10 Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Roles For Stupid Reasons

4. Tom Cruise Was Worried About First-Time Director Frank Darabont - Andy Dufresne (The Shawshank Redemption)

The Role

Before Tim Robbins took the unforgettable role of wrongly imprisoned protagonist Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, the part was offered to the on-the-rise Tom Cruise, who ultimately said no.

Why He Turned It Down

Cruise wasn't keen on the prospect of first-time filmmaker Frank Darabont directing.

Meanwhile, production company Castle Rock Entertainment was busy trying to convince Darabont, who wrote the film and had first refusal to direct, to let Rob Reiner helm it instead.

After all, Reiner was a veteran filmmaker by this point who had directed Cruise the year prior in the Best Picture-nominated A Few Good Men.

In Darabont's own words, he was offered "a s**tload of dough" to give Reiner the reins but stood firm, causing Cruise to exit the project, leading to Robbins taking the part instead.

Now, being wary of a first-time director isn't the dumbest thing an actor can do, but when said movie goes on to receive seven Oscar nominations and Darabont's Best Director omission continues to be cited as one of the Academy's worst-ever oversights in the category, it's clear he screwed up big time.

It seems that Cruise attempted to rectify his skepticism of inexperienced filmmakers in recent years by starring in Alex Kurtzman's The Mummy reboot, but, uh, we all know how that went.

It's tough to imagine Cruise having the subdued qualities to make Andy work, honestly, at least in the deeply dignified and understated way that Robbins did.