Actors Who Changed Their Famous Characters For The Better

Jerry Bruckheimer producedPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlDisney took a risk with this film. It was based on a theme-park ride and felt more mature (PG-13) than usual. It aimed to compete with other adult summer blockbusters. Casting Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, who was not mainstream then, made the movie edgier.

Depp began making the character his own early on. He capped his front teeth and took ideas from his favorite rock star, Keith Richards.Depp states this., he changed the script even more:

The original screenplay wrote Captain Jack as a swashbuckler who swings in, fights a bit, grabs a girl, and leaves. I had different ideas. Captain Jack was born in a sauna. My sauna. I looked at all sides of the character and saw this guy spent most of his life on the high seas, meaning he dealt with intense heat to the brain. So, I cranked the sauna to about 1000 degrees and stayed until it affected me mentally.

Disney grew concerned after seeing early footage. Executives called his character "drunk" and "gay."This led to conversations with Depp.These talks aimed to get him to change things up.

Jerry felt uneasy, and the Disney executives lacked enthusiasm. I told them, "Look, these are my choices. You know my work. Either trust me or leave me." Luckily, they did not.

Now, Captain Jack Sparrow is one of cinema's most iconic characters because Depp did not back down.

Before Robin Williams agreed to the role, directors John Clements and Ron Musker told Disney animator Eric Goldberg to use Williams's stand-up albums to inspireAladdin’s Genie. The animation showed a big, blue guy with Williams's face.Goldberg says this:

Robin understood the animation potential of using his talents. Looking at animation voices from the 1930s and '40s, many were radio actors. They could express much with their voices... Robin shared a set of vocal chords that were 100% elastic.

Anyone familiar with Williams's unique personality will hear that the comedian/actor improvised much of his scenes—which Disney kept in the film. The warmth, sincerity, and many impressions Williams brought to the role changed the film; that persona is what shows us the world in Aladdin.AladdinAlthough Christoper and Jonathan Nolan had already written

Christopher and Jonathan Nolan already wrote this.The Dark Knight's script showed a vague idea of what they wanted the Clown Prince of Crime to be in their grounded universe. Heath Ledger made the role his own. After talking to Nolan, Ledger got the Joker part. Feeling the pressure from other Joker portrayals, Ledger spent a month writing in a hotel room as His role was the Joker.Joker.

When production started, Ledger helped design the character’s look, from clothes to makeup. Ledger suggested painting makeup on the Joker’s hands because this psychotic clown would apply it himself. Ledger also came up with the idea for the Joker to lick his lips while testing the "smile" prosthetic.Christopher Nolan said, the key to the character and Ledger’s Oscar win is its unpredictability:

Heath discussed many things with me. He gave me hints about his plans, or we talked about them, and I tried to be his audience or guess what he was doing. Much of it involved unpredictability; I think he played his cards close to the chest.

Comedic legend Chris Farley was first set to voice the main character in DreamWorks’Shrek.. He handled over half the work before he died in 1997. Unfortunately, the project did not finish enough for Farley’s parts. After the tragedy, Farley’sSaturday Night Live.Castmate Mike Myers replaced him. Myers' comedic style clashed with Farley's. This forced changes.Shrek.’s script. After Myers recorded his audio in 1999, a rough cut reached the actor in 2000. Seeing it, Myers decided he needed to redo all his dialogue.

In the first attempt, Myers used a strange accent to play the ogre. Myers decided to playShrek.as Scottish to contrast Lord Farquaad's upper-class English accent. Since much of the film was already animated, this big character change needed new mouth movements and gestures. This whole ordeal cost the production $4 million extra.The production spent $4 million extra for Shrek.Shrekmade over a billion dollars at the box office.It is nearly impossible to separate Eddie Murphy from displaced Detroit detective Axel Foley. Before Murphy got the role in

Eddie Murphy is hard to separate from Axel Foley, the displaced Detroit detective. Eddie Murphy was cast in...Beverly Hills Cop.Sylvester Stallone vehicleSylvester Stallone's vehicle.. Stallone's agent wanted the action star to show his comedy. Stallone did not want that. He rewrote the script for action. People disliked Stallone's ideas. He left the production, using those ideas for what became....Enter Eddie Murphy. According to director Martin Brest,

Eddie Murphy enters. Director Martin Brest said...Beverly Hills Cop.The script changed many times while the film was made to fit Murphy’s talents.

