15 Actors Who Bombed Auditions For Iconic Roles

Every performer has hit a roadblock at some point in their career. There are many popular actors who bombed auditions for iconic roles and cringed as they recalled the stories later on. Spare a thought for someone like Nicholas Hoult who read for both Batman and Superman but didn't get either gig — he ended up as Lex Luthor, though, so don't bring out the tissues for him just yet.

As fans, it's fun to look back at these casting stories, wondering what might have been had these performers secured coveted parts. Sure, some might have rocked the roles, while others would not have been right fits at all. No shade intended, but sometimes life happens for a very good reason. It's okay, because none of the actors mentioned below saw their careers end after bad auditions. Quite the opposite, really, as they all went on to achieve success in their craft.

For a brief period in the early 2000s, Jake Gyllenhaal could have been considered the unluckiest actor in Hollywood. Gyllenhaal almost replaced Tobey Maguire as Marvel's Spider-Man and bombed the chance to play Frodo in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."

In 2016, Gyllenhaal appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and discussed how his agents pushed him for the part of the hobbit. The actor admitted how he didn't really know what was required of him for the audition and went with the flow. However, it all fell apart when he read his lines and "The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson asked him about the lack of an accent. Gyllenhaal claimed he didn't know he needed an accent, to which Jackson replied, "Fire your agents."

In retrospect, the casting of Elijah Wood as Frodo turned out perfect, and it's tough to imagine anyone else as the heroic hobbit. Maybe Gyllenhaal might have been good, but he didn't appear to be as excited about the role as his agents were. Also, think about this: if he had been cast in "The Lord of the Rings," he wouldn't have been able to appear in the glorious "Bubble Boy."

Eddie Redmayne knows a thing or two about major franchises and big movies, and the actor isn't afraid to swing for the fences when he receives a role he can sink his teeth into. However, Redmayne might have overdid it when he auditioned for Kylo Ren in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

In 2016, Redmayne opened up to Uproxx about his "Star Wars" tryout. He explained how in major productions like that an actor will read scenes from "Star Trek" or "Pride and Prejudice" rather than the actual script, which would be highly confidential at that point. Redmayne was told to read for the villain part, but he put on an extra dramatic voice and tried to breathe like Darth Vader for casting director Nina Gold. "And after like ten shots she's like, 'You got anything else?' I was like, 'No,'" Redmayne said.

Look, if there's footage of Redmayne's Kylo Ren audition, it should be made public for further analysis. The world deserves to see him hamming it up, because it could be totally amazing or laughably terrible. Either way, release the tape, Lucasfilm!

Before Michael Keaton put on the cape and cowl for 1989's "Batman," a number of well-known actors were considered for the role of the Dark Knight. One person who was on Hollywood's radar was the star of the hit show "Remington Steele," but Pierce Brosnan blew his Batman audition by making a dumb joke to director Tim Burton.

Appearing on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" to promote his role as Doctor Fate in 2022's "Black Adam," Brosnan revealed that he hadn't been approached for many superhero roles in his life. However, the major one that was discussed ended in its tracks because of an offhand comment. "I remember saying something stupid to Tim Burton," Brosnan recalled. "I said, 'You know, I can't understand any man who would wear his underpants outside his trousers.' But there you go. The best man got the job."

Brosnan certainly would have made a suave Bruce Wayne, but one would need to see him under the cowl to see how he would have fared as Batman. Maybe there's still a chance for him to play an older Bruce in a "Batman Beyond" movie.

Elizabeth Olsen turned herself into a household name, thanks to her role as Wanda Maximoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It might have panned out differently had she secured the part of Daenerys Targaryen in "Game of Thrones," because she would have been so wrapped up in the world of Westeros that she probably wouldn't have had the time to fight Thanos and prevent him from collecting colorful stones. So, all's well that ends well here since Emilia Clarke was the perfect Daenerys, as was Olsen as the Scarlet Witch.

That said, Olsen thinks her Daenerys audition for "Game of Thrones" falls into the "awful" category. In a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor explained how her tryout called for her to do Daenerys' famous speech after she emerges from the fire, but Olsen didn't think she did the material justice. In another interview, Olsen revealed that she did both an American and British accent for the scene, but nothing worked, as she deemed it one of the worst auditions of her career.

It's well known that Henry Cavill is one of the best actors who almost played James Bond. But what was his audition actually like? According to Cavill's comments to Men's Health, it wasn't the greatest. The scene required the actor to exit the bathroom wearing only a towel and to recite a line from a previous 007 movie. However, "Casino Royale" director Martin Campbell said something that caught Cavill off guard.

