10 Actors Who Must Regret Turning Down Major Film Roles

3. Mel Gibson - Maximus (Gladiator)

By 2000, Mel Gibson's career was stuttering a little, and he wasn't quite as big a star as he has been a decade or so previously. When Ridley Scott decided to make Gladiator, he saw Gibson as the perfect man to play the lead role of Maximus Decimus Meridius, a Roman general trying to avenge the murder of his wife and daughter. Having played William Wallace so brilliantly in Braveheart five years earlier, he was seemingly born to play the role of Maximus. Things didn't quite go to plan, however, with Gibson feeling that, in his mid 40s, he was too old for the part. Because of this, he walked away, much to the disappointment of Scott. In hindsight, it was a foolish decision, and one he must still rue greatly. Russell Crowe replaced him as Maximus and was superb in the role. He won the Best Actor Oscar, such was his excellence, while the film won Best Picture. It's still seen as one of the finest movies of the last two decades, and appears time and time again on numerous 'Top 10' lists when discussing acting, cinematography and so on. Crowe became a superstar following the film's amazing success, but Gibson's career faded into obscurity. He is now more famous for some of his erratic behaviour away from the set, rather than his performances on it, and his career would have been given a new lease of life had he played the part of the heroic gladiator.