20 Actors Who Turned Down Major Movie Roles

Jake Gyllenhaal has had a fairly successful run of films over the last few years, including starring roles in Enemy, Nightcrawler, Prisoners, Spiderman: Far From Home and Nocturnal Animals. His range makes him one of the best actors working today, and his popularity means he can have his pick of some pretty sweet roles.

One role that came his way, back in 2015, was that of Rick Flag, the leader of the Suicide Squad in David Ayer's hit-and-miss adaptation of the DC comics team. The film was set up as a seriously star-studded affair, with Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Viola Davis all lined up to appear.

Despite this, Gyllenhaal turned the role down, hoping to pursue over opportunities. Bonus fact, though: Tom Hardy also turned down the role, though no reason has been given for the rejection.

Rick Flag was eventually portrayed by Joel Kinnaman, who did a semi-decent job of bringing the character to life. As for Gyllenhaal, it was a wise move skipping the film, since it was a bit of a mess.