Movie Posters That Almost Happened – ‘Terminator,’ The Dark Knight’ + More
We love to think about things that could have been -- what if we'd gotten along better with our advisor in college? What if somebody had bought Hitler's paintings? What if Matt Damon had been cast as Harvey Dent? We don't know about the first two, but at least thanks to Photoshop we can imagine the last. Here are eight more movie posters that almost happened. (Posters by Kristy Puchko. Text by Emerald Catron.)
- 1
Matt Damon in 'The Dark Knight'
Kristy PuchkoKristy Puchko Matt Damon wasn't supposed to play The Dark Knight himself, but he was offered the role of Harvey Dent, which he had to turn down because of scheduling conflicts with 'Invictus.' That's right, that rugby movie with Morgan Freeman. Wethinks Aaron Eckhart got the better end of this deal.
- 2
O.J. SImpson in 'The Terminator'
Kristy PuchkoKristy Puchko The Juice didn't get cast as the T-101 because James Cameron didn't think he could pull off being "an unstoppable killing machine." Ahem. We'd just like to remind you Simpson was proven innocent in a court of law, rather than make a joke.
- 3
Kevin Costner in 'Shawshank Redemption'
Kristy PuchkoKristy Puchko Kevin Costner turned down the part of Andy Dufresne in 'Shawshank Redemption' so that he could be in 'Waterworld.' Then he decided to be in 'The Postman.' New theory: Kevin Costner hates himself.
- 4
Sylvester Stallone in 'Beverly Hills Cop'
Kristy PuchkoKristy Puchko They wanted to make Sylvester Stallone Axel Foley. Really -- they did. Then the Italian Stallion rewrote the script so that it looked like the "the opening scene from 'Saving Private Ryan' on the beaches of Normandy." And then it ended with him playing chicken in a Lamborghini against a train. So...not a comedy anymore at all. Wait a second though, how does a car beat a train in a game of chicken? Not surprisingly, they dropped him, cast Eddie Murphy and laughed all the way to the bank.
- 5
Tim Curry and Bill Murray in 'Batman'
Kristy PuchkoKristy Puchko We really liked Michael Keaton as Batman, so this is one of the rare times that we're happy Bill Murray didn't get cast in something. Although we would love to see Tim Curry's turn as the Joker.
- 6
Emily Blunt in 'Iron Man 2'
Kristy PuchkoKristy Puchko Emily Blunt was offered the role of Black Widow for 'Iron Man 2,' but turned it down because she was working on 'Gulliver's Travels,' a movie we had honestly forgotten ever happened.
- 7
Val Kilmer in 'Dirty Dancing'
Kristy PuchkoKristy Puchko Val Kilmer was initially offered the role of Johnny in 'Dity Dancing,' but he didn't want it. Too bad because he could have had the time of his life.
- 8
John Krasinski in 'Captain America'
Kristy PuchkoKristy Puchko Krasinski read several times and even did a couple of screen tests for the part of Captain America before the role ultimately went to Chris Evans. Had he been cast, Krasinski's Cap would've worked in a mid-level Northeastern paper company and pined for his coworker named Pam.
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