Movie Roles That Stars Turned Down

It's always hard to know which of these are true, but I always find them interesting to consider:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/galleries/movie_roles_that_could_have_been/movie_roles_that_could_have_been.html

While there are some big roles turned down here, most of the stars still had big careers.

Molly Ringwald might be the one most regretting her decisions. She hasn't been seen in much since.

And Drew Barrymore might have been the smartest (or at least the luckiest).

 

Richard Gere made his career on John Travolta's turn-downs (Officer and a Gentleman, American Gigalo).
I know Harrison Ford was the second choice for Indiana Jones (Tom Selleck) and maybe a couple of other roles.
Mark Wahlberg also seems to get a lot of roles passed on by others.

 

Meant to put this in Anything Goes.

 

A lot of these I wouldn't even consider mistakes. Matt Damon turns down Avatar, ok, but it's not like his career is over, or even phased.

 

Rod Steiger-Patton. He would've been good. Looked more like him than Scott. Still, Scott was great in the role.

 

Ringwald said recently that she turned down Pretty Woman before it was re-written.

 

Stallone turned down Beverly Hills Cop.

Harrison Ford backed out of Die Hard at the last minute.

 

Molly Ringwald would have been a crappy high-class hooker.

 

Michelle Pfeiffer turned down Silence of the Lambs.

 

I thought I remember reading that while Tarantino initially wanted Madsen to play Vincent Vega in Pulp, he said he couldn't do it because he already played Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs.

 

I know discussing roles you passed on is taboo, but I think Damon's early career was made with roles passed on by Brad Pitt.

 

Talented Mr. Ripley and The Bourne Trilogy off the top of my head and I think Pitt passed on The Legend of Bagger Vance as well.