I had six drafts; I disliked every one. I showed them to him. He closed his eyes. Six seconds later, he said, "I've got it." He then played the whole thing in character.

Murphy improvised some of the funniest scenes, including the one at the art dealership. Murphy also had input on Foley’s wardrobe. Murphy did much of Foley’s work.isMurphy.

Before John Belushi died in 1982, John Belushi was set to play Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters.GhostbustersAfter that loss, Dan Aykroyd, who worked on the script with Harold Ramis, asked Bill Murray to play the part, even with only half the script finished. Murray agreed to join the project in a limited way; Murray was a popular person then and very busy. The filmmakers did not know if he would join until filming started. Still, Ramis (who worked with Murray on Stripes), reworked the script with Murray’s voice in mind.Stripes, Caddyshack, andMeatballs) reworked the script with Murray’s voice in mind.

Director Ivan Reitman learned how to work with Murray, who has famous unplanned comedy skills. Reitman tried to keep the script while using Murray’s talent. His performance as Venkman made him (and his persona) a household name.

Dark Horse Comics’The MaskThe Mask series is much darker than its 1994 movie. Comic book Stanley/The Mask/Big Head defeats the people who mistreat him—plus an elementary school teacher who embarrassed him as a kid. It is a scary yet funny look at holding back and being human. Think Deadpool, but harsher.Deadpoolbut more brutal.

Despite these violent beginnings, The Mask became a more family movie starring Jim Carrey.The MaskEarly script drafts are closer to the source material than the ones Mike Werb wrote after Jim Carrey was cast.Chuck Russell, the film’s director, said this., who directed 1987’sA Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriorsand the 1988 remake ofThe Blob, Carrey’s skills required a change:

I felt Jim should put the mask on. If Jim puts the mask on, it should not be a horror film. I knew he would succeed. I saw his stand-up; it blew my mind.

So the movie let Carrey show how he could twist his body (saving the studio money on special effects) and do anything for a laugh. Much of the movie feels like Carrey doing skits; that was the plan.

David Berenbaum’sElfHollywood passed around the script for about ten years before 2003. Will Ferrell joined later.The MaskandDumb and DumberThe original script was much darker than the version Jon Favreau reworked for Ferrell. Ferrell's goofy, lovable, man-child energy worked perfectly for the Christmas classic.

Ferrell improvised many scenes in the movie. During the scene where Buddy interrogates the apartment store Santa, Ferrell rattled off many lines from memory.Favreau revealed this.Phrases like "You sit on a throne of lies" and "You smell like beef and cheese; you don't smell like Santa" came off the cuff.

Jack Nicholson played Frank Costello in Martin Scorsese’sThe Departed.This was not part of the plan. Being a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong crime film, it wasn't planned.Internal Affairs.The role was originally just a brief cameo.Nicholson said this.After he turned down the movie, they agreed to write a role just for him.

I turned the movie down the first time because the character did not exist. But Leo (DiCaprio) and Marty convinced me. I liked the company. Marty is free with his ideas and accepts yours. We built this character piece by piece until it fit a great genre film and pushed the movie toward something almost operatic.

Jeff Vintar stated this.His screenplay,Hardwired.contained a murder mystery similar to Isaac Asimov’s short stories.I, Robot.from the 1950s:

This is a locked-room mystery. A man dies in a locked room; no one was inside but machines. How could he be murdered? This makes it a classic, old-fashioned murder mystery at its core. Isaac Asimov did the same thing.

