[USELESS INFO] Sean Connery as Gandalf?

......almost ..........

very interesting article from the Chronicle.

Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones would have been a disaster.

Also can't see Julia Roberts playing the Sharon Stone role in Basic Instinct.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3228664

• Spielberg first wanted Tom Selleck to play Indiana Jones in 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, but Selleck was committed to his Magnum, P.I. TV series. Nick Nolte reportedly turned down the role before it went to Harrison Ford, who stumbled into a franchise, starring in two additional Indiana Jones movies.

• Before an unknown Dustin Hoffman was cast in 1967's The Graduate, director Mike Nichols considered matinee idol Robert Redford to play dazed scholar Benjamin Braddock. But Redford didn't screen-test well, so Charles Grodin got the part — then backed out.

• Jeff Goldblum was a snug fit for the obsessive, twitchy scientist in 1986's remake of The Fly. But Michael Keaton got the part first, then turned it down.

• Peter Jackson began filming his Lord of the Rings trilogy with Irish actor Stuart Townsend in the key role of Aragorn. After several days, Jackson realized Townsend, then 28, was too young for the part, and he quickly cast Viggo Mortensen, then 40.

Sean Connery also rejected the role of Gandalf, which went to Ian McKellen.

• Director Billy Wilder first wanted Charlton Heston to star in 1953's Stalag 17, then wound up with William Holden, who won a best actor Oscar for the role.

• Before Sharon Stone became a sensation in 1991's Basic Instinct, Julia Roberts was offered the femme fatale part but turned it down.

• Forget Halle Berry's Catwoman fiasco of last year. Also forget Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt, who played Catwoman for the '60s Batman. No one has filled the feline role better than leather-wrapped, whip-cracking Michelle Pfeiffer in 1992's Batman Returns. Yet she was a second choice, after first pick Annette Bening became pregnant.

• Although known for gangster roles, James Cagney was first cast as the title hero of 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood — but left its studio. Errol Flynn then got the part.

• Future Beverly Hillbilly Buddy Ebsen played the silvery Tin Man early in production of 1939's The Wizard of Oz. But when Ebsen became ill from aluminum dust in his makeup, Jack Haley got the part.

• All-time box-office champ Titanic almost set sail with Gwyneth Paltrow and Matthew McConaughey in the romantic roles of Rose and Jack. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio then got the parts.

• Martin Landau was offered the Spock role on TV's Star Trek but declined, so it went to Leonard Nimoy. William Shatner was the third choice as Captain Kirk, behind Lloyd Bridges and Jeffrey Hunter.

 

I keep on thinking of Lloyd Bridges as Captain Kirk:

KIRK: Klingons? *lights up* Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop smoking.


or

KIRK: Klingons? It's go time.