20 Actors That Crazily Turned Down Legendary Roles

9. Michelle Pfeiffer - Clarice (The Silence Of The Lambs)

dwdw Michelle Pfeiffer is very much the actress of yesteryear. She is famed primarily for her performances in late 80€™s and early 90€™s pictures, such as Dangerous Liasions, Batman Returns and The Fabulous Baker Boys, (for which she both received Oscar nominations). This lucrative period in her career could have been even more fruitful, should she have accepted the legendary role of Clarice Sterling in Silence Of The Lambs. However she foolishly turned down this part, in the assertion that the film was so violent and sadistic that it would become a commerical flop. So as a result of this painful misjudgement, she has had to agonizingly watch in silence, as Jodie Foster (her replacement) put in an Academy Award winning turn as the eminent FBI Agent. To put the kibosh on a disastrous decision for Pfeiffer, the film won 5 Oscars and became the third film in history to win the so called "Big Five." (Picture, Director, Screenplay and Leading Actor and Actress.) Pfeiffer is now very much a forgotten woman in Hollywood and since the release of this film, she has yet to gain another Academy Award nomination to add to her assemblage. Its feasible that should she have taken this role, we would still be talking about Pfeiffer in the same breath as the likes of Meryl Streep and Jodie Foster.
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Massive Arsenal fan Jacob Savill, is a new-ish contributor to WhatCulture and his first few articles have proved popular amongst the sports and film pages. As an A-Level English Student and an aspiring journalist he's using WhatCulture as preparation for what he hopes to be a successful journalistic career.