20 Strange And Shocking "What If" Scenarios Throughout Hollywood History
From the beginning of Hollywood history, there have been countless projects that have died or been critically reshaped for one reason or another, whether it be performances left unseen, actors or filmmakers who have been replaced, or major studio projects that were not worth the effort.
But these projects still remain fascinating to this day, whether as a cautionary tale or as movies that will only live on in our imaginations. These 20 strange-but-true "what if" scenarios from over the years are just a fraction of Hollywood's discarded dreams and serve as evidence of what audiences almost received, for better or for worse...
1.Quentin Tarantino had a much different original vision for Django Unchained.
It's no secret that Django Unchained has a wealth of cut footage in storage somewhere, as even director Quentin Tarantino has teased bringing an extended cut to Netflix in the future. But what you may not know is just how different the film was supposed to be, from Tarantino's initial attempts to cast Will Smith in the titular role to Kurt Russell's casting (and filming) as the film's ruthless villain Ace Woody, an overwhelmingly vile part that eventually motivated Russell to quit the film mid-shoot.
In fact, there was a whole chunk of the movie that Tarantino scrapped entirely that focused on the backstories of Calvin Candy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Broomhilda von Shaft (Kerry Washington) when a core character lost both potential stars: Sacha Baron Cohen and Jonah Hill, the latter of whom accepted a much smaller cameo in the film.
2.Robert Englund nearly lost the role of Freddy Krueger…twice.
Robert Englund will be forever synonymous with the iconic horror slasher Freddy Krueger, but his run as the bloodthirsty villain was almost much, much shorter. According to the Never Sleep Again documentary covering the entire franchise, Englund was actually a replacement for The Omen actor David Warner, whose take on the character was reported to have been akin to a "dirty old man."
Of course, he knocked the role out of the park, but ironically, he was nearly left out of the sequel after requesting a pay increase. Luckily, his replacement was too stiff and awkward on camera, which inspired New Line Cinema to bring Robert Englund back to the fold permanently.
3.Good Will Hunting: the spy thriller?
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck shocked the world when they won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting, which was a commercial and critical sensation in the late '90s. Perhaps even more shocking is that the film was almost a different beast entirely, with the original draft of the film focusing on Hunting's emerging brilliance and a government conspiracy to manipulate his talents.
Damon and Affleck were later encouraged by filmmaker Rob Reiner to eliminate the thriller elements of the script, shifting the focus to the drama and Hunting's interpersonal relationships, while the pair would scratch their spy thriller itches later in their respective acting careers.
4.Halle Berry was set to take the James Bond franchise to the US.
Die Another Day was supposed to be a turning point for Eon Productions' James Bond series, with Pierce Brosnan entering his fourth outing as the legendary super-spy. But even more important to Eon was establishing Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson, Halle Berry's bold and badass Bond Girl, as an equally compelling international crime fighter with the hopes of launching a fresh, new spinoff franchise anchored in the United States.
Alas, Die Another Day was a misfire on most accounts, motivating Eon to return to the drawing board for their next James Bond film.
5.Directing duo Lord and Miller were blasted off Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Chris Miller and Phil Lord had the reputation of being somewhat untouchable in Hollywood in recent years, from their critically acclaimed animated works such as The Lego Movie and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs to their live-action hits such as 21 Jump Street and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. That reputation came to a resounding and startlingly public end with their experience as co-directors of Solo: A Star Wars Story, having been fired from the project after more than four months of filming.
Hoping to weave more spontaneous comedy into the space epic, Lord and Miller landed on their feet after their exile from a Galaxy Far, Far Away, picking up an Academy Award for their work on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and now looking at a potential second with The Mitchells vs. The Machines. Meanwhile, Solo wasn't so lucky, disappointing at the box office (despite high marks from fans and critics) and forcing Lucasfilm to shelve all potential Star Wars theatrical spinoffs.
6.Stuart Townsend missed out on The Lord of the Rings and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Though he is likely more recognizable from his small-screen work in recent years, Stuart Townsend was once considered among the hottest young actors in Hollywood in the early '00s. Yet Townsend's career trajectory would have been very different had he remained cast as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, a role for which he was deemed too young after production had already begun.
Sadly, this was not the only major fantasy project for which he was almost recruited, as he dropped out of the role of Fandral of the Warriors Three in Kenneth Branagh's Thor mere days before filming was to start.
7.Nick Cave's Gladiator 2 had ghosts, gods, and aliens, oh my!
In the wake of Gladiator's smashing worldwide success, producers on the film quickly went to work to find how a sequel could be pursued. Initially, esteemed screenwriter John Logan was hired to crack the egg, who wrote a blend of prequel and sequel that focused primarily on an adult Lucius.
Yet it was the subsequent script in 2006 from Australian rock star Nick Cave that soon garnered a "must-read" status, as it offered a tragedy in which Maximus was to be sent back to Earth by the Gods as an immortal warrior to intervene in the war between the Old Gods and Christianity, eventually fighting in every major war throughout history and concluding with him facing down intergalactic invaders before the closing credits.
