10 Actors Who Turned Down Billion Dollar Movies

Despite a small list of credits that includes Cars 2 and 3, and Zoolander 2, no one is going to call Lewis Hamilton an actor. However, that didn't stop him from being offered a role in one of the biggest movies of the decade so far, Top Gun: Maverick.

The Englishman is a legend of Formula One racing, and when he was invited to the set of Edge of Tomorrow, he befriended Tom Cruise. Even before the idea of Maverick had even sparked, Hamilton had asked Cruise to cast him for any role available in the then-hypothetical Top Gun sequel.

Hamilton likely thought this conversation was tongue in cheek, and would never truly amount to anything, but when Top Gun: Maverick entered pre-production, director Joseph Kosinski called him and offered him a role as a pilot in the film. A role that ultimately the F1 driver turned down.

Thanks to a naturally hectic schedule, and a fear of letting the production down since he has absolutely no acting training, Hamilton rejected the opportunity he asked for those years before, and regretted it immediately.