OMGAll the Stars Who You’ll Be Shocked to Learn Turned Down Major TV and Movie Roles

Scott Eastwood Almost Edward Cullen in ‘Twilight’

The actor recalled his audition for the franchise during a May 2021 interview with Variety. “I remember thinking, ‘This is stupid! I don’t even know why I am on this audition. This is such a YA movie,.’ I don’t think I really tried all that hard, and it was just like, I’m going to just do it and go through the motions. Then the movie turns into seven movies and Robert Pattinson has made a quadrillion dollars,” he said. “Then I was thinking, ‘Ya may have wanted to try maybe just a little bit.’”

Bella Thorne Passed on ‘Scream’

Despite the fact that she actually did have a minor role on the MTV spinoff series, Bella actually said no to playing the main character in Scream.

“I had the option to do the lead, but I thought I should choose this role because I felt it was more iconic,” she told Hollywood Life back in 2015. “I thought it was just a little bit more and also I’ve never been killed on screen before. I’ve never been killed ever on anything that I’ve done. I’ve always been the character that lives at the end so it was my first time dying on screen which is pretty cool.”

Zac Efron Passed on ‘Footloose’

After he was in talks to play the lead role in the 2011 Footloose remake, Zac turned it down.

“I’m sure Footloose would have been a huge challenge,” the actor said in a 2009 interview. “But the actors that I love and the actors that work really hard in this industry are always shaking things up, trying new genres, acquiring new skill sets. That’s what’s always going to appeal to me: the unknown.”

Taylor Swift Passed on ‘Scream Queens’

The show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, once revealed that the songstress was offered a part of in the series, but was forced to turn it down due to her tour schedule.

Ashley Tisdale Passed on ‘Pretty Little Liars’

When it came time for Ashley to decided what show she wanted to star in, the Disney Channel alum turned down PLL for a role in Hellcats instead — which lasted one season.

JoJo passed on ‘Hannah Montana’

During a 2008 interview, the songstress revealed that she said no to starring in the fan-favorite Disney Channel show.

“No regrets. No regrets at all,” JoJo said at the time. “Yeah, they [Disney] offered me the role…[But] it’s not really what I see for myself.”

Lindsay Lohan Passed on ‘Mean Girls’

Lindsay actually passed on the movie at first after auditioning for Regina George. But as fans know, she ended up starring as Cady Heron instead!

Willow Smith Passed on ‘Annie’

After she was offered the role in the 2014 Annie remake, the songstress turned it own.

“I just wanted to chill, and be at home, and decompress, and just find out what I wanna do and where I stand on this planet, with the little tiny place we have,” Willow told V Magazine about why she said no to the role.

Selena Gomez Passed on ‘Camp Rock’

In 2011, an executive at Disney Channel revealed that Selena was offered the role of Mitchie in Camp Rock, but turned it down.

“She wasn’t ready to explore that part of her talent yet. She wanted to build her acting base first,” Gary Marsh said at the time.

Emma Roberts Passed on ‘Spring Breakers’

Before Ashley Benson was cast in the film, the role actually went to Emma who ended up pulling out.

“That was just — what do you call it? Creative differences,” director Harmony Korine said about the actress turning down the role. “I make a specific type of film, and it goes hard. It’s not always for everyone.”

Beyoncé Passed on ‘Beauty And The Beast’

In 2017, the films director, Bill Condon, revealed that they tried to get the singer into Beauty and the Beast.

“It wasn’t a big enough part,” he told Yahoo! at the time. “She would have been a good feather duster.”

Ryan Gosling Passed on ‘Beauty & The Beast’

In 2015, it was reported that Ryan was in talks to star as The Beast, but then, after the film came out a few years later, Teen Vogue revealed that he passed on the Disney classic to star in La La Land instead.

Emma Watson Passed on ‘La La Land’

Similarly, the publication reported that Emma passed on La La Land to star as Belle in the live-action Disney remake.

Selena Gomez Passed on ‘High School Musical 3’

Selena was offered a role in High School Musical 3, but she ultimately turned it down!

“I passed on it because I didn’t want to do it. I plan to take other roles in acting that are challenging for me. After Disney, I want to be taken seriously as an actress for many years,” the actress explained.

Jennifer Lawrence Passed on ‘Twilight’

Before she became Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, Jennifer actually passed on the role of Bella Swan in Twilight.

“I had no idea Twilight would be such a big deal. For me, and assuming for her, it was just another audition. Then it turned into this whole other thing,” she told The Guardian in 2012.

Chris Evans Passed on Captain America

Get this, before he actually took on the role as Captain America, Chris said no.

In a 2020 interview, the actor revealed that when he was offered the chance to audition, he turned the movies down. Eventually, Marvel offered him the major part and he said yes.

Don’t worry, Marvel fans, we couldn’t have imagined anyone else playing Cap either.

Emily Blunt Passed on Black Widow

The Devil Wears Prada alum had no choice but to turn down the role. Due to scheduling conflicts, she couldn’t star as the superhero.

Charlie Hunnam Passed on ’50 Shades of Grey’

Just like Lucy Hale, this actor said no to the steamy role.

“I don’t see myself in that role at all because it would have been totally different,” he explained to Newsweek. “I started to realize that my, my vision of who that guy was, was not everybody else’s vision.”

Rob Lowe Passed on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Calling all Grey’s fans — did you know McDreamy could have been played by someone else entirely?! Yep, during a podcast, the Parks & Recreation star joked that turning down that role “cost” him a lot of money.

“Dude, I turned down Grey’s Anatomy. To play McDreamy,” Rob dished. “At the end of the day it was like, I watched it when it came out. And when they started calling the handsome doctor ‘McDreamy’, I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s not for me.’”