Let's do this. Starting with a classic.
>Gene Hackman refused to shave his head or his mustache for the role of Lex Luthor in 1978's "Superman". Director Richard Donner revised the script so Luthor would wear a wig on most of his scenes, and promised to shave his own mustache if Hackman shaved his. Once Hackman arrived on set clean-shaven, Donner pulled off a fake mustache and revealed he never had a mustache at all.
This is one of those stories I've heard about a million times and every time I wonder why it's supposed to be interesting.
Fuckin every time
It's an amusing scenario.
Especially since most people envision Donner peeling off his mustache in an inherently silly overdramatic fashion.
Keikaku doori comes to mind
>After being cast as Jor-El, Superman's father in Richard Donner's 1978 superhero flick, Brando suggested that it might be better if he simply provided the voice of the character. "He suggested—strongly—that Jor-El could be a suitcase or a green bagel that spoke with Brando's voice," producer Ilya Salkind recalled. "I was really young and I was sweating it out. I said 'My God, this is finished, the movie will not happen ... The man will destroy everything. This is impossible. Jor-El will be a bagel.'" Fortunately, Donner stepped in: "Marlon, I think that people want to see Marlon Brando playing Jor-El. They don't want to see a green bagel."
>Brando also refused to learn the lines assigned to him by the script, requiring cue cards to be tapped throughout the Krypton sets and, at one point, in the diapers of the baby playing infant Kal-El.
why would you cast someone in the first place if they didn't.. i mean.. surely that was on the casting call
>male. caucasian. bald.
>Sean Young was cast as Vicki Vale for 1989's "Batman", but was injured while filming a scene where Batman and Vicki fled the Joker's men on horseback, and had to drop out, with Kim Basinger replacing her. Young was adamant she was cast as Catwoman in "Batman Returns", while director Tim Burton was set on Michelle Pfeiffer, who had impressed him with her audition for Vicki in "Batman". Young proceeded to stalk Burton at the studio while wearing a homemade Catwoman costume and, on one occasion, ambushed him in his office and had to be escorted out by security while Burton hid behind his desk, since Young was clumsy whipping at his general direction to prove she could do her own stunts.
Why would he shave his head for a part in a movie?
Why would anybody do anything for a part in a movie? It has to be compelling. There has to be more to it than blandly checking the boxes - it needs a story reason.
The simple fact is, as well-known as Superman was in 1977, they needed Gene Hackman to sell the movie. The guy playing Superman was an unknown, the director was hired because he was award winning, and the script - the original one that Donner was given by Ilya Salkind - was awful. The Salkinds didn't care about the script - they only cared about making money from the movie. Donner's job as director was to basically rewrite the entire thing, get the star on board, and make it work. He regularly argued for more money to make it work; they developed new chroma techniques just for that movie on Donner's say so. The Salkinds paid for it all, and when the first movie was released (with the second not even finished filming), they fired Donner.
Everything was downhill from there, until you reach Superman IV, because so little of it was really about storytelling. It was just a series of bald-headed cameos that meant nothing.
Superhero movies were a massive gamble back then, and Hackman and Keaton had star power. A lot of people turned the movie down.
>The role of Superman in the 1978 movie was intended to be portrayed by an A-lister. Muhammad Ali, Al Pacino, James Caan, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty and Robert Redford were all approached by Warner Bros Pictures, but turned down the role.
>Jon Voight and Nick Nolte eventually emerged as the frontrunners, but the studio eventually decided that Voight's portrayal was not right for the movie, while Nolte's demands that the Script was rewritten into a drama, with Clark Kent as a psychiatric ward patient who imagines himself to be a superhero caused the studio to move on without him.
>Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Jenner were both offered the role, and declined to pursue other projects, while Sylvester Stallone, a fan of the comics, lobbied for it. The studio was ready to offer Stallone the part when Brando reminded them that his contract included a clause that allowed him to veto any choice for Superman that he didn't agree it. Irritated by what he perceived as Stallone copying his mannerisms in his performance in "Rocky", Brando vetoed his participation, initiating a minor feud between the two.
>Patrick Wayne, John Wayne's son, was eventually hired to play Superman, but had to drop out due to his father's cancer. After Wayne's departure, Donner decided to have a unknown play Superman, as he believed that this would help people recognize him as a the character rather than an actor dressed as him. With his decision, thousands of young Hollywood actors were screen-tested -- including Ilya Salkind's wife's dentist, which she claimed bore a striking resemblance to the character in the comics. Finally, young Christopher Reeve landed the role after a last-minute screen test, in which he wore George Reeves' old Superman suit, hastily brought out of storage.