Nick Cave's Gladiator 2 was too ambitious and surreal for its own good, but hope has not burnt out for the sequel as director Ridley Scott has scheduled the film to be his next project following his Napoleon Bonaparte biopic.
8.The Batman franchise was nearly rebooted by Requiem for a Dream's Darren Aronofsky.
Prior to handing the keys to the Batman kingdom to Christopher Nolan in 2002, Warner Bros. and DC Comics were ready to go full-steam ahead with a project antithetical to Joel Schumacher's colorful and campy Batman & Robin.
Focusing on Frank Miller's Batman: Year One story arc, visionary filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was selected to co-write and direct the film, which was intended to be a violent, R-rated take on the character with Joaquin Phoenix courted to play the caped crusader. However, creative clashes caused Warner Bros. to move on from the film and turn their attention toward a dark take on the character from Nolan and David S. Goyer.
9.Universal's Dark Universe was dead-on-arrival.
Speaking of Russell Crowe, another major "What If?" scenario in recent years was that of Universal Pictures' Dark Universe, a cinematic universe orchestrated by Alex Kurtzman that would reintroduce the classic Universal Monsters to a new generation through a series of interconnecting horror-action hybrids.
The pieces were on the table for Universal to go all in on Dark Universe, with the pre-emptive casting of Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man and Javier Bardem as Frankenstein's Monster and the awaited release of The Mummy with Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, and Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll, the "Nick Fury" of the Dark Universe. But Dark Universe crashed and burned in a spectacular fashion, with The Mummy being a rare box office failure for Cruise and Bill Condon's Bride of Frankenstein falling to pieces in early 2018.
10.A motion-capture Justice League film almost happened from the director of Mad Max.
Before the world had the dueling versions of Joss Whedon and Zack Snyder's Justice League, Mad Max franchise shepherd George Miller was tasked with bringing the beloved superhero team to the big screen for the first time in 2007. Titled Justice League: Mortal, the film was slated to be primarily filmed in motion-capture, akin to Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf, and casting was largely completed, with Adam Brody, Common, Teresa Palmer, D.J. Cotrona, and Armie Hammer ready to don their respective capes and cowls.
However, the film was ultimately shelved in 2008 and was finally laid to rest upon the announcement for Snyder's Man of Steel. Oddly enough, both Adam Brody and Cotrona would find their way into the DCEU in Shazam! more than a decade later.
11.Apocalypse Now starring…Harvey Keitel?
Apocalypse Now is widely considered one of the all-time classics of cinema, cementing the legacies of both star Martin Sheen and director Francis Ford Coppola. But the production of the film was a living hell for Coppola, the extent of which was eventually revealed by the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.
Notably, Coppola originally brought Harvey Keitel on to the picture in the lead role of Captain Willard until friction arose between the two within days of shooting. Eventually, Keitel departed from the film, ripping up a seven-picture deal with the studio while opening a path for Sheen to join the project.
12.James Cameron's Xenogenesis would have made Avatar obsolete.
In the earliest stages of James Cameron's career, the director attempted to woo investors toward a visionary science fiction story about intergalactic explorers stranded on a planet of various creatures, both hostile and friendly, via a short film titled Xenogenesis. While Xenogenesis failed to hook any financiers, the short film was impressive enough for Cameron to be hired by legendary producer Roger Corman, providing him with his first big break in Hollywood.
However, had Xenogenesis taken off, there's a good chance his record-breaking blockbuster Avatar would have never taken flight, as the filmmaker's book Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron details a number of elements that were later utilized as aspects of the latter project, including landscapes and creature designs, the most notable of which were the "sky sharks" of Xenogenesis eventually inspiring Avatar's winged "banshees."
13.Eric Stoltz's firing forced a massive reshoot of Back to the Future.
It's hard to picture Back to the Future without Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, but that was nearly the case when Eric Stoltz was cast in the role in 1984. But after more than a month of filming with Stoltz in the role, director Robert Zemeckis realized he was ill-fit for the role, getting a serious and committed take on the character as opposed to the nervous and goofy character in the script.
Eventually, Stoltz was fired from the film, despite receiving his full salary, and filming was delayed while a new Marty was found in the form of Fox. As the fates would have it, the decision worked out for the best, with Stoltz finding acclaim with his subsequent roles in Mask and Some Kind of Wonderful, while Fox and Zemeckis carved out one of the most beloved franchises of all time with Back to the Future.
14.Paul Verhoeven’s Crusade: the Arnold Schwarzenegger blockbuster that never was.
After connecting with critics and audiences alike with 1990's Total Recall, director Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger were quickly courted by Carolco Pictures to collaborate once again, this time with their eyes set on a massive adventure epic set during the Crusades. With a jaw-dropping budget attached to the ultraviolent and provocative project, Carolco commissioned poster art and encouraged Verhoeven to begin casting, with roles tapped for Jennifer Connelly and Robert Duvall, among others.
However, Carolco and Verhoeven soon began fighting over the risks associated with the budget potentially ballooning even higher, causing the production company to abruptly pull the plug on Crusade deep into pre-production.
