When film choices don't have happy endings

In the fickle world of movies, picking the right roles is a tricky business that can make or break an actor’s career.

Indeed it is such a delicate issue that many actors refuse to comment on their past decisions for fear of appearing to lack good judgement.

John Travolta has recently broken the mould by admitting he regretted turning down a starring role in the Oscar-winning hit Chicago.

In the latest issue of Germany’s Bunte magazine, he says: “I’m still angry with myself that I turned down the role of the lawyer that Richard Gere then got.”

The 49-year-old actor said Gere had done a great job with the dance numbers but added: “I would have loved to have showed them all what I can do one more time.“

Travolta is certainly not the first to turn down a major role. For example, Claire Danes was first choice to the star alongside Leonardo Di Caprio as Rose in Titanic.

But while it is easy to scoff at actors’ bad decisions in hindsight, at the time it is not often easy to spot a quality part.

John Walker, editor of Halliwell’s Film Guide, says: “You have only got to look at Eddie Murphy’s last five or six films all of which have flopped at the box office to know that actors often make mistakes.

“It is very difficult to tell whether a film is going to be a big success or not.“

Empire Magazine associate editor Ian Freer says: “If it was easy to pick the right roles then anybody could do it.

“While a film may become a big hit and win Oscars and what not, on paper, before the movie is put together, it may not look so attractive.“

In any event, according to Walker and Freer, it is only the A-list or top B-list stars who have the luxury of choosing what parts they take.

Freer says: “Everybody else has to go in and try and audition or read through it. Most actors schlep from audition to audition hoping to win a part.“

Walker adds: “There was a quote from Richard Griffiths, who plays the nasty uncle in the Harry Potter films, that ‘no actor chooses to be in a film. In the real world, you kick, scramble and stagger to get into the thing’.

“For the majority of actors it’s a case of saying, yes, whatever, because working is better than not working.“

And according to Walker, even if actors are at the top of their tree, the process of casting and film-making means bad decisions are often made.

“Every role always goes to half a dozen actors or actresses who are the big names of the moment, and obviously they can’t do everything. So the script goes down the list until it gets to someone who can take the part.

“When actors finally read scripts, they just look at how many lines their part has got and if it’s occupying more than anybody else, they will say yes.

“And even if you do have a good script, the director can mess it up completely.”

Unfortunately, if an actor does make a bad decision, the consequences can be dire, Walker says: “Most people suffer a drop in earnings after starring in flops.”

But in spite of the large element of luck involved in choosing parts, some actors have nonetheless succeeded in managing their careers better than others.

Freer says: “Some people just have very good taste. George Clooney made some wayward choices in the beginning of his career, but lately he seems to have had good judgement in picking out what will be a quality film.”

Walker says Dustin Hoffman and Clint Eastwood devised clever ways of managing their careers.

“Hoffman was at one time notorious for bringing in his own script writer to rewrite the script of any film he appeared in. He did it with Agatha and the rewrite changed the balance of the film so he was suddenly was the main character.

“Eastwood directed most of the movies he has appeared in, and made sure he always played tough, taciturn roles, because he recognised that was something that suited him.“

Walker says Travolta is one actor who was not so clever about his career. “His career went downhill in a big way, and in the 80s he was nowhere. He made terrible choices and appeared in some ghastly films.

“It was only when he appeared in Pulp Fiction, for which he was paid $150,000 (€134,000) – which is peanuts by Hollywood standards – that his career was revived. It meant by the mid to late 90s he was getting $20m (€17.8m) a film.“

Freer says Val Kilmer and Kevin Costner have recently lost their ways in their careers. “Kilmer could have got off to a very big start but he has picked the wrong thing. Costner was about as big a star as you could get at the beginning of the 80s, but by the beginning of the 90s he made some really duff choices.”