10 Actors Who Turned Down Billion Dollar Movies
5. Benicio Del Toro - Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Benicio del Toro joined the Star Wars universe as DJ in Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, and it's as close to universally believed as possible that his talents were wasted. 20 years earlier, he almost joined the franchise in a completely different role, though you could argue that he would have been just as wasted then.
The role in question is actually one of the most popular and recognisable characters, Darth Maul. Popular though he may be, his three minutes of screen time would have been criminally less than someone like del Toro deserved, despite only being at the beginning of his career.
The actor had actually agreed to take on the part for 1999's The Phantom Menace but ultimately pulled out after George Lucas decided to cut almost all of the character's dialogue. You could argue that this stoic silence added more to the villain than any actual words would have, but any actor would be understandably frustrated with such a situation.
In his stead, Darth Maul was portrayed in the flesh by Ray Park, and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz, and became easily one of the best parts of the underwhelming, yet financially successful prequel.