Casting Quirks
War stories from the casting trenches of Hollywood.
      by Julie Ng

The hoopla surrounding the coveted role of Anakin Skywalker in the continuing Star Wars saga has finally died down, now that relative unknown Hayden Christiensen has been proclaimed the Chosen One. Soon, this pretty Canadian boy will get his chance to show off his acting chops; to prove his worth as the next Harrison Ford (or perhaps, as the next Mark Hamill). Then again, had Dustin Hoffman decided not to drop out of playing Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, and if Tom Selleck had been able to get out of his Magnum, P.I. TV commitment to play Indiana Jones, who knows? Harrison Ford might still be a carpenter.

Yes, this is a business where bigwigs like Will Smith mourn over The Matrix as "the one that got away" and where a legend like Sammy Davis Jr. was allegedly passed over for Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice. Even Ewan McGregor did not get the role he initially wanted in Star Wars: Episode I: "When I was cast as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi," reveals McGregor, "I realized the part I really wanted to play was Princess Leia. Stick some big pastries on my head. Now that would be interesting!"

So, in tribute to the 400+ young actors who lost their bid to be Young Darth Vader, I bring you a compilation of oddball war stories about the sometimes crazy and always unpredictable world of casting.

THE MOVIES: Manhunter/The Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal
THE PLAYERS: Brian Cox, Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Julianne More, and the list goes on.
CASTING QUIRK: The Most Discontinuous Movie Trilogy Ever!

There have been five different James Bonds and three different Batmans, but the musical chairs within this refined horror trilogy takes the cake. See if you can follow:

Silence star Jodie Foster

• Using a script on Thomas Harris' first novel Red Dragon, Michael Mann made Manhunter, which introduced imprisoned psychopath Dr. Hannibal Lecter, played by Scottish actor, Brian Cox. Dennis Farina plays FBI Profiler, Jack Crawford.
• Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs is the 1991 sequel to Red Dragon, but treats Manhunter as though it never existed. Dr. Lecter is now played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, in a considerably more showy performance. Jodie Foster plays the lead as Clarice Starling, an agent fresh out of the academy. Scott Glenn takes over as FBI Profiler Jack Crawford.
• Despite the fact that there are several characters common to both films, there are only two actors who appear in both movies, and ironically, as two different characters. Frankie Faison plays Lt. Fisk in Manhunter and Barney in The Silence of the Lambs. Dan Butler plays a fingerprint expert in Manhunter and a bug expert in The Silence of the Lambs.
• Hannibal, the third Harris novel and the much anticipated film sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, is currently in production. Hopkins was happy to reprise his role but Foster passed, which caused enough publicity flurry, rumours and controversy to put the Anakin Skywalker issue on the backburner. During the search for a new Clarice Starling, Hannibal producer Dino De Laurentiis insisted to Entertainment Weekly that the only things that really mattered in a movie are a good director and story. "With these two things," he avowed, "I could play Starling! Within two minutes, the audience will forget about Jodie Foster." Julianne Moore quickly came along and nabbed the replacement role.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Dr. Lecter is the finest work that Brian Cox performed, yet he has fallen into obscurity. Meanwhile, at the age of 54 and with over 20 movies to his name, Hopkins still counts Silence of the Lambs as the biggest critical and commercial success of his career. He collects a $10 millionish fee to reprise Lecter in Hannibal. After I finished reading Hannibal, I had a hard time believing that Jodie Foster would ever agree to act out what Clarice ends up doing by the final chapters. Her official reason for withdrawing from Hannibal however, is that she would prefer to direct Flora Plum, a love story about circus freaks. She walked away from what could have been the biggest pay check in her career, but escapes with her integrity fully intact.

AND WHAT DID YOU SEE, CLARICE?
As for Julianne Moore, I'm not so sure. For a man with a reputation for producing very stupid, overblown and over-budget spectacles (King Kong, Flash Gordon, and Dune among them), Dino De Laurentiis is awfully brash and disrespectful in his declarations regarding the Foster issue. With that attitude, Julianne Moore could be the greatest actor on this planet, but he wouldn't give a rat's ass -- not exactly a producer I'd like to be working for. What's the big rush to move this film into production anyway? The novel is barely a year old! I have the knack for sniffing out movies made purely out of haste and greed... and I think I smell.... SHIIIITE! But that's just me. You can all judge for yourselves when Hannibal hits the theatres, Valentines Day, 2001.

THE TV SHOW: The X-Files
THE PLAYERS: Callum Keith Rennie vs. Nicholas Lea
CASTING QUIRK: Giving Away the Role of Alex Krycek

Callum Keith Rennie

Remember the guy billed as 'Tommy' from the first season X-Files episode, "Lazarus"? Neither do I. But I do know and love Callum Keith Rennie for his lead roles in some of the best Canadian films made in recent years -- Double Happiness, Curtis's Charm, Hard Core Logo, Last Night... Don't remember those either? Not surprised. Unfortunately, part of being loyal to the Canadian film industry means no one seeing your work except for your guest spots on Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (if based in Toronto) or on The X-Files (if in Vancouver). Nevertheless, Callum's few lines as 'Tommy' made an impression on 1013 Productions. When the time came to cast the recurring role of double agent, Alex Krycek, Rennie was the first to be offered the role.

So what happened? Rennie flat-out turned it down. "The deal just wasn't very good so it didn't work out," Rennie admitted to the Edmonton Journal. His focus was exclusively on pursuing a film career: "When you sign those [TV] deals you're hooked up for a long time. If it works out you might get over-exposed and I really worry about that. I worry about being caught on a successful series. It's like William Shatner, it's like anybody who was on M*A*S*H. They're doing dinner theatre."

At the same time Rennie declined 1013's offer, he suggested a local colleague who he felt would play a great Krycek -- a guy called Nicholas Lea. The rest is history. Lea replaced Rennie and was an instant hit as the man that everybody loves to hate, and the only recurring character who has managed to survive seven years of Chris Carter's Ain't-it-fun-to-pointlessly-kill-people-off? tendencies.

Nicholas Lea

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Around the same time Lea was probably being crowned and exulted as 'Ratboy' by X-Files fans, Rennie was still accepting a bitty part billed as 'Groundskeeper' in the second season episode "Fresh Bones"! Now they say that opportunity rarely knocks twice, but it did again for Rennie in 1996 when he was offered to replace David Marciano, who played Benton Fraser's (Paul Gross) partner Ray in the cult series Due South. Still not wanting to be tied down to a TV series, Rennie took his time giving his answer. One night after a few drinks at a bar, Gross asked him if whether he would ever make up his mind. "I said, 'This is an important decision, so important, in fact, that we should flip a coin.' So we did, and the show lost." recalls Rennie, "I suggested that we go two out of three and I guess that convinced him that I wanted the job."

WHO GOT THE BETTER DEAL?
In the end, Callum Keith Rennie had to eat his words and joined the cast of a popular TV series. His character, Detective Stanley Kowalski, is easily the role he is most widely known for. He did however, sign a unique one-year deal for his stint on Due South. Either way, had the show been cancelled or not, he maintains the freedom to take roles in great movies that few people ever see. Meanwhile, some people might say that it's Nicholas Lea who will forever be trapped on The X-Files -- armless, sadly under-used, and poorly utilized as Mulder's whipping boy.

Next Page >