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Sometimes the best roles come from the most unexpected auditions! Join us as we explore actors who walked into casting calls for minor characters and walked out with career-defining leading roles instead. From Eddie Redmayne's journey from Tom Riddle to Newt Scamander, to Robert De Niro's path from chauffeur to young Vito Corleone, these casting switcheroos changed Hollywood history!
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at actors from film and TV who
00:09auditioned for a smaller role than the one they ultimately got.
00:12There's just a lot you've simply got to know, so...
00:30During Harry's second year at Hogwarts, he encounters Tom Riddle, who was revealed
00:40to be a young Voldemort.
00:42The role went to Christian Coulson, although a few names on the cusp of a breakthrough read
00:46for the part.
00:47Among them was Eddie Redmayne, who'd joined the Wizarding World 14 years later.
00:52First trip to New York?
00:53Yes.
00:54Anything edible in there?
00:56No.
00:57No.
00:58Now an Oscar winner, Redmayne took center stage as magizoologist Newt Scamander in Fantastic
01:15Beasts and Where to Find Them.
01:17Tom Riddle obviously plays an integral role in this universe.
01:21Had Redmayne gotten a callback though, his history with the franchise would have been
01:24limited to Chamber of Secrets.
01:27Playing that role allowed him to play Newt throughout three films.
01:30Plus, Redmayne is more believable as a lovable misfit than a future Dark Lord.
01:35Now there's absolutely nothing for you to worry about.
01:38Tell me, has anyone ever believed you if you told them not to worry?
01:42Well, my philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice.
01:469.
01:47Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana One might assume that Hannah Montana was
01:51conceived as a star vehicle for Miley Cyrus.
01:54After all, the main character's name is Miley Stewart.
01:57Although that wasn't always the case.
01:58I thought we told each other everything.
02:01But I guess I was wrong, since you kept just about the biggest secret in the world, Miley
02:06Stewart slash Hannah Montana.
02:09Initially, she was called Zoe and then Chloe Stewart.
02:11This isn't the part that Cyrus originally read for.
02:14Rather, she sent in a tape auditioning for Lily Trescott, the main character's best friend.
02:19Upon seeing her tape, the Hannah Montana team felt Cyrus was better suited for the lead role.
02:33There was hesitance, as some argued Cyrus was too young.
02:36After several more auditions, Cyrus proved she had the singing chops and energy to carry
02:41the show.
02:42Chloe thus became Miley.
02:44And further paralleling Cyrus's real life, her father was cast as her on-screen dad.
02:49I tell you what, I hate wearing this thing.
02:52It's like kissing your great aunt Clara.
02:558.
02:56James Baskett, Song of the South
02:59Answering an ad for this Disney film, James Baskett sought to voice an animated butterfly.
03:04Baskett not only got that part, but Walt Disney was so impressed that he was also cast as
03:10Uncle Remus and Brera Fox's voice.
03:12Well, brother rabbit, you sure looks like a sport, almost stuck up in your swallowtail coat,
03:17doing no goodness cool.
03:18I ain't never seen nobody like that.
03:20Love it, love it, love it.
03:21Disney called Baskett, quote, the best actor to be discovered in years, paving the way for
03:26him to receive an honorary Oscar shortly before his death.
03:29The company has since banished the film to the briar patch due to its outdated cultural depictions.
03:35While we can't say Uncle Remus was the most progressive character, Baskett did bring warmth and charisma
03:50to the role.
03:51One can only imagine the career Baskett might have had if only he lived during an era with
03:56a better understanding of the black experience.
03:58Well, now that I can't exactly say, cause what it is for one, mightn't be what it
04:06is for another.
04:077.
04:08Tom Hanks – Splash While Tom Hanks had a few TV roles under his
04:13belt, Splash established him as a bankable leading man on the silver screen.
04:18Hanks brought his signature everyman charm to the role of Alan Bower, helping to ground this
04:23mermaid romance.
04:34The film marked his first collaboration with director Ron Howard, who revealed that Hanks
04:39initially auditioned for Freddy, Alan's brother.
04:42That part went to the late great John Candy.
04:45Although Hanks' only other film credit at that point was a supporting role in the slasher
04:55flick He Knows You're Alone, Howard could tell this guy had so much to offer.
05:00His instincts were correct, providing an essential stepping stone in Hanks' journey from sitcom
05:05star to dramatic actor.
05:15In true Cinderella story fashion, Lily James didn't expect to be the belle of the ball when
05:21Disney started auditions for this remake.
05:24At first, James tried out for Anastasia, one half of Cinderella's stepsisters.
05:28James was enthusiastic about playing a character who was more quirky and comical, without having
05:44to worry about being pretty.
05:46At her audition, the casting director suggested that James also read for Ella.
05:50Although it wasn't the part she prepared for, James said it just felt right.
05:55James went through months of screen tests, including one where director Kenneth Branagh stood in
06:05for The Prince before landing the lead.
06:07While it might have been fun to see James paired with her Downton Abbey co-star Sophie McShira
06:12as Drizella, the glass slipper fit.
06:15And you find that really comfortable.
06:175.
