10 Actors Who Stupidly Turned Down Video Games

10. Kurt Russell - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

It's no secret that Metal Gear Solid's gruff hero Solid Snake was inspired by Escape from New York's steely protagonist Snake Plissken, who was played so memorably in the film and its sequel, Escape from L.A., by Kurt Russell.

In Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake even disguised himself with the pseudonym "Iroquois Pliskin." Subtle.

The similarities between the characters was significant enough that the movies' rights-holder, CanalPlus, wanted to launch a lawsuit against Konami and Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.

This was only halted when the director of both movies, John Carpenter, intervened, being both a video game fan and friend of Kojima himself.

Yet when Kojima was ramping up production of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which would star Solid Snake's genetic father Big Boss, Kojima reached out to Russell in the hope of hiring him to voice the part.

Russell, for whatever reason, ended up refusing, and Kojima instead offered it to David Hayter, who voiced Solid Snake in the first two games and was a natural second-best pick.

Hayter of course did a wonderful job in the role, but Russell's distinct vocal tenor would've differentiated Solid Snake and Big Boss in an interesting way, especially as Big Boss went on to be voiced by other performers (Richard Doyle and Kiefer Sutherland) in subsequent games.

Russell turned down what would've been an easy payday and opened him up to a whole new generation of fans.