10 Movie Auditions That Changed Cinema Forever

Robin Williams was actually being auditioned to play the Genie in Aladdin before he'd even met with Disney over the part. 

The filmmakers envisioned the Genie as a stand-up comedian-type character, and as a test, the animation team animated a brief sequence set to one of Robin Williams' frenetic comedy albums.

Williams came in, saw the test, and agreed to join the project, at which point he evidently felt emboldened to bring the looser, improv-heavy style of his stand-up work into the recording booth.

And so, Williams ended up recording several-dozen hours of material for Aladdin, which the crew then sifted through in search of the funniest and most plot-relevant material.

At the time it was a totally radical way to record voiceover for an animated film, and yet, Aladdin's success ensured that this discovery method of character-building became more popular in the years that followed.

In the words of director Ron Clements, "Robin changed the way animated films were perceived," his improv-infused acting style and sheer star wattage changing the very way that Disney and their competitors made their movies.