Leonardo Dicaprio was cast as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, but left after he feared he might anger his teenage fanbase from Titanic if he starred in a violent movie.

Chevy Chase was asked to play Lester Burnham in American Beauty but turned it down because he didn't want to harm his image in an edgy film.

Kevin Costner declined to play Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption so he could concentrate on Waterworld.

Jim Carrey was asked to play Edward Scissorhands but declined, saying that at the time he wasn't serious enough for the role.

Matt Damon turned down the roles of Jake Sculley in Avatar and Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight.

Harrison Ford was asked to play Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, but he felt his personal fame would overshadow the important subject matter.

Michelle Pfeiffer was the director's first choice to play Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs but she didn't want to be in such a violent movie.

Will Smith was the studio's first choice to play Neo in The Matrix, but turned it down to star in the flop Wild, Wild West. Just 13 years later...

...he turned down the lead role in Django Unchained to again star in another flop, this time After Earth.

Huge Jackman was the first choice to be the next James Bond after Pierce Brosnan but he instead he wanted to concentrate on the X-Men movies.

Also considered were Heath Ledger, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Gerard Butler, Henry Cavill, Colin Farrell, Clive Owen, and Ewan McGregor.

Jack Nicholson was asked to play Michael Corleone in The Godfather but turned it down.

James Remar was cast to play Corporal Hicks or was it Hudson? in Aliens, however he and James Cameron didn't get along and was replaced with Michael Biehn. However, a few of Remar's scenes still ended up in the finished film because reshooting them would've been too expensive.

Mel Gibson was the studio's first choice to play Batman in 1989 but he was already committed to Lethal Weapon 2...

...and just a decade later turned down the role of Maximus in Gladiator because he felt he was too old for action movies.

Nick Nolte was George Lucas' first choice to play Han Solo.

OJ Simpson was the first choice to play the Terminator, but he ironically declined because he thought he was "too nice" to play the role which later went to a little known Austrian bodybuilder.

Sean Connery was asked to play Morpheus in The Matrix but declined because he "didn't understand the script"...

...and just two years later turned down the role of Gandalf for the same reason.

Paul Giamatti was asked to play Michael Scott in The Office.

John Travolta turned down the lead role for both Forrest Gump and The Green Mile, both of which went to Tom Hanks.