My Paper Heart.
New member
This is one of those fascinating 'What if' scenario's, about how different some movies could have turned out if the main star was not replaced during filming.
Three high profile examples I can think of...
Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back To The Future - Apparently Stoltz was replaced after 6 weeks of filming with Fox, it seems the director and producers thought Stoltz portrayal was a little too intense and 'grown-up' for the role.
Now obviously Michael J Fox will always be synonomous with this role, but how would the film, indeed the franchise have turned out with Stoltz in the role? I guess it's kind of hard to imagine, to be honest. To be fair, both Stoltz and Fox were relative unknowns at the time (Well, Fox was relatively well known in the US for Family Ties, but hardly a household name), so obviously Fox was the one who got the career break.
But I kind of feel sorry for Stoltz, because his career never really took off after that. His biggest role was in Mask, where he played a guy with a disfigurement and was under very heavy make-up. Therefore he was always a fairly anonymous actor, a face that few people would have put a name to. He has always had regular work, but you are left wondering what could have been...
Harvey Keitel as Willard in Apocalypse Now - another actor/director conflict, apparently. Have to admit, as much as I liked Sheen's performance, Keitels take on the character could have been fascinating.
I guess the big difference here is that Keitel's career didn't really skip a beat as a result.
James Remar as Hicks in Aliens - Word is here that Remar had a drug problem at the time, and was turning up late on set and not knowing his lines. Of course, James Cameron is not the sort of director that is going to suffer that sort of behaviour, so it was adios, and hello Michael Biehn.
In this scenario, I am not sure that Remar would have had that same likeability factor that Biehn had, and would not have been as sympathetic a character.
I like Remar, but at that time he was known for playing in tense villianous types, such as Ajax in The Warriors, The psycho killer in 48 Hours, and Dutch Schultz in Cotton Club. But in later years he has diversified a lot more, and he did at least fare better than Eric Stoltz. He is a very recognisable face and has had a fairly decent career.
And one interesting footnote, Remar does actually appear in Aliens...though only a shot of the back of his head. It's the scene where the marines are going in to look for the colonists, and the camera pulls back and pans up to show the alien structure above the air-conditioning ducts. It's a long wide shot, so you cannot make out faces anyway...but apparently, Remar is in there.
I would be fascinated to actually see footage of these 'lost' performances. I am sure it probably exists, but I guess there are probably all sorts of legal issues, and I don't suppose the actors who lost those roles would be that happy for the footage to be shown either. But with the passage of time, maybe we will get to see them - is would indeed be very interesting.
The following page has some interesting info and fascinating stills from some of these, including a couple of more...
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/196336/7_missing_performances_id_like_to_see.html
Jon Finch's one is interesting, but that one os quite well known as it appears on the Alien Quadrilogy box set.
So there are 7 that we know of - does anyone have any other examples?
Three high profile examples I can think of...
Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back To The Future - Apparently Stoltz was replaced after 6 weeks of filming with Fox, it seems the director and producers thought Stoltz portrayal was a little too intense and 'grown-up' for the role.
Now obviously Michael J Fox will always be synonomous with this role, but how would the film, indeed the franchise have turned out with Stoltz in the role? I guess it's kind of hard to imagine, to be honest. To be fair, both Stoltz and Fox were relative unknowns at the time (Well, Fox was relatively well known in the US for Family Ties, but hardly a household name), so obviously Fox was the one who got the career break.
But I kind of feel sorry for Stoltz, because his career never really took off after that. His biggest role was in Mask, where he played a guy with a disfigurement and was under very heavy make-up. Therefore he was always a fairly anonymous actor, a face that few people would have put a name to. He has always had regular work, but you are left wondering what could have been...
Harvey Keitel as Willard in Apocalypse Now - another actor/director conflict, apparently. Have to admit, as much as I liked Sheen's performance, Keitels take on the character could have been fascinating.
I guess the big difference here is that Keitel's career didn't really skip a beat as a result.
James Remar as Hicks in Aliens - Word is here that Remar had a drug problem at the time, and was turning up late on set and not knowing his lines. Of course, James Cameron is not the sort of director that is going to suffer that sort of behaviour, so it was adios, and hello Michael Biehn.
In this scenario, I am not sure that Remar would have had that same likeability factor that Biehn had, and would not have been as sympathetic a character.
I like Remar, but at that time he was known for playing in tense villianous types, such as Ajax in The Warriors, The psycho killer in 48 Hours, and Dutch Schultz in Cotton Club. But in later years he has diversified a lot more, and he did at least fare better than Eric Stoltz. He is a very recognisable face and has had a fairly decent career.
And one interesting footnote, Remar does actually appear in Aliens...though only a shot of the back of his head. It's the scene where the marines are going in to look for the colonists, and the camera pulls back and pans up to show the alien structure above the air-conditioning ducts. It's a long wide shot, so you cannot make out faces anyway...but apparently, Remar is in there.
I would be fascinated to actually see footage of these 'lost' performances. I am sure it probably exists, but I guess there are probably all sorts of legal issues, and I don't suppose the actors who lost those roles would be that happy for the footage to be shown either. But with the passage of time, maybe we will get to see them - is would indeed be very interesting.
The following page has some interesting info and fascinating stills from some of these, including a couple of more...
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/196336/7_missing_performances_id_like_to_see.html
Jon Finch's one is interesting, but that one os quite well known as it appears on the Alien Quadrilogy box set.
So there are 7 that we know of - does anyone have any other examples?