5. Robert De Niro - Josh (Big)
Robert De Niro is not a man of limited acting ability, though it's still near impossible to imagine him playing the lead role in
Big, a movie about a young boy who gets transformed into an adult by way of a supernatural fortune telling machine. Tom Hanks, who later assumed the role, was originally offered the part of Josh, but was busy with TV's
Dragnet, and was forced to bail on the movie. The director, Penny Marshall, opted to cast Robert De Niro in his place, but the actor demanded a salary of $6 millon, which was deemed far too high, and that was that. Instead, Marshall and her crew waited for Hanks to be free and paid him $2 million. As much I love
Big the way it is, I'd seriously like to see what kind of insane mess casting De Niro in this thing would've produced. I just can't imagine him acting with child-like wonder. Which is precisely why I want to see it. Uh, remake, anyone?