5. Chris Cooper The Ring
In 2002, Gore Verbinksi brought his English-language remake of the classic Japanese horror film The Ring to American screens. Although the American remake is seen as less successful in comparison to its Japanese counterpart, the film was a commercial success, taking a worldwide total of $250 million from its $50 million budget. One appearance however that would not make the final cut was that of Chris Cooper. Cooper was initially set to portray a child killer who desperate to clear his name, approaches Naomi Watts character in search of assistance. Rachel visits Coopers character at the end of the film and leaves a copy of the deadly videotape, thus condemning his character to a rather hideous supernatural demise. His cameo being cut is a shame as due to the reaction gained from test audiences, they were actually intrigued to gain development and ultimately a resolution on his character, while also providing a differing moral arc for the protagonist Rachel to work off. Cooper is quoted as saying in a 2002 interview They said, Well, wheres Cooper? We want to see more of him. So they cut it all. This interest in the character actually contributed to the decision to cut Cooper from the film entirely due to the limited screentime the character would ultimately receive. While disappointing, 2002 ended up as a good year for Cooper as he starred in Spike Jonzes Adaptation for which Cooper deservedly received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.