Every Movie Role Tom Hanks Turned Down!

15. Groundhog Day - Phil Connors

Bill Murray, much like Tom Hanks, is a performer who boasts a boatload of now-iconic characters on his acting CV.

With his one-of-a-kind charm and untouchable, dry sense of humour, Murray burst onto the scene in the early 80's and by the end of the decade he was starring in the likes of Scrooged and the sequel to a hugely successful Ghostbusters film.

However, one of his most famous roles, that of Phil Connors in Harold Ramis' 1993 comedy classic, Groundhog Day, very nearly went to another star on the rise. Ramis has gone on record to state that Hanks was his first choice going into the project. However, Hanks later told Ramis that, "Audiences would have been sitting there waiting for me to become nice, because I always play nice. But Bill’s such a miserable S.O.B. on and off-screen, you didn’t know what was going to happen."

It's not like Hanks was spoilt for work at this time anyway, with the actor appearing in Philadelphia (a film he won an Oscar for) and Sleepless in Seattle that same year.