Actors make decisions all the time as to whether they will accept a role in a film or not.  Some of the roles they decide to turn down turn out to be good decisions, while others turn out to be missed opportunities.  You have to wonder whether these hit movies would have been as successful if these 15 actors and actresses had said “yes”.

1.  Molly Ringwald -  turned down the role of Vivian in “Pretty Woman” which went to Julia Roberts and Molly in “Ghost” which was played by

2.  Mel Gibson - turned down the lead role in “Gladiator”, a role which landed Russell Crowe an Academy Award.  He also turned down the part of Robin Hood in “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves” which Kevin Costner eventually took.

3.  Alec Baldwin – turned down the role of Richard Kimball in “The Fugative”.  It went to Harrison Ford.

4.  Warren Beatty – turned down the role of Jack Horner in “Boogie Nights”.  Burt Reynolds was then offered the part.  He also turned down James Caan’s role in “Misery”, the part of Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” and Robert Redford’s role in “The Sting”.  (But he said yes to “Ishtar”?  What was he thinking?)

5.  Melanie Griffith – said no to the role of Thelma in “Thelma and Louise”.  Incidentally, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster were originally cast as Thelma and Louise but had to drop out as pre-production dragged on.

6.  Richard Grieco – The “21 Jump Street” star turned down the lead role in “Speed” because he thought the script sucked.  (Has anyone seen him in anything since the ’90’s?)

7.  Denzel Washington - turned down the role of Curtis in “Dreamgirls“, the lead in “I Robot”, and it’s rumored that he turned down the role of Ray Charles in “Ray”.

8.  Will Smith – turned down Keanu Reeve’s role in “The Matrix”, and the role of Stu in “Phone Booth”.

9.  Julia Roberts – turned down Sharon Stone’s role in “Basic Instinct”, the role of Mary Corleone in “Godfather II”, the role of Annie in “Sleepless in Seattle”, the lead role of “Shakespeare in Love”, and the role of Lucy in “While You Were Sleeping”.

10.  Leonardo DiCaprio - was offered the role of Dirk Diggler in “Boogie Nights” before it was given to Mark Wahlberg and the lead role in “The Matrix”.

11.  Tom Cruise - signed to play Donnie Brasco in the film of the same name but eventually the part went to Johnny Depp.  Cruise also turned down the lead role in “Footloose”.

12.  Jennifer Jason Leigh – also turned down the role of Vivian in “Pretty Woman”.

13.  John Travolta – turned down the role of Forrest Gump.

14.  Tom Hanks – turned down the role of Ray Kinsella in “Field of Dreams”, Andy Dufresne in “The Shawshank Redemption” and the lead role in “Jerry Maguire”.

15.  Despite being offered four million dollars each, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Steve McQueen all turned down the role of Superman.  It eventually went to Christopher Reeves who was paid $250,000.