Bill Murray Was Almost…

Nick Steele Leave a comment

As regular people we never get to see behind the scenes on movies before they are made. Who knows which actor almost got what iconic roles but either turned them down or had too full of a schedule. Some movie turned out better, some worse but we never even knew they were up for them. Bill Murray is one of those guys! He has been up for some EPIC roles but for one reason or another didn’t get them. For example, did you know they were originally going for a campy Batman in the 80’s? Until director Tim Burton was hired, Bill Murray was going to be Batman. Instead Burton went with a darker version of the caped crusader and signed Michael Keaton. Another movie Murray almost starred in was about a boy who loved his “mama” and wore “magic shoes” until they broke off while he was running from bullies. Yup! Bill Murray was almost Forest Gump. Can you imagine? Check out some of the other AMAZING roles Murray almost got after the jump!

 

Some roles Bill Murray almost had:
Han Solo in “Star Wars”, over Harrison Ford, who was George Lucas’s carpenter at the time.
Allen Bauer in “Splash”, over Tom Hanks.  He turned it down for “Ghostbusters”.  John Travolta and Keaton both got offers before Hanks, too.
Forrest Gump in “Forrest Gump”, over Tom Hanks.  Apparently both Murray and Chevy Chase passed before the role was offered to Hanks.
John Kimble in “Kindergarten Cop”, over Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Murray turned down the role.
Willie “Bad Santa” Stokes in “Bad Santa”, over Billy Bob Thornton  He would’ve taken it but the shooting conflicted with”Lost In Translation”.
The voice of Buzz Lightyear in “Toy Story”, over Tim Allen.
Raymond in “Rain Man”, over Dustin Hoffman.  Murray, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Deniro all turned down the role.

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