My Name Was Not "Neo": Actors That Missed These Roles!

Eddie Murphy as Eddie Valiant. Oh yeah! I can see that......

He told Jimmy Fallon that he wasn't interested in doing a movie that combined live action with animation!!!!

Will Smith as Neo/Mr Anderson.

He told Fox Chicago, "I would say, ‘A*****e, why didn’t you do The Matrix?'"

We wonder too! Fishburne and Smith? That would be amazing!

Michael Keaton as Phil Connors.

At the time, he didn't quite "get" the script. He told EW, "This guy sounds like the kind of wry, sardonic, glib young man I've played — and it ended up being so great."

John Lithgow as the Joker.

A direct quote from Lithgow as told to Vulture Magazine, "I was doing M. Butterfly on Broadway, and it was an exhausting show. It would have meant leaving that show and going right into a movie, and I said, ‘I just don’t think I can. How about that for stupid?"

Burt Reynolds as Bond!

He turned down replacing Sean Connery as James Bond because he didn't think people would accept an American in the role, but he later told USA Today, "I could've done it, and I could've done it well."

Michelle Pfeiffer as Clarice Starling

She told the New Yorker that she turned down the role because "there was such evil in that film."

Gwyneth Paltrow as Rose

Commenting about declining Titanic, she told Howard Stern, "I look back at the choices I’ve made and think, ‘Why the hell didn't I say yes to that? .....But instead said no to that?"

Kevin Costner as Andy Dufresne

He couldn't accept the role because he was too busy filming Waterworld.

Denzel Washington as Michael Clayton.

Washington said he was wrong to be nervous about working with first-time director Tony Gilroy. He told GQ that the script was "the best material I had read in a long time."

Nicolas Cage as Aragorn

He told Newsweek, "There were different things going on in my life at the time that precluded me from being able to travel and be away from home for three years."

Al Pacino as Han Solo

He told MTV, "I remember not understanding it when I read it," and jokingly referred to his decision to turn down the role in Star Wars as “another missed opportunity.”

Marilyn Monroe as Holly Golightly

In the film, it is alluded to that the character is a “call girl," and Marilyn was advised that playing Holly would tarnish her image.

Bruce Willis as Sam Wheat

Bruce Willis called himself a "knucklehead" for turning down the role as told to the New York Times, "I just didn’t get it. I said, ‘Hey, the guy’s dead. How are you gonna have a romance?’ "Famous last words.”

Halle Berry as Annie Porter

Berry admitted she "stupidly said no" to the role of Annie Porter in Speed, and told People, "But in my defense, when I read the script, the bus didn’t leave the parking lot. I was like no, no, no, no. Then I see the movie and I’m like, ‘Arrrrghh.’”

Leonardo DiCaprio as Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler

He accepted the part of Jack Dawson in Titanic instead. He told GQ, "I think they're both great and wish I could have done them both."

Josh Hartnett as Bruce Wayne/Batman

He told the Guardian, "I decided it wasn’t for me. Then director Christopher Nolan didn’t want to put me in 'The Prestige' later on. They not only hired their Batman [Christian Bale] for it, they also hired my girlfriend [Scarlett Johansson] at the time.”

Christina Applegate as Elle Woods

She told ET Online that she "got scared" of being typecast as a "dumb blonde" after playing Kelly Bundy on Married...with Children.

Henry Winkler ("The Fonz" of Happy Days on TV) as Danny Zuko

He told Digital Spy, “I decided I didn’t want to be typecast [since he was already playing the Fonz]. But what I didn’t realize was that I already was and would be forever typecast.”

Everybody was perfect. The actors that missed the roles were blessed with making the right choice!!