Once.I, Robot.Will Smith attracted to the role of detective Del Spooner, who investigates the alleged suicide of a US robotics founder. The project became the sci-fi epic audiences know:

Will Smith became interested at some point. This helped the project justify the rising cost. He suited the role. Akiva [Goldsman] wrote the Will Smith rewrites, taking the film toward a Will Smith event film. When Will Smith joined, the robot count jumped from 50 to 1,000. That was the Will Smith effect.

Goldsman, who worked with Smith onI Am Legend.andHancock.Goldsman wrote for Smith. The actor brought his charisma and star presence to the role. His involvement made the movie an entirely different product.

Modern audiences often recognize Marlon Brando for his role as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’sThe Godfather.. Like that performance, Brando gained a reputation for intense dedication to method acting. Brando also worked with Coppola onApocalypse Now.Marlon Brando is hailed as one of the greatest movies ever made and a very wild production. Brando's strange nature and movie star demands—like a $3.5 million payment, refusing to work with Dennis Hopper, and coming to set with an entourage—made things difficult.Brando came to set with an entourage.Those demands didn't make things any easier.

In the film, Brando plays Colonel Kurtz, a renegade officer presumed insane (and homicidal). Joseph Conrad, who wrote Heart of Darkness, said this.Heart of DarknessKurtz was supposed to be gaunt or weak from years in the jungle (the film is loosely based on this).Kurtz was gaunt or weak from years in the jungle.Brando ignored this and showed up to set overweight. The actor demanded he be filmed in shadow.The actor demanded he be filmed in shadow.Brando wore all black to hide this.

The differences between Brando and the writing were not the end. Coppola stopped production for a week so Brando and he could talk about the character. Brando was known for not wanting to memorize his lines.Brando was unwilling to memorize his lines.Brando improvised much dialogue during these meetings. Coppola recorded these exchanges and put them into the script. An earpiece went into Brando’s ear. This let his ramblings replay while filming. The final product gave 15 minutes of screen time that differed completely from the original.The script before Brando arrived was very short.The script before Brando arrived was very short.

Margot Robbie seemed like an obvious choice for the Barbie role in the 2023 film. However, she was not the first person considered. In 2016, Amy Schumer was cast.Amy Schumer was cast.She played the fantastic plastic doll.

She eventually backed out, first citing scheduling conflicts, then creative ones. She said, “They definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it, the only way I was interested in doing it.”They definitely didn’t want to do it the way I wanted to do it, the only way I was interested in doing it.”She said of the studio.She said of the studio.She said of the studio (Sony, at the time, before the project moved to Warner Bros.). She explained her Barbie was a spunky inventor kicked out of Barbie land for not being perfect enough. The studio suggested Barbie's invention be a Jell-O high heel, then sent Schumer designer heels. Schumer disliked this, saying, “The idea that that’s just what every woman must want, right there, I should have gone, ‘You’ve got the wrong gal.’”

Anne Hathaway was briefly considered for Barbie before Robbie got the job. If Schumer had stayed, the film might have been very different from the final product.

In Lee Child’s novels.Jack Reacher.Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels describe his protagonist as 6 feet 5 inches tall and 250 pounds, giving him an imposing presence. Tom Cruise is 5 feet 7. The smaller superstar was not Child's first pick for his ex-military police officer with a desire to right wrongs. Before Cruise joined, actors like Liam Neeson, Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, or Russell Crowe seemed like better fits. Child did not make the final casting decision.He joined the discussions.Tom Cruise is on the list of actors who changed famous characters for the better.

Reacher is a big guy; there is no doubt. But he is also smart and intimidating. He projects a specific feeling. Imagine we removed the size. How would that function?

The internet reacted strongly when Cruise was first announced. He is the action star known for films likeTom Cruise starred in Top Gun.Tom Cruise starred in and the Mission: Impossible.Tom Cruise starred in Mission: Impossible.franchise. Early in the film, viewers see Cruise acts as a character actor, adding his distinct style to a character everyone thought they knew.