20 Actors That Crazily Turned Down Legendary Roles

5. Sean Connery - Gandalf (The Lord Of The Rings)

Never has there been such an epic role in the history of cinema than that of Gandalf in The Lord Of The Rings. Sir Ian McKellen puts in such a virtuoso display as the sagacious wizard, that imagining someone else in the role is actually rather testing. But someone else in the role it nearly was. Ex-007 Sean Connery was Peter Jackson's preferred choice for Gandalf. In fact Jackson wanted Connery so desperately, it was reported that he was repeatedly offered in excess of $6 million per film! However Sean Connery wasn't tempted by these financial enticements and passed on this legendary role in Tolkein's fantasy trilogy, on account of the fact that he couldn't fathom the "complexity" of the plot. He is quoted as saying this: "I read the book. I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don't understand it." Despite this bizarre reasoning from Connery, this still has to go down as one of Connery's worst film decisions of all time. In fact, turning down this legendary role cost the Scotsman $450 million if you include the 15% box office profits that he was offered. Forgetting the money factor for a minute, you€™d also think that Connery would welcome the opportunity to once again appear in a major office blockbuster, (probably the biggest film since James Bond). So this just goes to show how even a veteran star like Sean Connery can make a blunder so big, that it loses him the chance of revitilized box office fame, as well as a mind-blowing amount of money.