Even Famous Actors Make Mistakes When Choosing a Part - Here Are Seven Iconic Roles Brad Pitt Missed

Brad Pitt has built a career on smart choices, but even major stars miss out on roles that later become iconic. Sometimes the timing is wrong, sometimes the script is not the right fit, and sometimes another actor ends up making the part unforgettable.

That is exactly what happened with several famous movies that could have looked very different with Pitt in the cast. From cult favorites to Oscar-winning dramas, these are the roles he passed on, and the ones fans still like to imagine him playing.

Some of these decisions make perfect sense, while others still feel like a near miss. Here are seven iconic roles Brad Pitt missed.

1. American Psycho

While Christian Bale eventually landed the role of Patrick Bateman, delivering one of his most famous performances, an early version of the film starring Brad Pitt and directed by David Cronenberg was canceled due to creative differences.

"Yes, in the early Nineties, with a young actor attached named Brad Pitt. David was lovely—is lovely, I still like David—but he had strange demands. He hated shooting restaurant scenes, and he hated shooting nightclub scenes," writer Bret Easton Ellis revealed. "And he didn't want to shoot the violence. I ignored everything he said. So, of course, he was disappointed with it, and he hired his own writer; that script was worse for him, and he dropped out."Shutterstock

2. The Departed

Pitt had previously purchased the rights to recreate the Hong Kong smash Internal Affairs, which became The Departed, and was set to play Sullivan in the film. When Pitt backed out, claiming that a younger actor should play the part—"I believed I was too old for it," he told Interview—Matt Damon stepped in again, with Pitt retaining a producer credit on the picture.

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3. The Matrix

Pitt was on the verge of becoming the One. "I skipped 'The Matrix,'" the superstar revealed in January at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. "I swallowed the red tablet. That's the only one I'm going to mention... I wasn't given two or three options. Just to be clear, only the first one."

Keanu Reeves went on to play Neo. The producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura previously said that Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Sandra Bullock were also considered alongside Pitt.

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And if you think casting “no” is hard, see the friend upset after you refused to dog sit an aggressive pitbull.

4. Almost Famous

While it's difficult to envision anyone other than Billy Crudup playing Russell Hammond in Cameron Crowe's 2000 film Almost Famous, Pitt was originally cast in the role. Pitt worked with Crowe for months before quitting the film, according to the writer and director, who wrote the character with the star in mind.

This allowed Crudup to have his breakout performance.

"His head was still in Fight Club, and the part was a little underwritten. It was the most underwritten in the script, and he couldn't trust it enough," Crowe told AL.com in 2014. "I've talked to him since. I love the guy. I think he's hilarious, and I thought he would have been funny in the movie. If I had waited a few more months, he might have come around to it, but we had to get going. But Billy Crudup worked out great."Shutterstock

5. Heathers

While Pitt never officially auditioned for the role, there is a tape of him reading the legendary character of J.D. at a table read of Heathers prior to its 1988 release, which ultimately went to Christian Slater.

"We just gathered actors that we knew and friends that we had to read the roles. An actress named Stacey Travis—who was a friend of ours—was in an acting class, and we didn't have anybody to read the part of J.D.," director Michael Lehmann explained."So we asked Stacey, and she brought this young kid from her class. A good-looking kid, he cold-read part of J.D. in the table read, and years later I found out it was Brad Pitt."Shutterstock

6. The Bourne Identity

After collaborating on Ocean's 11, Matt Damon landed the starring role of spy Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity after Brad Pitt was unavailable due to his commitment to Spy Game. Damon received the opportunity after Pitt supposedly passed, resulting in a big film franchise that has generated over $1.6 billion globally.

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7. The Shawshank Redemption

Despite the fact that it is largely regarded as one of the best films of all time, Pitt dropped out, with Gil Bellows eventually taking over the small but essential role of prisoner Tommy.

Director Frank Darabont says, "These are the casting adventures. But it would be really fun to bump into Brad Pitt and say, 'Weren't you that guy?' I'd love to give him a little grief about that just for fun."

He chose to star in Interview With the Vampire over Shawshank after just securing his breakout role in Thelma & Louise. He also stated to the publication that he had no regrets.

"It would have been kind of cool to be in, but I'm not a regret guy in that way," he explained. "I just believe in the way things work out, and that was someone else's role. Even the feeling of, 'Ooh, that would've been nice' would redirect a choice later down the road. So it all works in tandem in that way."Shutterstock

When you are an established and famous actor, you can afford to miss a good part or two. But when you are a young and aspiring person trying to make your name in show business, your choices can make or break you.

That’s what makes choosing so difficult. Now, it’s obvious that Brad Pitt made some excellent choices in his career.

So, we will forgive him for these minor mistakes.

Want more unfiltered celebrity chaos, read about tell-alls that replaced Hollywood shine with total human weirdness.