"I probably could have prepared better," Cavill said. "I remember the director, Martin Campbell, saying, 'Looking a little chubby there, Henry.'" Cavill claimed he appreciated the candid feedback from Campbell since this inspired him to get into better shape for future roles.

Cavill's 007 dreams may not be shattered altogether, because he continues to be an actor consistently linked with the iconic role. So while he may not have played poker with Le Chiffre in "Casino Royale," he could still find himself On Her Majesty's (Secret) Service.

It wasn't only Batman and Superman that Nicholas Hoult lost out on, because he also fumbled the role of Prince Caspian in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." The story behind the audition is hilarious, so even though Hoult didn't land the role, he gained a few laughs out of the situation.

Hoult told Entertainment Weekly in 2013 that he considers Prince Caspian to be his "worst" audition ever, explaining how the casting team asked him if he could do a Hispanic accent. "I was like, 'What would I base that on?'" Hoult said. "They were like, 'Have you seen 'Shrek'? Puss in Boots.'" Hoult admitted he wasn't prepared for this request, so he tried to do his best imitation of Antonio Banderas. Unfortunately, he didn't think he sounded like Banderas at all — but more like Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat.

What's most hilarious about this is how Ben Barnes, who was cast as Prince Caspian, sounds nothing like Puss in Boots either. Maybe someone pulled a joke on Hoult, or no one actually knew what they wanted here.

Nowadays, it isn't outrageous to think of John Krasinski as a superhero. After all, he played an alternate Reed Richards in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," but in the early 2010s, he was mostly seen as the human Labrador Jim Halpert from "The Office." At one point, though, Krasinski was seen as the top choice to play Steve Rogers in "Captain America: The First Avenger." It wasn't meant to be, and the actor received the bad news that he lost the role to Chris Evans on his wife Emily Blunt's birthday.

In a 2020 interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Krasinski said that he tested for Captain America and put on the star-spangled suit, but he felt a little out of his depth when he saw Chris Hemsworth walk by with his impressive physique. Krasinski added that he really went for it in his audition, but the rest is history.

It's unlikely that Krasinski would have made a better Cap than Evans. That being said, it's a shame that fans didn't get to see more of his Mister Fantastic.

Right now, Michael B. Jordan is one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood. Yet, in the mid 2010s, he hustled for parts like his fellow performers and received a lot of rejection. In 2021, Jordan revealed he bombed his "Stars Wars: The Force Awakens" audition.

Jordan tested for the role of Finn, which went to John Boyega. However, he told Variety's "Just for Variety" podcast that it was his "worst audition," thinking that he might have bolted out of the room as soon as it was done. Jordan explained how he struggled to figure out the role and what was required of him, because of how hush-hush everything was. "Everything's like super vague; everything is in secret," he said. "Reading through, I just couldn't connect it. I definitely bombed that one for sure."

Considering all the controversy surrounding the "Star Wars" trilogy and how Boyega feels disappointed about his character arc in the end, Jordan might have dodged a lightsaber here.

"Twilight" changed the lives of its cast members, including Robert Pattinson who sparkled as Edward Cullen. Naturally, he was only one of many actors in the running for the role. One name that fans might not have expected to see mentioned in the same breath as "Twilight" is Scott Eastwood, who's become known more for his forays into action — particularly of the B-movie variety.

In 2021, Eastwood revealed to Variety that he auditioned to play Edward, though he wasn't really inspired by the material. Eastwood admitted that he looked down on "Twilight" and questioned why he even had to test for it. "I don't think I really tried all that hard, and it was just like, I'm going to just do it and go through the motions," Eastwood said. "Then the movie turns into seven movies and Robert Pattinson has made a quadrillion dollars."

Eastwood joked that he probably should have tried harder in retrospect. Although, he isn't exactly the first person anyone would imagine as Edward; he strikes us more as an Emmett Cullen.

"Reacher" star Alan Ritchson spent time as Aquaman on "Smallville," so when "Thor" stormed its way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one would think he would be a shoo-in for the part, especially considering his history with superhero projects and the fact he looks like he was chiseled by the Greek gods.

Here's the thing, though: Ritchson was almost too perfect as Thor, so he didn't think he needed to put in any effort into his audition. "I didn't take it seriously," he admitted to Men's Health. "I was like, 'They'll throw me the part if I look like the guy; nobody really cares about acting.'"

What made it even worse is that the casting team told Ritchson the role would have been his had he tried harder to show them what he was capable of. While Chris Hemsworth made an excellent God of Thunder, there's no disputing that Ritchson could have pulled off the part too. Oh, well, there's always Batman, right?

