15 Strangest Movie Casting Rumours That Thankfully Never Happened

7. Vince Vaughn As Donnie Darko

Vince Vaughn is best known for his comedic roles, but he still sprinkles the odd dramatic gig in here and there (such as season 2 of True Detective) to keep things interesting. Vaughn shied away from comedy in his early roles, though, spending the 90's and early 2000's in projects like The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Cell, and Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho. In 2001 Vaughn was rumoured to be appearing as the lead in another drama, a little indie film called Donnie Darko from first time writer/director Richard Kelly. The lead in the sci-fi/fantasy drama was Donnie, a troubled teenager, and Vaughn was one of the names in the frame for the job, even though he was in his 30's at that point. Thankfully, Vaughn was the first person involved to see sense and dropped out of the running, believing himself too old to convincingly play a teenager. In the end the role went to a then-unknown 19-year-old called Jake Gyllenhaal and Donnie Darko's success put him on the path to stardom. Would the film have been as well received with a sleepy-eyed man in his 30's as the lead? I think we all know the answer to that. Vince Vaughn certainly did.