10 Best Last Minute Replacements For Actors In Major Movies

6. Viggo Mortensen Over Stuart Townsend (The Lord Of The Rings)

After Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicolas Cage (!) both turned down the part of Aragorn in Peter Jackson's ultra-ambitious The Lord of the Rings franchise, the role went to the decidedly lesser-known Irish actor Stuart Townsend.

With a 14-month shoot ahead of him and leading one of the most prestigious film projects ever undertaken, it was set to be a career-making role. After spending many months training, though, Townsend was dismissed by Jackson the day before shooting started as he felt that the actor was too young to believably play Aragorn.

Viggo Mortensen was hired as his replacement just three days later, and the rest is history. Mortensen absolutely made the part his own despite having almost zero prep time and was unquestionably the better choice.

However, you have to feel for Townsend, who reportedly wasn't even paid for his time preparing for the film and has since retired from the acting profession altogether.