10 Actors Who SAVED Their Careers By Turning Down Movie Roles

Before Jamie Dornan was cast in the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise as tortured playboy Christian Grey, the part was offered to Charlie Hunnam, who even initially accepted.

Hunnam's casting was actually announced during the pre-production stages, but barely a month later he departed the project due to scheduling conflicts with his hit TV series Sons of Anarchy. Hunnam, for his part, called quitting the project "the worst professional experience of [his] life."

But in retrospect it was probably for the best, as while the Fifty Shades series was a huge commercial success, it also proved to be a major thorn in the side of Hunnam's replacement Jamie Dornan, who could scarcely hide how much he loathed the spotlight the franchise shined on him.

Dornan's a talented actor but has struggled to escape the series' shadow in the years since it wrapped up, while Hunnam has instead enjoyed a diverse career working with revered filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro, James Gray, Guy Ritchie (twice), J.C. Chandor, and Justin Kurzel.