When we think of celebrities, we think of glamourous lives, glitz and razzle dazzle. Not to mention that they don’t have to worry about job security. At least that’s the general opinion. But the entertainment industry can be unpredictable and actors can become unemployed just like the rest of us, mortals. We are not referring to those who decide on leaving a project but to the ones that are fired or replaced even if they had to play important characters.
That being said, read on to find out what Hollywood starts were fired from important movies, from Megan Fox in Transformers to Edward Norton in Avengers.
Actors who were replaced in major movies:
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Jonathan Majors, the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Jonathan Majors played Kang the Conquerer in various projects before being let go by Marvel bosses. The reason for Marvel Studios firing him was his involvement in a jury trial. The actor was found guilty for assault in the third degree and harassment against his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.
Majors had already appeared in Ant-Man and The Wasp, the two seasons of Loki and planning to play Kang in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2026. As no one is irreplaceable, the actor was left without a job and will be substituted by someone else.
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Sean Young, Dick Tracy
Sean Young was supposed to start in the 1990 movie Dick Tracy. According to her statements, director and co-star Warren Beatty had an inappropriate behavior towards her and when she refused his advances, she was eliminated from the project.
“They put out in the papers ‘artistic differences.’ Like I was the problem,” Young explained in a New York Times article. “That really was the definitive cliff. My joke now is I should have just said, ‘I’d love to [expletive]. I’m just busy right now.’
According to Warren Beatty, Young was just not suitable for the part. He ended up giving the part to Glenne Headly.
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Dennis Hopper, The Truman Show
Did you know that Ed Harris’ part in the Truman Show was first supposed to be played by Dennis Hopper? We will never know if he would have done the same good job as Harris, as he never really got the chance to be in the character’s shoes for more than two days.
As the actor himself revealed, “I was on the set for like, two days, and got fired …”. He admitted to being disappointed by the director’s decision as he did important research and preparation for the role. It just wasn’t meant to be.
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Julianne Moore, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Julianne Moore had no secrets when discussing her dismissal from the starring role in biopic Can You Ever Forgive Me?. In an interview with Andy Cohen, she admitted that the director, Nicole Holofcener, fired her due to creative differences.
The directing reigns were later taken by Marielle Heller who cast Melissa McCarthy as the infamous Lee Israel. McCarthy received an Oscar nomination for this part.
See also: 7 Times Celebrity Moms Took On A Movie Role Just To Impress Their Kids
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Colin Firth, Paddington
Fluffy Paddington is a very popular character, with Paddington 2 listed as one of the greatest movies ever. Can you imagine Paddington with the voice of Colin Firth? That’s right. He was supposed to voice the beloved character in the first movie but ended up leaving the project completely.
His departure is said to have been a mutual decision, both of the actor as well as of the director Paul King. As explained by King, the actor just couldn’t find the right voice to portray the charming teddy bear; the character of Paddington was later voiced by Ben Whishaw.
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Ryan Gosling, The Lovely Bones
Ryan Gosling is the type of actor who stops at nothing to portray a character as best as possible. Including drinking melted ice cream to get fatter for his role as Jack Salmon in The Lovely Bones. Unfortunately, his effort led to him becoming unemployed, And fat. That’s because the director, Peter Jackson, pictured Jack Salmon, differently, namely slimmer, which didn’t go with Gosling’s new body.
According to Gosling, him being dismissed from the job was due to the fact that during preproduction, they did not discuss the part properly, and everyone had different visions of how the character should look like. In end end, Mark Wahlberg was the one portraying Jack Salmon.
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Edward Norton, The Avengers
Although we can all agree that Mark Ruffalo is doing a really good job as Bruce Banner/the Incredible Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he wasn’t the first green giant superhero. The role of Hulk was first played by Edward Norton in 2008 but he did not reprise the role in the second movie.
According to Norton, during an interview with The New York Times, his departure was caused by creative differences, but also due to financial disagreements between him and the studio representatives.
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Megan Fox, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Megan Fox gained worldwide popularity with her role in the Transformers franchise. Unfortunately for her and for fans who wanted to see her reprise her role as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster series, she did not appear in the third film. The alleged reason was a statement the actress made about director Michael Bay, calling him “Hitler on set”.
The final decision about her firing belonged to Steven Spielberg who asked for the immediate removal from the movie.
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Terrence Howard, Iron Man 2
Similar to Edward Norton situation, Terrence Howard stated that disagreements regarding money led to his dismissal from the role of James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Iron Man’s sidekick. As later told by the actor, “it turns out that the person I helped become Iron Man … when it was time to re-up for the second one, [he] took the money that was supposed to go to me and pushed me out.”
Robert Downey Jr. refrained from making any comments regarding this situation and the War Machine part subsequently went to Don Cheadle.
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Kevin Spacey, All the Money in the World
Kevin Spacey was involved in one of the most infamous firings in Hollywood. After filming the whole movie All the Money in the World, Spacey was let go because of the sexual allegations against him. Spacey was also removed from the popular Netflix TV series House of Cards, despite playing the main character.
All the Money in the World was reshot with Christopher Plummer and the role ended up bringing the late actor an Academy Award nomination. Speaking of president-related TV shows, check out this: Mysterious Powder Found at the White House (and 8 Other Shocking Facts)
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Stuart Townsend, The Lord of the Rings
Can you imagine Aragorn with the face of Stuart Towsend? Apparently, the role was first given to the Irish actor before being replaced by Viggo Mortensen. Unfortunately for Townsend, he was fired a few days before actual filming started. Not only that, but after rehearsing and training for the part for two months, he was told he was not going to receive any money because of an apparent breach of contract.
