Stephen King's 1996 novelThe Green Mile, was turned into an Academy Award nomination motion picture in 1999, but two of the film's lead actors - Tom Hanks and Sam Rockwell - almost weren't chosen for their respective roles.

While certainly less directly related to the horror genre as some of King's work, The Green Mile is a prison drama with roots in supernatural fantasy and is entrenched in social and political issues that are still relevant in 2020. Released in 1999 from director Frank Darabont, The Green Mile starred Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sam Rockwell, American Horror Story alum James Cromwell, and Bonnie Hunt. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. While not the most famous of King's work, the themes present in The Green Mile still very much make it a part of the author's recognizable stylistic choices, with its themes of good prevailing against the darker natures of humanity, albeit in a different way, and elements of a supernatural world through the character of John Coffey (Duncan), the doomed prisoner that has a profound effect on corrections officer Paul Edgecomb (Hanks) during their time spent together on death row.

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Though Hanks and Rockwell both made incredible impressions on audience in the movie, both roles almost went to other actors during the casting process. While hard to think of either Paul Edgecomb or "Wild Bill" Wharton being played by anyone else, the alternate casting options certainly make for an interesting consideration.

The Green Mile: The Actors Who Almost Played The Lead Roles

Tom Hanks in The Green Mile

Tom Hanks is one of the most immediately recognizable and award-winning actors in Hollywood. His everyman charm and reputation as one of America's dads holds a lot of weight in the different roles he has played throughout his incredible career. The charisma and heart he brought to the role of Paul Edgecomb, the corrections officer in charge of overseeing the inmates on "The Green Mile", the prison's nickname for death row, is hard to see going to anyone else. However, director Frank Darabont initially sought out a completely different actor for the role. John Travolta, who has also shown incredible range from movies like Grease and Saturday Night Fever during the beginnings of his career to working with Quentin Tarantino on the much grittier Pulp Fiction, was Darabont's initial choice. While there's no given reason as to why Travolta turned down the role, the actor has stated in interviews since that it's one of the roles he wished he would have taken, alongside the lead role in An Officer and a Gentleman, which went to Richard Gere.

Other than Travolta, the role of William "Wild Bill" Wharton, played by Sam Rockwell, could have gone to Josh Brolin. Brolin is another A-list Hollywood actor with a ton of range in his career. He has lent his substantial talent to everything from The GooniesNo Country for Old Men, to joining the MCU as Cable in Deadpool 2 and even playing supervillain Thanos. While Rockwell certainly made the character his own in The Green Mile, it's an interesting 'what-if' that would have certainly changed the movie, though nobody can say whether it would have been for better or worse.

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