Mark Wahlberg – ‘Brokeback Mountain’
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger seem like the perfect actors to cast in Brokeback Mountain, a film about a couple of sheep herders in Wyoming who maintain a sporadic and tortured homosexual relationship for 20 years despite their marrying their respective girlfriends. However, Director Ang Lee wanted Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg were to play the main characters in the beginning if you can believe it. Wahlberg, who actually read 15 pages of the script, said that he was ‘creeped out’ by the graphical sex scenes in the script and thus passed on the role upon the advice of their parish priest. He also said that the script was very descriptive and graphic– thus, generating a ton of controversy in the process.
Mark Wahlberg – Brokeback Mountain
Tom Selleck – ‘Indiana Jones’
You can just imagine our favorite P.I. playing the role of our favorite crusader. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg both believed that Selleck perfectly fit the role of Indiana Jones. He even did a screen test for it and both Spielberg and Lucas were ready to start shooting the movie with him as lead. However, Tom Selleck had to decline the opportunity to play Indiana in Indiana Jones because he was tied down by contractual obligations for Magnum P.I. and therefore had to pass. He has already filmed the pilot episode the CBS detective show by then.
The role then went to Harrison Ford and the movie ended up becoming a 1.8-billion-dollar franchise. On the other hand, filming for Magnum P.I. was delayed by six months. This would have meant that Selleck could have played Indy, but it was too late by this point! Harrison Ford was already the lead.
Tom Selleck Indiana Jones