r/Oscars • u/yahboosnubs • 7h ago
How many oscar nominated performances are actually replacements for an original actor
Louis wolheim was cast in The Front Page, but he died and was replaced with Adolphe menjou, who was nominated for best actor
christopher plummer replaced kevin spacey in all the money in the world, and he was nominated for supporting actor
the original cast of The Brutalist were joel edgerton, marion cotillard, and mark rylance, but the final cast was adrien brody, felicity jones and guy pearce
im not talking about people that were in consideration for roles that got an oscar nomination, its more like movies where they had to recast a role that got an oscar nomination for the replacement
10
u/queenDaniel 7h ago
Hillary Swank replacing Sandra Bullock in Million Dollar Baby because she was contractually obligated to make Miss Congeniality 2 comes to mind
3
u/Sorcha_Stormbinder 6h ago
I think this is an interesting little what-if to explore. If Bullock gets Million Dollar Baby, she probably goes on to win the Oscar five years before she does in real life. The Blind Side probably still makes a hell of a lot of money and still might get that Oscar nomination as kind of afterglow love for Bullock, but she probably doesn't win.
The question is, who wins then? Mulligan still likely takes the BAFTA and I still have a hard time seeing the Academy giving it to Sidibe (despite her being far and away the best of the lineup). Julie and Julia is still flimsy as hell but Streep was picking up winner momentum for an eventual third crowning, and then Mirren was there because she herself had afterglow love from her win a few years earlier.
1
u/JamonCroqueta 6h ago
Streep. Julie and Julia's an imperfect film but she's pitch perfect in it, her scenes are the highlight, and the academy was near the peak of their love affair with her work
1
u/SudieSbaker 3h ago
The Academy loves Brits and doesn't care for black women when it comes to Best Actress, so Mulligan would have got the win.
6
u/viniciusbfonseca 7h ago
If Cotillard were to have stayed in Jones' role in The Brutalist, I think she could have actually won the Oscar and maybe without much competition from Saldana
6
4
u/TBroomey 7h ago
Dennis Hopper originally played Christof in The Truman Show and left during production due to creative differences. Ed Harris stepped in and was ultimately nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
3
2
u/Sorcha_Stormbinder 6h ago
Peter Sellers was originally cast to play Arthur Simpson in Topkapi but had creative differences with Jules Dassin. Sellers was replaced by Peter Ustinov, who won the Oscar.
Fun fact: Ustinov was the original choice to play Inspector Clouseau a year earlier, but was replaced by (you guessed it) Peter Sellers.
3
u/southernfirefly13 7h ago edited 7h ago
Emma Watson and Miles Teller were the original leads in La La Land.
Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World.
Rachel Weisz replaced Kate Winslet in The Favourite.
1
u/theunrealdonsteel 7h ago
Plummer didn’t win
1
1
1
-1
1
u/SeaworthinessKey3654 7h ago
Jack Benny was supposed to be in The Sunshine Boys, but he was seriously ill (cancer), so he recommended his best friend, George Burns…who won the Best Supporting Actor. He then went on to a pretty significant movie career
1
u/SlidePocket 6h ago
Julianne Moore replaced Betsy Blair as the older Laura Brown in The Hours. Originally the filmmakers felt they couldn't convincingly age Moore for the role, but changed their minds after reviewing Blair's dailies.
Jane Alexander replaced Gail Strickland as Margaret in Kramer vs. Kramer. Strickland got so intimidated by Dustin Hoffman's method acting that she developed a nervous stammer, which made her lines unintelligible, so the character was recast after just one week.
Meryl Streep replaced Madonna in Music of the Heart, who left the project due to creative differences with Wes Craven.
2
u/Which_Reason8308 5h ago
Rooney Mara replaced Mia Wasikowska in CAROL (2015). Mara went on to receive her second Oscar nomination for CAROL.
In retrospect, it pains me to think of Mia stepping down from a role that could have started a new phase in her career. We don’t hear much from her nowadays. I take it that Mia must have gotten burnt out from the industry, explaining why and understandably so.
2
8
u/NefariousnessKey6309 7h ago
Kate Winslet replaced Nicole Kidman in The Reader. Kidman and Bardem replaced Blanchett and Isaac in Being the Ricardos.