2. Robert Downey Jr. - Larry "Doc" Sportello - Inherent Vice
That's right: none other than Robert Downey Jr., Hollywood's hottest actor, was originally set to star in Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel - and was very close to signing on to the project as far back as 2011. Downey Jr. eventually dropped out, however, to star in Sam Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful. Which is odd, given that the actor also ended up dropping out of that flick, too. Joaquin Phoenix signed on to star as Larry "Doc" Sportello in the aftermath of his collaboration with Anderson on The Master, of course, which co-starred the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Though Downey Jr. would have been an apt choice for the role of Doc, Inherent Vice contains some of Phoenix's best work. Which means that we're kind of glad that Iron Man decided that the movie wasn't really for him.