10 Lead Roles Mel Gibson Turned Down or Didn’t Get
Mel Gibson is in rare company when it comes to Hollywood success. Experience great success both as an actor and as a director. He has had some truly impressive performances in his impressive career and despite controversy in his private life has remained a prominent and revered figure in the film industry. When you’re as popular as Gibson, most important roles will be thrown at you throughout your career, and sometimes they don’t all work out.
These are the ten lead roles Mel Gibson hasn’t gotten or turned down in his 45+ year career.
10 Fred Flintstone – The Flintstones (1994)
A live action big screen version that was the flints; ‘The Flintstones, certainly sounded better on paper than it turned out to be in execution. While the film is a perfect family adventure comedy, the film as a whole was widely panned by critics. Starring John Goodman as the legendary Fred Flintstone, it was almost Mel Gibson who ended up in the Bedrock role. While the actor was considered for Fred, it never really seems to have progressed beyond that. Gibson would later star in the 1994 western comedy. loner.
9 Jim Garrison-JFK (1991)
The Oliver Stone Classic, JFK, is widely considered one of the best films about an American President. Tell the emotionally accurate story of the events leading up to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the aftermath. The film stars Kevin Costner as the real-life district attorney and JFK assassination investigator, John Garrison. The lead role was one Mel Gibson turned down before Costner landed the part. JFK would continue to enjoy major box office and awards success after its release. Gibson would not act in any films in 1991.
8th Robin Hood – Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
In another 1991 role that eventually went to Kevin Costner, it was Mel Gibson who again turned down that role, this time as Robin Hood Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Since Gibson had just played Hamlet, the actor was reluctant to take on another iconic literary character so soon.
7 Eliot Ness – The Untouchables (1987)
Let’s keep the Kevin Costner train going because yes, you guessed it, Mel Gibson was set to play the role of Eliot Ness The Untouchables that eventually went to Costner. True, in this case, Gibson did not refuse the role, but was considered and did not get it. The connection between the two actors from 1987-1991 is certainly interesting.
6 George Ellerby – The Departed (2006)
Best Picture award-winning crime novel by Martin Scorsese The departed, features a powerful cast working at the peak of their powers. One such performance is that of Alec Baldwin as brazen police captain George Ellerby. Before Baldwin got the role, however, it was offered to Mel Gibson, who unfortunately had to turn down the role in order to direct his Mayan epic. apocalypto.
5 John Keating – Society of Dead Poets (1989)
It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the Oscar-nominated performance of John Keating, given by Robin Williams in Society of Dead Poets, one of the best of his career. Not to mention the brazen action star Mel Gibson. When director Jeff Kanew was attached to the picture, Gibson was really considered for playing the role. Ultimately, he turned down the role because Gibson felt the salary was low.
4 Maximus – Gladiator (2000)
Ridley Scott’s epic historical drama, gladiator, has become an iconic piece of cinematic history and helped propel the careers of some of its main stars to new heights. One such star was Russell Crowe, who took on the lead role of Maximus, a Roman general-turned-gladiator slave. A performance that would earn Crowe an Oscar for Best Actor. It was also a role in which Mel Gibson could have swapped his blue Scottish face paint for gladiator armor, as the actor was offered the role of Maximus before turning it down.
3 Oskar Schindler – Schindler’s List (1993)
Oskar Schindler is a role that, had Mel Gibson gotten it, wouldn’t have aged well or shed a friendly light on the Oscar-winner. This is because of a drunken anti-Semitic tirade that Gibson continued during an arrest in 2006. This hypothetical controversy was avoided, however, as director Steven Spielberg felt that a star of Gibson’s caliber could detract from the story Schindlers List.
2 James Bond – Goldeneye (1997)
United International Pictures
Whenever James Bond is recast for a new series of films, the most notable actors are inevitably considered for the iconic part. Such was the case with Mel Gibson when names were considered Gold eye, who introduced us to a new iteration of Bond that ended up being played by Pierce Bronson. Admittedly, it’s difficult to imagine a world where Mel Gibson is 007.
1 Terminator – The Terminator (1984)
As hard as it is to envision Mel Gibson in a James Bond role, it’s actually easy to envision Gibson playing the T-800 in James Cameron’s breakout hit. The Terminator. While Arnold Schwarzenegger is now synonymous with the franchise role, it would certainly be a fun and wild ride to see Gibson in the role.