15.Almost an Avenger: There were several performers who almost headlined MCU’s Phase One.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has many "What If" scenarios woven into its DNA, but there were several major casting decisions that came down to the wire and would have reshaped the look and chemistry of the Avengers in a major way.
In Phase One of the MCU, Grey's Anatomy actor Kevin McKidd was almost cast as Thor, Cruel Intentions' Ryan Phillippe was among the final contenders for Steve Rogers/Captain America, Glenn Howerton from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia nearly nabbed the part of Peter Quill/Star-Lord, and The Devil Wears Prada breakout star Emily Blunt was in early negotiations to play Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in Iron Man 2 before scheduling conflicts prevented her from doing so.
Of course, there's also the Edward Norton of it all, as the original Incredible Hulk actor debated committing to The Avengers and beyond until parting with Marvel Studios shortly prior to San Diego Comic-Con in 2010.
16.The snakebit adaptation of A Confederacy of Dunces.
Though A Confederacy of Dunces has its own tragic backstory in publication, all of the attempted film adaptations have encountered the worst luck possible, with development on four different adaptations ending before cameras even rolled after their respective leads (John Belushi, John Candy, Chris Farley, and Divine) all passed away. It almost seemed as if the film was going to happen in 2005, with Will Ferrell as Ignatius and David Gordon Green directing, until Hurricane Katrina effectively destroyed their potential shooting locations in Louisiana.
While there have been rumors of a new production with Zach Galifianakis and Danny McBride in recent years, it seems that the closest people had been to seeing the Hollywood version of A Confederacy of Dunces might have been the star-studded script reading at the Nantucket Film Festival in 2008, led by Ferrell himself.
17.World War Z axed a nihilistic original ending and a David Fincher-helmed sequel.
The battle for World War Z was as tense and terrifying as the movie itself, as the troubled production decided to completely scrap its dour third act more than six months after production was completed.
The film's nihilistic original ending saw Brad Pitt's Gerry's life fall into ruin after his experience in Jerusalem — his wife, Karin (Mireille Enos), was forced into sexual slavery for the military in exchange for protection for her family, while Gerry was taken prisoner in Russia, forcing him into the front lines in their war against the zombies in Moscow's Red Square.
The studio realized the film needed a more character-driven and more "audience-friendly" ending, with Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard completely reshaping the ending into a more intimate and suspense-driven climax that helped bolster the movie to blockbuster territory.
Yet even more mind-boggling than the film's initial ending might have been the plans for the now-cancelled sequel, for which Brad Pitt had recruited his esteemed Se7en and Fight Club collaborator David Fincher for the director's chair. But the plans were eventually scrapped, as the film could not be released in China due to content restrictions regarding depictions of the undead.
18.Before District 9, Neil Blomkamp was recruited for a 2005 film adaptation of Halo.
Though Peter Jackson may have been busy with his own projects at the time, Microsoft made some major overtures to the filmmaker to bring him and his go-to SFX outfit Wētā Workshop to bring Halo to the big screen in 2005. Jackson's dance card was full, but he eventually gravitated toward Alex Garland's screenplay and boarded the project as a producer with his protégé, Neil Blomkamp, in the director's chair.
However, after months of preparation and script tinkering, development on Halo was halted, with the studio reportedly unwilling to give a budget of that size with a project of that value to a first-time filmmaker. Blomkamp would later wow audiences with his sci-fi thriller District 9, but the filmmaker didn't quite abandon the Halo property altogether, as he was eventually hired to direct a promotional short film titled Halo: Landfall in 2012.
19.The original cut of Dracula Untold had a legendary witch and...Charlie Cox?!
Dracula Untold was given an unfair shake by Universal, which had initially developed the film as a new potential franchise only for the property to be sloppily shoehorned into, and later erased from, Universal's Dark Universe. But the original vision from filmmaker Gary Shore was way wilder than the film that was eventually released, with Dracula encountering multiple legendary folk monsters — including a sequence with Samantha Barks as Baba Yaga, which was eventually released as a deleted scene.
Yet more intriguing is Dracula Untold initially cast and filmed Daredevil star Charlie Cox as the titular character's vampiric mentor, who was a monstrous take on Roman emperor Caligula, before Charles Dance was brought in for reshoots to help connect the film to the Dark Universe.
20.Guillermo del Toro nearly resurrected The Haunted Mansion.
With the amount of films that Guillermo del Toro has announced and never made over the years, one could amass a similar list entirely comprised of his unproduced oeuvre. But one of the more intriguing hypothetical horror films to which del Toro was attached was his Haunted Mansion adaptation for Disney, which was announced in 2010 with a teaser trailer that was exclusively played at San Diego Comic-Con.
Rumored to be centered around the Hatbox Ghost, a key figure in Haunted Mansion lore, the filmmaker and Disney eventually came at an impasse after years of development, with the former parlaying many of his ideas into Crimson Peak, while the latter eventually found filmmaker Justin Simien to bring the property back to life in 2021.
