Actors and actresses who were fired on the spot
Gina Carano "is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future... Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable." This is how Disney announced that the actress would stop playing Cara Dune after two seasons in 'The Mandalorian.' The studio claimed she was sharing controversial political messages on her social media.
In 1987, Jean Claude Van Damme transformed into the title role of 'Predator.' The match seemed like a safe bet, except that the actor wanted more dialogue for the Predator. On top of this, he complained about how hot the suit was, while also getting into a fight with a stuntman. And that was only day 2 of filming. John McTiernan decided to sack him and call Kevin Peter Hall.
Before he was the boss of 'The Avengers', Iron Man was not always the exemplary and sober star that he is now. In fact, at the beginning of the century, he lost two roles: one in 'Ally McBeal' and the other in 'America's Sweethearts'. In both cases, it was because of his addictions.
Christian Bale was going to take on the role of the mythical Patrick Bateman in 'American Psycho' (2000), but when Leonardo DiCaprio showed his interest in the role, the creators had no problem in casting Leo and firing Bale. Finally, however, DiCaprio's representative strongly advised Leo against taking the role, and Christian Bale got it back again.
It seems that in 1974 Richard Gere was much more rebellious than in his later years. They even went as far as kick him out of production when filming 'The Lords of Flatbush' after he fought with several colleagues. One thing Gere did was throw food onto Sylvester Stallone's pants. The actor was 25 years old at the time and the crew swiftly replaced him with Perry King.
Lori Petty was cast as Lenina Huxley, the woman responsible for the rehabilitation of Sylvester Stallone's character in 'Demolition Man' (1993). The complaints about her behavior were so relentless, however, that she ended up being fired and replaced by Sandra Bullock.
Annette Bening was cast to play the legendary Selina Kyle in 'Batman Returns' (1992). Unexpectedly, however, the actress became pregnant after several weeks of production. The special effects were not like they are today and she had to be replaced by Michelle Pfeiffer.
The accusations against Kevin Spacey, involving abuse of younger actors, caused him to lose two iconic roles. First, Netflix abruptly fired him abruptly from 'House of Cards.' That was the end of the iconic character Frank Underwood. And, secondly, Ridley Scott decided to re-shoot all the actor's scenes in 'All the Money in the World.' The late Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey and was nominated for an Oscar.
The dispute between Megan Fox and Michael Bay on the set of 'Transformers: the Dark side of the Moon' is almost legendary. The director asked her character to be more tanned and 8 pounds heavier; she refused and called Michael Bay 'Hitler.' Fox also said that "working with someone like that is a nightmare." She was fired instantly and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley took her place in the saga.
Not everyone knows that Sylvester Stallone was supposed to play Axel Foley in 'Beverly Hills Cop.' The actor was a star after 'Rocky' and apparently became too demanding. His insistence to have more action in the movie was so strong and annoying that the producers ended up firing him. Thanks to this, we now have the great performance of Eddie Murphy in the franchise.
The success of the series 'Two and a Half Men' helped people tolerate Charlie Sheen's erratic and troublesome behavior. However, the actor apparently crossed the line when he called Chuck Lorre, the creator of the series, a "clown." Lorre would later tell Rolling Stone magazine that "firing Charlie Sheen was a moral decision, as opposed to financial interests." Sheen was replaced by Ashton Kutcher who never achieved the same success as his predecessor.
Ryan Gosling took an initiative for the movie 'The Lovely Bones' (2009) that wasn't appreciated. He thought that his character, Jack Salmon, should weigh more and decided to gain 10 pounds. Director Peter Jackson did not like the idea and he swiftly replaced Gosling with Mark Wahlberg.
Five weeks into filming 'Back to the Future,' with Eric Stoltz in the role of the legendary Marty McFly, Robert Zemeckis realized that the actor did not have the comedy factor that the character required. He exchanged Stolz for Michael J. Fox.
Nicole Kidman finished filming 'Moulin Rouge' (2001) with a bruised knee and did not have enough time to recover when she started filming 'Panic Room' (2002). After 18 days of playing the main character, Meg Altman, she had to be replaced by Jodie Foster as she just could not continue filming.
The 'Lord of the Rings' saga just wouldn't be the same without the presence of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn. However, he was initially not playing the legendary character because Stuart Townsend had been chosen for the project. In the end, Peter Jackson decided he was too young and opted for a change.
Edward Norton could have been a significant part of the Marvel Universe but he fell by the wayside. Disagreements with the screenwriters on the set of 'The Incredible Hulk' (2008) and clashes with both producers and the director caused Marvel to choose Mark Ruffalo to be the new Hulk in 'The Avengers.'
Another actor who fell by the wayside in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Terrence Howard. In 'Iron Man' (2008), he played Rhodey, Tony Stark's best friend. Howard could have had a long run in the franchise, but he asked for a big pay raise and Marvel Studios didn't take that too well. They decided not to count on him for 'Iron Man 2.' Don Cheadle got the part
The seductive operating system in the movie 'Her' was originally meant to be portrayed by Samantha Morton, but during post-production, Spike Jonze realized that her voice was not of the type that Joaquin Phoenix's character would've fallen in love with. As a result, the director invited Scarlett Johansson to redub the role. All that remained of Samantha in the final cut was the name of the operating system.
James Purefoy spent six weeks wearing the Guy Fawkes mask during the filming of 'V for Vendetta.' However, the Wachowskis decided that his voice was not menacing enough, and they started to look for a replacement. They contacted Hugo Weaving (with whom they'd worked on 'The Matrix') and reshot/redubbed all of Purefoy's scenes with that actor.