10 Recent Movie Roles Almost Played By Other Actors

Gladiator II originally saw Ridley Scott cast the great Barry Keoghan as the unhinged Emperor Caracalla, one of the movie's villainous co-emperors alongside his more conniving brother Geta (Joseph Quinn). But several months after Keoghan entered negotiations to play the part, he was forced to exit due to scheduling conflicts with the drama Saltburn, leaving the role of Caracalla to be taken up by Fred Hechinger.

While it's clear that Keoghan would've had a ton of fun playing the psychotic emperor, Hechinger ultimately gives a brilliantly, discomfortingly weaselly performance and one that bounces quite perfectly off his screen sibling Quinn.

Keoghan's star wattage obviously outweighs Hechinger's by a sizable margin, and many - most of all Scott - will surely decry that he wasn't able to play the part, but Hechinger did a great job regardless, and casting a lesser-known actor may ultimately have worked in the character's favour here.