10 Best Actor Replacements In Movies
4. Jeff Daniels - The Purple Rose Of Cairo
Throughout his filmmaking career, Woody Allen has habitually re-cast actors during principal photography after realising they weren't fit for the part, the most notable of which perhaps happened in his Oscar-nominated 1985 fantasy rom-com The Purple Rose of Cairo.
Michael Keaton was initially cast in the dual role of Tom Baxter and Gil Shepherd - one a movie character, the other the actor playing the character - but ten days into filming, Allen decided that Keaton's performance was too modern, and that audiences would struggle to accept it in a period film.
With that, Michael Keaton - who took a pay cut to work with Allen - was sent packing, at which point Jeff Daniels was brought in to play Tom/Gil instead. And watching the final movie, it's tough to argue with Allen's assessment; Daniels does feel like a much better fit for the film's whimsical romance than Keaton, and to back it up, Daniels received a Best Actor nomination at the Golden Globes.