The Role: Easily the least well-known of all the Tarantino-written roles to earn Oscar nominations is that of kindly bail bondsman Max Cherry, played superbly by Robert Forster who, believe it or not, has enjoyed a strong career resurgence ever since. Tarantino had a number of older actors in mind for the part, including Paul Newman, John Saxon and Gene Hackman. What Happened?: Little is known about Hackman's involvement with the part, so it's possible that either Hackman simply wasn't interested, or scheduling got in the way. Either way, it went to Forster in the end, and the results were marvelous. Would It Have Worked?: Hackman is one of those few brilliant actors capable of playing a bada** and a more personable, likeable sort equally well, so he likely would have nailed it. That said, like a number of parts on this list, Forster's lower-profile status allowed him to slot into the movie without the weight of A-list expectation weighing on him, and audiences and critics were duly spellbound.