8 Actors Who Were Cast In A Project But Got Replaced Because Of Backlash

In 2018, Scarlett Johansson was cast to play the role of Dante “Tex” Gill, a transgender man. Although casting a cis straight woman to play the role of a trans man was nothing new for Hollywood, fans expected more from Scar Jo. 

After trans rights activists and LGBTQ+ fans protested against the decision, Scar Jo backed off from the project. She said in a statement to Out, “I understand why many feel Dante ‘Tex’ Gill should be portrayed by a transgender person.”

A few days after the announcement to cast Will Ferrell in the movie came in 2016, the actor’s spokesperson released an announcement stating that Ferrell would not be a part of the movie. The announcement was made after public backlash, including from the former president’s daughter, Patti Davis. 

In an open letter addressed to Ferrell, she wrote, “I watched as fear invaded my father’s eyes — this man who was never afraid of anything. I heard his voice tremble as he stood in the living room and said, ‘I don’t know where I am,'” Davis wrote in an open letter. “There was laughter in those years,” she continued, “but there was never humor.”

“The Reagan script is one of a number of scripts that had been submitted to Will Ferrell which he had considered. While it is by no means an ‘Alzheimer’s comedy’ as has been suggested, Mr. Ferrell is not pursuing this project,” Ferrell’s spokesperson clarified with Page Six.

The role will now be played by Dennis Quaid.

In 2014, Zendaya dropped out as the lead actor in Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, because the late singer’s family was not excited about the biopic. “I tried my best to reach out to the family on my own, and I wrote a letter, but I was unable to do so; therefore, I felt not really morally OK with moving forward with the project,” Zendaya explained. 

The role was later played by Alexander Shipp.

Initially, when the movie was announced in 2010, Sacha Baron Cohen was roped in to play the role of Freddie Mercury in the biopic of the late Queen singer. In 2013, the film took a big hit when Cohen dropped out of the film. 

According to the Borat actor, the existing members of the band wanted a more clean version of the script.  “A member of the band — I won’t say who — said, ‘This is such a great movie because such an amazing thing happens in the middle of the movie.’ I go, ‘What happens in the middle of the movie?’ He goes, ‘Freddie dies […] We see how the band carries on from strength to strength.’ And I said, ‘Listen, not one person is going to see a movie where the lead character dies from AIDS and then you carry on to see [what happens to the band],” Cohen explained, stating the reason behind his departure from the project. 

Sacha Baron Cohen was replaced by Rami Malek for the role — for which he won an Oscar. 

In 2010, Leo DiCaprio was supposed to play the lead in Mel Gibson’s Viking epic, Berserker. Leo left the project after Gibson’s infamous, career-ending racist rant was leaked online. 

There has not been any update on the project yet.