20 Actors Who Quit Movies For Insane Reasons
5. He Couldn't Cry On Cue - Steve McQueen (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Here's a really fascinating one. Steve McQueen was originally offered the lead role of Roy Neary in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind - a blue-collar worker who becomes obsessed with UFOs following an encounter with one.
When the offer went out to McQueen, he told Spielberg that though he loved the script, he wasn't the right fit for the part because of his inability to cry on cue, which he felt would compromise the character and the film as a whole.
Surprisingly, Spielberg wanted McQueen enough for Roy that he even offered to change the script to have Roy not cry, but McQueen protested, adding that it was his favourite scene in the script.
And so, McQueen left the film, at which point Richard Dreyfuss was subbed in, and the rest is history.
It's easy to see why Spielberg wanted McQueen for the part, but Dreyfuss' energy just felt like a better fit in the end anyway, tears and all.