Say what you will about "Fifty Shades of Grey," but it's a mega-money franchise and turned into the talk of Hollywood when the decision was taken to adapt E. L. James' successful novel series. That said, the sexually charged material chased away a lot of potential performers, who feared they would become SkinMax legends rather than serious actors, but there were a brave few who explored the opportunity.

"Pretty Little Liars" star Lucy Hale revealed that she auditioned for the part of Anastasia Steele. She described the experience as "uncomfortable" for the reasons everyone can imagine. "It's exactly what you thought it would be: a big monologue but very, very sexual ... There were some things that I was so embarrassed to be reading out loud," Hale told Cosmopolitan in 2014, "but it's one of those things where you have to commit wholeheartedly or you're going to make a fool of yourself."

Would Hale have made a better Anastasia than Dakota Johnson, though? That's difficult to determine without seeing her in the role and alongside the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, the script for "Fifty Shades of Grey" wasn't exactly written by Aaron Sorkin, so a lot of other factors influenced the overall performances.

In the late 2000s, Bradley Cooper was on the cusp of A-list superstardom, and a major role in a tentpole would have sealed the deal for him sooner rather than later. Everyone knew it, too, with many believing Bradley Cooper was close to being cast as Green Lantern in the eponymous film. Of course, this didn't happen, as Ryan Reynolds stepped into the green CGI costume and ... Yeah, the movie happened — that's the kindest thing anyone can say about it.

After Reynolds had been cast, Cooper opened up about his audition on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" (via MTV News). He admitted that Reynolds deserved the part over him, because he decided to do Christian Bale's gravely Batman voice during his tryout. Cooper said that director Martin Campbell told him to tone it down and play it straight, but the actor kept venturing back into the Dark Knight realm. "I saw a little clip as they were rewinding it, and I thought, 'Oh my God, that can't be,'" Cooper said. "It looked like a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch!" Considering how "Green Lantern" is remembered nowadays, Cooper should see it as a blessing that he didn't get cast.

As an actor, getting into the right frame of mind to play a role is everything. But what happens when you struggle to get out of this state? Ask Charlie Cox, who lost a role in "Solo: A Star Wars Story," because he was too deep in the trenches playing Daredevil.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2016, Cox explained how he went to a top-secret audition for what he presumed to be a role in "Solo," but it was cut short. "The casting director stopped me and said, 'Why aren't you looking at me?'" Cox said. "I realized I had gotten into a habit of not making eye contact, because the only thing I had done for two years is play someone who is blind."

Cox added that he didn't get a call back after this audition, though he wasn't too surprised about it. In hindsight, Cox might not have been the best choice for Han Solo. While the "Star Wars" origin movie didn't make a lot of cash nor is too fondly remembered, Alden Ehrenreich nailed the lead role.

Sometimes, actors desperately want parts, but fate has other ideas and says, "Not today." That's what happened to Zoey Deutch. Appearing on the "Lights, Camera, Barstool" podcast in 2022, Deutch revealed that the one that got away was the role of Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games."

"I screen tested for Katniss but knew I didn't get it because in the screen test, he was like, 'Why don't you read this other part?'" Deutch said, giggling about how obvious this comment made it. "Literally. But, yeah, that one was a little painful."

Tough luck for Deutch, who seemed genuinely upset that she didn't get the role. Yet, who can say that Jennifer Lawrence wasn't great as Katniss in "The Hunger Games" franchise? It's to the point that if "The Hunger Games" ever gets rebooted, anyone else who plays Katniss will be unfairly measured against Lawrence's sensational performance.

In the documentary "Muse of Fire," Tom Hiddleston shared a story about how he became one of the actors who bombed an audition for an iconic role. Hiddleston explained how he received a script to read for the part of Will Turner in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" at around five o'clock with the audition set to take place the next day at 10 in the morning.

One of Hiddleston's friends had finished their exams, so the actor was invited to go out and celebrate with pals. Rather than stay in and read the script, Hiddleston decided to hit the town, which resulted in him arriving at the audition with a severe hangover the next day. Hiddleston tanked the meeting, because he knew nothing about the material nor did he feel in good shape to do it. He received harsh but honest advice from the casting director who told him to actually read the script and take the audition process seriously the next time — a lesson that he learned in the moment.

It would have been interesting to see Hiddleston's take on Will, but Orlando Bloom more than made the role his own. Hiddleston did all right for himself in the end, and his career didn't exactly walk the plank on that one bad drunken day.