10 Actors Who Were Too Scared To Accept Movie Roles

4. Dane DeHaan Was Scared About Playing Hollywood Legend James Dean

Jude Law Superman
Entertainment One

Not to be confused with the 2017 sci-fi flick about a gooey alien that kills Ryan Reynolds, 2015's Life centres on the friendship between photographer Dennis Stock and film icon James Dean, played by Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan, respectively.

Though DeHaan is fantastic in the role, he was absolutely mortified at the thought of taking it on initially, causing him to reject the offer not once, not twice, but five times in total: he later admitted he was "operating out of fear."

His reason for being so apprehensive - aside from the obvious pressure of portraying a legendary actor - was that he was a huge James Dean fan, and he didn't think he could do the role justice.

DeHaan is an exception on our list in that he obviously did accept the role, but he must've been pretty bloody terrified to say "no" five separate times!

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.