10 Things You Didn't Know About Cape Fear
3. Plenty Of Other Actors Wanted A Slice Of The Pie
The Cape Fear that could have been wasn't necessarily the one we got, with plenty of other eye-wateringly famous actors throwing their hat in the ring for varying roles.
For the role of Juliette Lewis's Danielle, there was rivalry from both Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon, with both completely ballsing up their auditions in front of the big name filmmakers. Witherspoon couldn't hold herself together in front of De Niro, and Barrymore has proclaimed that Scorsese must think she's complete 'dog doo-doo' for her presentation at the time.
Whilst good old Bob was never contended in his casting choice as Cady by Scorsese, it was actually Bill Murray who was in consideration when Spielberg had his hands on the script. Likewise, Robin Williams was in mind as Sam, before moving on to Harrison Ford when the script changed hands. Ford then tried his luck with De Niro to see if he could take on the role of Cady. Fortunately, that idea was soon squashed.