Chuck Norris: 'Sweep the leg!'
Karate Kid fans, raise your hands. (Come on ... raise them. I know you're out there. It's okay to wax-on and wax-off. Just not at work.)
Did you know that Chuck Norris was originally offered the villainous role as "John Kreese," the Cobra Kai dojo instructer, in the 1984 flick? The part eventually went to Martin Kove (whose other signature work, aside from Karate Kid sequels, was as "Det. Victor Isbecki" in TV's "Cagney & Lacey.")
That's just one really cool trivia factoid you get from the website Notstarring.com, which focuses on stars and the movie roles they turned down. The website allows you to browse by movie, actor and even the year. Information is submitted by die-hard fans. Click here to see the top rejected roles from '80s movies.
Some other eye-catching rejections, according to Notstarring.com:
- Nick Nolte and Debra Winger turned down the lead roles in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Mark Hamill was considered for the lead in Amadeus after playing the role on Broadway.
- Ralph Macchio turned down the role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future. The part went to Eric Stoltz (which we all knew from our podcast), who was replaced later by Michael J. Fox.
Click to the website for more revelations.
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let us not forget that Tom Selleck was considered for the Role of Indiana Jones as well, and in fact screen tested, but he decided to do Magnum PI instead.
Posted by: Douglas Arthur | May 31, 2007 at 12:04 AM
Sometimes, actors can help their stock in the industry by turning down certain roles. Who knows? If Chuck hadn't turn down the role in "Karate Kid," he might not have been able to land that sweet gig as Judge No. 3 in "Dodgeball" decades later.
Posted by: Johnny B. Goode | May 31, 2007 at 09:41 AM