Throughout his nearly 100-film career, Nicolas Cage has turned down over a dozen roles, including action spectacles and a screwball comedy. A versatile actor, Nicolas Cage's resume includes award-worthy prestige films and over-the-top antics in smaller, low-budget movies.
A nephew of The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Cage got his start with a minor role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) before changing his name from Nicolas Coppola. Racing with the Moon (1984) allowed Cage to show off his acting abilities, and his career's ascension began in earnest with lead or co-lead roles throughout the 80s in Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, and Wild at Heart. But Cage's cultural cache solidified in the 90s when he oscillated between his Oscar-winning Leaving Las Vegas and broad performances in The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off.
During his career, he has been considered for roles in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Breakfast Club and an eventually-scrapped Superman Lives project, but the list of roles Cage rejected includes three career-defining franchises as well as smaller prestige projects that might have netted Cage another Oscar. Here is every major movie Nicolas Cage turned down.
Aragorn - Lord of the Rings
Aragorn, the lead character eventually played by Viggo Mortensen, in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy was almost played by Nicolas Cage. Rather than suiting up for the fantasy epic, he declined, stating in an interview with MTV from 2007, that he did not want to be away from his family, especially for a long period of time. All three Lord of the Rings films were filmed simultaneously in New Zealand between October 1999 and December 2000, with pickups occurring from 2001 to 2004.
Neo - The Matrix
On the heels of his success with 90s action movies, Cage joined a list of impressive actors, including Will Smith, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, in consideration for the role in Neo in The Wachowskis' science fiction/martial arts epic The Matrix. Similar to Lord of the Rings, he passed on the role because he didn't want to be away from his family, as the film was being filmed in Australia. The role went to Keanu Reeves, who will reprise his role as Neo in the upcoming The Matrix 4.
Shrek - Shrek
Cage is no stranger to animation, as he's voiced roles in The Ant Bully and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. However, he missed an opportunity to voice the titular ogre in DreamWorks' Oscar-winning film, Shrek. After the tragic passing of original Shrek voice Chris Farley, Cage was considered for the role by DreamWorks head Jeffrey Katzenberg and he initially stated that he turned it down because he did not want to play an ugly green ogre. He spoke with TODAY about how the "news said it was because of vanity. I think that's a bit strong. But the truth is, I'm not afraid to be ugly in a movie. [...] When you're drawn, in a way it says more about how children are going to see you than anything else, and I so care about that." He also clarified to the Daily Mail in 2013, "Maybe I should have done it, looking back."
The role went to Mike Myers, whose Scottish-accented take brought a lot of laughs and likability to Shrek, and Myers reprised the role in three sequels and a number of spin-offs.
Harry Dunne - Dumb and Dumber
The Farrelly Brothers' Dumb and Dumber almost paired Jim Carrey with Nicolas Cage instead of Jeff Daniels. Speaking with The Huffington Post in 2012, Cage reflected on discussions with Carrey about co-leading the film, and though he expressed interest, Cage chose his Oscar-winning role in Mike Figgis' Leaving Las Vegas instead.
Joel Barish - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Written by Charlie Kaufman, who previously collaborated with Cage on 2002's Adaptation, and directed by Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a gorgeous film that blends romance and sci-fi. Early into pre-production, Gondry had his eye on Cage for the leading role of Joel Barish. He offered Cage the role and explained to The Daily Beast when discussing the film's 10th anniversary in 2014, "Every independent director who wanted to make a commercial movie asked Nicolas Cage to be in their movie after Leaving Las Vegas, except that he would only do one out of ten of those projects." The role went to Jim Carrey, who garnered a Golden Globe nomination.
Randy "The Ram" Robinson - The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky's 2008 sports drama, The Wrestler, follows the story of Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a washed up '80s pro wrestler dealing with a broken family and a failing heart. Aronofsky offered the role to Cage, who initially accepted, but as time progressed, Cage resigned from the project, because [via Access Hollywood] he didn't have "enough time to achieve the look of the wrestler who was on steroids." Other reports stated that it was a mutual decision with Aronofsky, who gave the role to his original choice, Mickey Rourke.
Benjamin Chudnofsky - The Green Hornet
Instead of a mind-bending sci-fi romance like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michel Gondry offered Cage a role in the superhero comedy The Green Hornet. With Seth Rogen in the lead role, Gondry wanted Cage to portray antagonist Benjamin Chudnofsky, a gangster going through a midlife crisis. It looked like Cage was locked down to bring the character to life, until dropping out at the last minute due to clashes with Gondry. He expressed a lack of interest of "just being a straight-up bad guy who was killing people willy-nilly." The role went to Christoph Waltz in one of his first roles after winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Inglorious Basterds.
Chev Chelios - Crank
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor - the duo behind 2006's Crank - revealed at a Q&A panel at New York Comic Con in 2011 that Cage was the actor in mind for Jason Statham's role, Chev Chelios. When writing the script in 2003, the directors expressed passion about the actor portraying the lead character in the action-thriller. But Cage passed on the role due to scheduling conflicts, as he was likely filming National Treasure. They later worked together on 2012's Ghost Rider: Spirit of the Vengeance.
Robert Hansen - The Frozen Ground
Inspired by the terrifying real-life story of serial killer Robert Hansen, The Frozen Ground centers around an Alaska state trooper who stumbles across a disturbing murder case. Though Cage actually stars in the film as the trooper looking for Hansen, director Scott Walker had offered him the role of the infamous killer. Speaking with Film School Rejects, Cage said, "Originally they wanted me to play Hansen, but I just didn't want to go there." When taking on the role of Jack Halcombe, he wanted to "to return to a more minimal, documentary style of film performance." The role went to John Cusack, who received positive reception for his role. As incredible as he was, Nicolas Cage would've captured the psychic of a serial killer perfectly.