10 First Choices For Big Movie Roles (That Would Have Totally Sucked)
8. Tim Roth As Snape (Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone)
Sticking with the world of Harry Potter, this one is truly bizarre. Alan Rickman had made himself iconic as a villain with Die Hard and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves way before he took on the role of Severus Snape in the Potter movies but, for a whole generation of film fans, Rickman is inseparable from his role as the Head of Slytherin House - one of the most complex characters JK Rowling created in her series.
Tim Roth, however, almost played the role. He was offered the chance to play Snape, but turned it down in favour of appearing in Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes. That's not a decision that has aged well. He has since revealed that his kids lobbied for him to say yes, but he said he wasn't ready to be on a lunchbox. It's an odd reason to turn down a potentially career-defining franchise.
Roth certainly would have been a very different Snape, but it seems unlikely that he could have been as evil, hilarious and eventually heart-breaking in the role as Rickman was. It's casting so perfect that any alternative now seems like sacrilege, even if it was Roth's decision that facilitated it.