‘Bad Boys’ Was Originally Supposed to Star Who?!

It's always interesting to hear which actors were originally up for some roles that turned out to be huge. It's especially interesting to think about how different movies we all know and love would be if different actors had gotten the roles. Some examples are:

• Kurt Russell was being considered for Star Wars as either Luke Skywalker or Han Solo.
• Tom Selleck was almost Indiana Jones.
• Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf.
• The role of Ferris Bueller was almost played by Johnny Depp.
• Tom Hanks was almost the one yelling "Show me the money" as he was up for the role of Jerry Maguire.
• Jack Nicholson turned down starring in The Godfather as Michael Corleone.
• Someone else as Walter White? Yeah, it was almost Matthew Broderick.

Those are just some examples. This happens a lot in Hollywood. Sometimes an actor pushes for a role, or a director has someone in mind, and for one reason or another it just doesn't work it. It could be scheduling or someone higher up doesn't want the actor in that role. There are lots of reasons it might not work out.

Well, here is one that would completely change a franchise. Bad Boys ended up starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Who was originally being lined up to star in the movie? Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey! Yup. Talk about a complete 180. It would have been 2 hours of bad SNL writing, most likely. And the reason it wasn't Lovitz and Carvey? According to producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Carvey backed out. And it was a difficult movie for Bruckheimer to get going. They eventually got Will Smith on to do the movie, but even then it couldn't get green lit. The movie didn't get the go-ahead until Martin Lawrence signed on. Yeah, he was a bigger star than Will Smith at the time.