6. Carlos Gallardo/Antonio Banderas - El Mariachi
Carlos Gallardo is, above all, somebody you've never heard of. He was also the first person to play the iconic "El Mariachi" character at the start of Robert Rodriguez's Mexican-flavoured trilogy of violent films about an elusive character who keeps guns in a guitar case, two of which starred Antonio Banderas. Carlos Gallardo played the character in the original flick,
El Mariachi, which was made on a budget of around $7,000 and went on to gross around $2 million. Not bad, huh? This success, of course, brought Hollywood knocking on the young director's door. And they had somebody different in mind for who should play the lead in the inevitable sequel. So it was goodbye Carlos and hello Antonio, which was bad news for one of those people I just mentioned. And it's not like Gallardo was bad or anything - he just doesn't have the movie star quality that makes Bandeas so right for the role: he starred as El Mariachi in both
Desperado and
Once Upon A Time In Mexico, of course, and it's gone on to become what is probably his most famous role. Carlos Gallardo was given a few small parts in subsequent Robert Rodriguez flicks (what are friends for?), but has been left kind of by the wayside in the aftermath of this recasting, in the sense that one of his recent movies was called
Dead Hooker In A Trunk.