5. Garrett Hedlund Turned Down Sam Claflin's Role In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire did phenomenal business at the box office in 2013, and became the fourth highest grossing film of the year (it made a whopping $861 million). As the sequel to 2012's The Hunger Games, the movie saw reluctant victor Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) plunged into another nightmarish scenario, whereby she's forced to face off in a terrifying battle arena against the former victors of previous Hunger Games. One of her companions in the movie, Finnick Odair, was played both arrogantly and charismatically by British actor Sam Claflin, who most fans of the source material thought did justice to the character. Claflin wasn't the first person that the producers had in mind when they cast the role, however: it was originally offered out to another British actor, Garrett Hedlund, who couldn't oblige due to scheduling conflicts with On The Road, which co-starred Kristen Stewart. Whereas On The Road flopped at the box office and was met with mostly mixed to negative reviews by critics, Catching Fire was a massive hit both commercially and critically - there's no doubt that Hedlund was presumably a little irked that he didn't find his way into this franchise in time, given that he only got to be a part of a fairly average movie instead. And then there's Sam Claflin, of course, who we can imagine is counting his blessings.
