10 Movie Roles That Almost Were Cast VERY Differently

Ace Ventura is one of those roles that could surely only have been played by one person, so successfully was it embodied by Jim Carrey. However, Carrey wasn't even the first or second choice for the titular pet detective. The studio had originally offered the part to Rick Moranis, who would have surely imbued the character with more of a nerdy zoologist vibe. It's hard to imagine him displaying half the testosterone-heavy swagger that Ace presents in the finished film.

Moranis turned the part down, and in the period before it eventually went to Carrey, a few other possibilities were thrown around. One of these was Whoopi Goldberg, having recently played Deloris in Sister Act. It's not clear how far these discussions went and it's likely Whoopi was merely a potential 'bankable' name offered by the studio.

It's interesting to consider how a gender-swapped version of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective would have played out. Given the film's less than progressive attitude to trans women, it's likely that they would have also swapped Ace's love interest Melissa to a Mel or a Mike. Instead, the closest Whoopi would to this sort of anarchy is dinosaur buddy cop drama Theodore Rex.