime. In this game, the first player grips a shaft at the bottom end while the next places their hand just above it until the upper end of the shaft is reached. Finally, when the last person takes the last grip, it means they have the "upper hand".

Later, in the 20th century, this method of finding a random winner was often used in baseball and cricket when hands would be placed on a bat and the last to take a grip got to play the game first.

Image: Anastasiia Krutota

Have you ever embarked on a foolish and hopeless search for something unattainable? Then probably, even figuratively, you were involved in a wild goose chase. A wild goose chase is a fruitless pursuit with no hope of a successful outcome and was coined in England in the late 16th century.

Back in the 1500s, it was an expression used in relation to a kind of equestrian sport in which all the competitors had to follow accurately the course of the leader at definite intervals, like a flight of wild geese. The term was regularly applied to the sport but it appears to have been Shakespeare who altered the meaning to one of hopeless pursuit.

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Nowadays, to start from scratch is a saying we use to illustrate starting again from the beginning, regardless of how much we have already achieved of a task. However, in medieval times it had a more literal meaning.

Back then, in certain sports like cricket, horse racing, or boxing, a line or mark was "scratched" into the ground by either a sword or a javelin to indicate the point from which competitors had to start. If they cut corners, they would have to start again from this scratch.

Over the years this idiom has been shortened to from scratch and is also used to indicate that we are going to start something with no assistance, for example, a recipe that we make using every ingredient raw instead of processed foods.

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When something gets done in the nick of time it has been done at the very last possible minute, before it was too late. Achieving things just at the critical moment can make us nervous, but when it comes to sports, scoring just before the clock determines the end of the game can change the mood of more than one fan.

In this case, nick is used in the sense of "the precise moment of an occurrence or an event." However, the literal form of the phrase dates from the late 16th century when a tallyman would keep the scores for team games. This person would carve a nick or dent in a piece of wood each time a team scored and if the winning nick was added during the last minute it was known as the "nick in time."

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When someone has lost their bottle they have lost their nerve and their bravery. Contrary to what you may think, this expression has nothing to do with liquor courage. In fact, this phrase originates from the world of bare-knuckle prizefighting during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In a fighter’s corner, one of his seconds was known as "the bottle man" and his job was to supply water to a fighter between rounds. Without water, a fighter was unable to continue and sometimes it was known for cornermen to be asked to walk away and leave when a fighter was taking a beating, to provide an excuse for him to drop out. The phrase "lost his bottleman" was later shortened and popularly used to describe cowardly behavior.

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This is a widely used expression in the world of sport but it has extended to all aspects of life. To win hands down suggests a very comfortable, easy victory. Its roots can be found not in poker but in horse racing. In the 19th century, winning hands down meant that a jockey was so certain of his victory in the closing stages of a race that he could lower his hands and relax his grip on the reins.

Even today, when a jockey is winning comfortably he can gallop down the finishing straight without using his whip to encourage the nag along. The shortened version hands down is a metaphor of ease extended beyond the domain of horse racing and is used today to convey "without a doubt, no question."

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If someone's name, an idea, or a story are bandied about it means they are being discussed frequently by many people in a casual or informal way. What you probably didn't know is that this phrase originated in France and is related to the world of sports.

The game of Bander was an early form of tennis and involved hitting a ball to and fro. Later, in the 1600s, the Irish invented a team game, a hockey predecessor, that required a group of people bandying a ball between them. They called the sport Bande after the French game because of the similarities between the two ideas. Also, they used a crooked stick that later led to the term bandy-legged to refer to those with bow legs.

Image: Iván Hernández-Cuevas

Simply put, across the board means all-encompassing, wide-ranging, and applying to all. Like many of the idioms included in this article, this one also has roots in horse racing. In the U.S., this expression referred to a bet in which equal amounts were staked on the same horse to win, place, or show in a race.

In the 19th century, large boards would be used to display the odds on a horse to come first, second, or third in a given race. A popular bet was to place an even amount of money on just one horse for every possible outcome. This was known as an "across-the-board bet".

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