06:18Stephanie Beatriz – Encanto
06:20Before Encanto, Stephanie Beatriz was known for playing Detective Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn
06:259-9.
06:26Given Rosa's tough-as-nails persona, Beatriz might have seemed like an unusual choice for
06:31the offbeat meet-a-bell.
06:32Yet, anyone who meets Beatriz will quickly realize that she's nothing like Rosa in real
06:37life.
06:38Stephanie Beatriz changing her voice from her normal flowers and rainbow one to her Rosa Diaz
06:43guns and baggers one will always take me by surprise.
06:47This was reflected in her Encanto audition, where she decided to sing Your Welcome from
06:53Moana.
06:54Beatriz was auditioning for Luisa, a character who shares Rosa's strong demeanor.
06:59The filmmakers realized right then and there, though, that Beatriz was a meet-a-bell at heart.
07:03Props to Steph, because she can not only sing her lungs out, but she just is so winning.
07:09Like, the instant you meet her, that's that heart and kind of vulnerability and humanness
07:13that Jared mentioned.
07:14It really was all part of who she is.
07:16It only took one more callback for Beatriz to officially get the part.
07:20Her audition would also be immortalized with Tony Smeed, the co-head of animation on Frozen
07:262, bringing it to life.
07:27Well, let me say, let me say, you're welcome.
07:32You're welcome.
07:33In a parallel universe, Cordelia Chase could have been the slayer.
07:43More specifically, Cordelia's actress Charisma Carpenter could have played Buffy Summers.
07:47That's the part Carpenter prepared for.
07:55Since she arrived at her audition behind schedule, Carpenter read for Cordelia, a role that had
08:00been offered to Sarah Michelle Gellar.
08:02Although Gellar was grateful to have a job, she was reluctant to accept another Mean Girl
08:07part, fearing being typecast.
08:09Because I'd just come off three years of playing this stereotypical bad girl character and I
08:14thought, well, if I do this now, am I ever going to be able to do anything else?
08:19The creators conceded that Carpenter would be the ideal Cordelia, but they still needed to
08:28cast the show's lead.
08:29The producers had once asked Gellar to screen test for Buffy before asking her to audition
08:35for Cordelia instead.
08:36Carpenter's audition further encouraged them to re-evaluate Gellar as a candidate for Buffy.
08:41Eventually, the Slayer was chosen.
08:48We'd surely look at the Terminator differently if James Cameron had gone with Orion's suggestion
08:57for the title role OJ Simpson.
09:00Cameron just didn't buy Simpson as a killer.
09:16Orion also suggested Arnold Schwarzenegger.
09:19Not for the T-800, but Kyle Reese, the soldier sent back in time to save Sarah Connor.
09:25Cameron didn't see it, feeling that casting Schwarzenegger as Reese would require somebody
09:30even more intimidating for the Terminator.
09:33The director met Schwarzenegger with no intention of hiring him, but then Schwarzenegger started
09:38suggesting how the Terminator should be portrayed.
09:40Cameron instantly knew he was being eyed for the wrong role.
09:57Schwarzenegger took issue with the character's limited dialogue, but he has a way of making
10:01even the simplest line stand out.
10:04During the golden age of cinema, arguably no actor was more synonymous with the gangster
10:23genre than James Cagney.
10:25He previously appeared in the crime dramas Sinner's Holiday and The Doorway to Hell.
10:31Cagney landed another supporting role in The Public Enemy as Matt Doyle, the level-headed
10:35best friend of ill-tempered gangster Tom Powers, who was to be played by Edward Woods.
10:40After only a few days of shooting, director William Wellman felt the two actors should switch
10:45roles, telling Cagney, now you're the lead kid.
10:48Wellman reached out to Warner's production chief Daryl Zanuck, a big believer in making
10:53quick decisions.
10:55Zanuck signed off on swapping the actors and a star was born in Cagney.
11:00The Public Enemy would mark Cagney's big break, leading to many more leading roles.
11:04Looking back, it's surreal that they ever thought Cagney was better equipped to play
11:08the quiet guy rather than the tough guy.
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11:41People sometimes incorrectly say Robert De Niro was in The Godfather.
11:51He actually starred in its sequel.
11:53De Niro did audition for the first film, being cast as Sonny Corleone.
12:06Paramount was adamant about finding a role for James Caan, however.
12:10Not wanting to lose De Niro, director Francis Ford Coppola gave him a smaller role as chauffeur
12:15Pauly Gatto.
12:16De Niro opted to instead do The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, ironically replacing Al Pacino.
12:36When Coppola committed to making The Godfather Part II, he offered De Niro a much bigger role
12:41than Pauly or even Sonny.
12:43He'd be playing a young Vito Corleone, a role that had won Marlon Brando an Academy Award
12:49and would bring De Niro into the Oscar Winners Club.
13:03Would you like to see any of these alternative casting choices?
13:06Let us know in the comments.
13:08You go in knowing you're not going to get it, but you're meeting the people that, you know,
13:13they might be like, it's not this, but we'll put him in this other thing.
13:16So I feel like that was one of the moments when they were like, hey, we can use him later.
13:20Be fair.
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