14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Simone Ashley in F1? Harrison Ford in E.T.? 10 actors cut from movies
It's every actor's worst nightmare. You're attached to a project for months if not years, it finally gets greenlit and you film your scenes – only to end up on the cutting room floor. Case in point: Simone Ashley, the Bridgerton star due to appear opposite Brad Pitt in the exhilarating new motor-racing drama F1 The Movie.
'It happens on every film,' director Joseph Kosinski (of F1 and Top Gun: Maverick fame) told People magazine, noting how there are often two or three storylines that get dropped. Ashley can, however, take comfort that she's is great company.
Here are nine major actors who did not make the final cut in critically acclaimed films.
Harrison Ford in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Even the star who played Indiana Jones and Han Solo isn't immune to the chop. Harrison Ford shot a role as Elliott Taylor's high-school principal in Steven Spielberg's 1982 sci-fi classic, about a boy who befriends an alien. The scene had Ford lecturing Elliott (Henry Thomas), about his behaviour after he sets frogs free in his biology class. But Spielberg cut it, feeling Ford's appearance would shift focus away from Elliott.
Mickey Rourke in The Thin Red Line
Many an actor has fallen foul of director Terrence Malick, known for pondering for years in the editing room, including Mickey Rourke. Playing a scout sniper in the 1998 all-star Second World War drama The Thin Red Line, featuring the likes of Adrien Brody and Sean Penn, Rourke was snipped from the final edit. 'There were political reasons why I was out of the movie. That really upset me,' he said, believing his wild off-screen reputation had led to the decision.
Kevin Spacey in All The Money In The World
When actor Kevin Spacey was accused of sexual misconduct, director Ridley Scott cut all of Spacey's scenes in this 2017 drama about the kidnapping of the grandson of wealthy tycoon John Paul Getty. It was impossible to excise Getty from the story, however, which meant Scott recast the character, bringing in Christopher Plummer and reshooting all the scenes. Plummer even got an Oscar nod.
Paul Rudd in Bridesmaids
One of the great losses in Paul Feig's stellar 2011 romcom is Paul Rudd 's turn as an unhinged guy who singleton Annie (Kristen Wiig) dates. They go ice-skating and he slips over, injuring his finger and cursing at children. It was cut because Annie already had too many other paramours, making it potentially confusing for audiences, but the scene is hilarious. Check it out online.
May Calamawy in Gladiator II
The Egyptian-Palestinian actress, famed for Marvel TV show Moon Knight, suffered the same fate as F1 's Simone Ashley. Her role in Ridley Scott's 2024 Gladiator sequel was drastically pruned, with just brief glimpses of her left in the final film, and no dialogue. While it was never revealed who she played (though she hinted at working with Denzel Washington, who played gladiator owner Macrinus), it's likely her subplot was a victim of the film's unwieldy 148-minute run-time.
Tobey Maguire in The Life of Pi
In 2012, when Ang Lee's take on Yann Martel's novel hit cinemas, Tobey Maguire was one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, thanks to his titular role in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. But this is exactly why Lee decided to drop Maguire as the reporter who listens to the fantastical tale of a boy shipwrecked with a Bengal tiger. Lee reshot the scenes with English actor Rafe Spall, as Maguire was deemed too distracting.
Robert Pattinson in Vanity Fair
These days, cutting Robert Pattinson would be unthinkable. But back in 2004, in what should've been his screen debut as the son of Reese Witherspoon's Becky Sharp, he was severed from Vanity Fair. The film is director (and mother of Zohran Mamdani) Mira Nair's take on William Makepeace Thackeray's classic Victorian novel. According to Pattinson, the casting director was so apologetic, she pushed him forward to play Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter films. The rest, as they say, is history.
Ana de Armas in Yesterday
Before Knives Out, No Time To Die and Ballerina, Ana de Armas was set to charm us in Danny Boyle's 2019 Beatles-infused romcom Yesterday. Playing a girl who catches the eye of struggling musician Jack (Himesh Patel), de Armas' character didn't play well with test audiences, who objected to the leading man's eyes straying from his main love interest, Ellie (Lily James). De Armas still made the trailer, though, as Jack sings to her on James Corden's talk show.
Sienna Miller in Black Mass
Another actress to fall foul of the unwanted girlfriend role, British star Miller was dropped from Scott Cooper's 2015 gangster epic. It was something of a surprise, given she portrayed Catherine Greig, the girlfriend of mobster Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp), who helped him avoid capture for 16 years. But with Dakota Johnson already playing Lyndsey, his love interest from an earlier part of his life, Miller's role got the figurative bullet to the head.
