10 Strangest Reasons Actors Turned Down Famous Movie Roles

The Role

The titular blade-handed humanoid creation of Tim Burton's masterful fantasy film, as was played to utter, career-boosting perfection by Johnny Depp.

The search for an actor to play Edward was extensive, with both Tom Hanks and Gary Oldman turning it down, while the studio's preferred choice was actually Tom Cruise.

Why He Turned It Down

Cruise met with Burton to discuss the part, and though the director came away from the meeting thinking the actor was "interesting," Cruise's literal-minded approach to the character proved to be a poor fit. In a fascinating interview, screenwriter Caroline Thompson explained:

"[Cruise] wanted to know how Edward went to the bathroom... He was asking the kind of questions about the character that can't be asked for this character! Part of the delicacy of the story was not answering questions like, 'How does he go to the bathroom? How did he live without eating all those years?' Tom Cruise was certainly unwilling to be in the movie without those questions being answered."

And like that, Cruise disembarked from the project, leaving the field wide open for Depp - who was Burton's first choice anyway - to step in. Cruise went on to make the box office hit Days of Thunder instead, so everything worked out for the best.