Actors who got the boot last minute

Former House of Cards star Kevin Spacey sure seems to be having a spate of bad luck. The actor made headlines recently when he was accused by Star Trek’s Anthony Rapp, of making sexual advances towards him when he was just 14. Spacey replied with an apology stating that he didn’t recall the particular incident, dismissing it as inappropriate drunken behaviour. But since then 13 other people have come forward accusing the actor of sexual misconduct. As a result, not only has Kevin lost his Netflix series House of Cards, but also a pending Emmy award and now he’s been dropped from his upcoming film All The Money in the World. Reports suggest actor Christopher Plummer will replace him in the role of J Paul Getty and the movie will mostly release as scheduled on December 22. The American Beauty star is not the first actor to be dropped post shooting...

Sienna Miller

For the 2015 gangster film Black Mass, Sienna was cast as the girlfriend of Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger played by Johnny Depp. However, director Scott Cooper decided to chop her role from the final cut. The actress had apparently put in a lot of effort to perfect her accent as Catherine Greig but while she was “fantastic”, Scott felt the film should instead focus on the mobster’s earlier life.

Shailene Woodley

Back in 2014, Shailene was cast as Mary Jane Watson in the second installment of the Spiderman series, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. But her character, which was meant to create a love triangle with Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker, was eventually cropped from the superhero movie. While she was initially upset, the actor later said, “I’m a pretty spiritual person, so I can just sit back and trust that everything happens for a reason, even if my ego doesn’t like it.” Director Marc Webb explained that he didn’t want to “introduce someone as a competing love interest when so much is on the table with Peter and Gwen.”

Rachel Weisz 

Rachel filmed for Terrence Malick’s To The Wonder but her role never saw the light of day. The romantic drama revolves around a man who reconnects with a woman from his childhood after his marriage starts to crack. Terrence also cut characters played by Jessica Chastain, Amanda Peet, Michael Sheen and Barry Pepper who had all shot scenes for the film. The filmmaker is known to chop actors last minute so most of the cast wasn’t surprised. 

Uma Thurman

Uma was cast as the mother of a hippie girl Ophelia played by Blake Lively in the 2012 film Savages. But despite shooting for several scenes in the crime thriller, her part was eventually chopped. Oliver Stone said that  they had to consolidate so much that they had no choice but to edit out Uma’s character. Blake said at a press event for the film, “Her mom is off with her eight different husbands. It’s a shame that you will miss that, in the movie. It was really beautiful stuff with Uma Thurman, and I think it really told a lot more of how a girl could end up this way...”

Ashley Judd

In the 1994 thriller Natural Born Killers, Ashley was initially cast as a young witness who testifies against a serial killer couple. In the intense courtroom drama scene, the accused husband Mickey Knox (Woody Harrelson) stabs her with a pencil, but the entire scene was deleted from the film due to time constraints.

Colin Firth

A few years ago, Colin was cast as the voice of Paddington bear in the 2014 film A Bear Called Paddington. However, during production, Colin and the production company decided to go their own ways. The trailer for the film had already been released at the time. The actor confirmed his exit at the time, stating, “It’s been bittersweet to see this delightful creature take shape and come to the sad realisation that he simply doesn’t have my voice.” He was replaced by Ben Whishaw after director Paul King felt it needed a “slightly more open and younger voice.”