Crispin Glover turned down Back to the Future Part II after being offered less than half as much money as his costars. So, he was replaced by another actor wearing facial prosthetics made from a mold of his face!
Landing a role in a major franchise can set an actor up for life. Sometimes, however, creative differences, scheduling conflicts, or other facts lead to them exiting a role earlier than planned.
Here are 14 actors who quit or were fired from major franchises (and why):
1. Neve Campbell played Sidney Prescott in five Scream movies. However, she declined to return for Scream VI. In 2022, she told Deadline, "As a woman, I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise."
"It’s been a very difficult decision to move on. To all my Scream fans, I love you. You’ve always been so incredibly supportive to me. I’m forever grateful to you and to what this franchise has given me over the past 25 years," she said.
So, the film focused on newer characters instead, but they left the door open for Sidney to return — and she's reportedly returning for Scream 7.
Co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin told Games Radar, "We got to really explore and do a lot of character building in this one. It was really fun to create these new characters in a really cool and exciting way."
2. Robert Duvall played Tom Hagen in The Godfather and The Godfather II, but he declined the third film over a salary dispute. In 2004, he told CNN, "I said I would work easily if they paid [Al] Pacino twice what they paid me, that's fine. But not three or four times, which is what they did."
"[Francis Ford Coppola] came to my farm, parked his car, came to my farm, we went in the kitchen. He said, 'I know you always wanted the crab cake recipe. Let me cook it for you.' Oh, he loves to eat, so I cooked the crab cake, and he wrote it down, and he forgot it. So he called twice. He was more concerned that he forgot the crab cake recipe than would I be in Godfather III," he said.
Tom Hagen was killed off-screen before the start of the movie, and he was replaced by the new character B.J. Harrison, played by George Hamilton.
3. Megan Fox played Mikaela Banes in the first two Transformers movies. She was supposed to appear in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but in 2009, she told Wonderland that director Michael Bay was "a nightmare to work for" and compared him to a dictator. Michael told GQ that executive producer Steven Spielberg reportedly told him to, "Fire her right now," but Steven told Entertainment Weekly, "That’s not true. That didn't happen."
In 2010, Megan's reps told People, "It was her decision not to return. She wishes the franchise the best."
Her character was replaced with Carly Spencer, who was played by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
4. In Back to the Future, Crispin Glover played George McFly. However, he had moral qualms about the film's message after the ending was changed so the McFlys got wealthy. For the sequel, he was offered significantly less money than his costars. Then the offer was cut by an additional $25,000. Feeling like he wasn't wanted in the movie, he turned it down.
In 2012, he told the AV Club, "It was very clear they didn’t want me in the film. It was clear they already had this concept that they were going to put another actor in prosthetics. They thought that was funny. They knew that they could basically torment me, either financially or by this mean-spirited, what ultimately was an illegal thing to do. I’m sure they laughed and joked about it."
Back to the Future Part II used footage that Crispin had shot for the original film. Additionally, Jeffrey Weissman played George McFly by wearing facial prosthetics based on molds production had of Crispin's face.
Here's a side-by-side:
5. Kathleen Cauley originated the role of Lavender Brown in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. At the time, Lavender was a minor, non-speaking role.
Then, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Jennifer Smith took over the part, which was still a background character
However, when she became a larger role and a love interest for Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she was recast with Jessie Cave, who stayed in the role for the rest of the series.
Here they are side-by-side.
6. Hugo Weaving signed a three-picture deal with Marvel, but he only played Johann Schmidt/Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger. He was asked to reprise the role in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but they reportedly wanted to pay him less than his Captain America salary for both movies combined.
In 2020, he told Time Out, "I actually found negotiating with them through my agent impossible. And I didn't really wanna do it that much."
In Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, Red Skull returned through a mixture of stand-ins and CGI. Ross Marquand provided his voice.
7. Richard Dreyfuss reportedly turned down an offer to reprise his role as Hooper in Jaws 2 because Steven Spielberg wasn't returning as director.
In 2014, he told the Hollywood Reporter, "I knew what made Jaws good, and we weren't talking about Steven [Spielberg] directing [the sequel]... [Producer] David Brown said, 'I never understood why you wouldn't agree to do a sequel.' And I said, 'I never understood why you didn't give us Latvia.' We were not bonused — not at all — and you would be embarrassed at how much they paid us. I said to David, 'You could have given us Eastern Europe.' And not only did he not, but he didn't again and again."
8. Terrence Howard — who had a three-picture deal with Marvel — played Rhodey/War Machine in Iron Man. However, during sequel negotiations, he was only offered 12.5% of the salary he'd initially been promised. So, he reportedly refused to return to the role over the pay dispute.
On Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, he said, "It turns out that the person I helped become Iron Man...took the money that was supposed to go to me and pushed me out. I called my friend — that I helped get the first job — and he didn't call me back for three months."
Don Cheadle took over the role in Iron Man 2 and all subsequent Marvel Cinematic Universe projects.
Here they are side-by-side.
9. Josh Dallas played Fandral in Thor. However, he had to leave the role before the sequel because of his commitment to Once Upon a Time.
In 2012, he told Entertainment Weekly, "The timing wasn’t right. I’m bummed about it because I had such a great experience and great time making the first film and was really excited about coming back. Marvel and Disney tried to make it work. But because of my commitment to Once Upon a Time, I was not going to be able to do both. So I’ll have to hand the reins over to someone else. I love Marvel. I wish them all the best. I will certainly be first in line to see it."
Zachary Levi replaced him in the sequels.
Zachary was actually initially cast as Fandral in Thor, but he had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict with Chuck.
10. Keanu Reeves played Jack Travern in Speed, but he turned down the sequel because he "didn't respond to the script."
In 2021, he told The Graham Norton Show, "I really wanted to work with Sandra Bullock. I loved playing Jack Traven, and I loved Speed, but an ocean liner? I had nothing against the artists involved, but at that time, I had the feeling it just wasn't right."
So, Speed 2: Cruise Control introduced Jason Patric as Officer Alex Shaw in his place.
11. In Avengers: Endgame, Emma Fuhrmann had a brief appearance as an aged-up version of Cassie Lang.
However, she was replaced by Kathryn Newton in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Emma didn't know about the recasting until it was announced at Disney's Investor Day in 2020.
Emma tweeted, "Just wanted to come on here & say that I see all your kind messages. Thank you for all your support. It has meant the world to me. I was as sad as you all were to hear the news Thursday. I can only hope that this means there is something else for me in the future of the MCU. I will always be grateful to have been a part of the MCU & the biggest movie of all time. Being an actress is still my #1 passion & I look forward to what the future holds."
Here they are side-by-side.
12. In the first three Halloweentown movies, Kimberly J. Brown starred as Marnie Piper.
However, in Return to Halloweentown, she was replaced by Sara Paxton. Disney had spoken to Kimberly about the possibility of returning for the fourth movie, but, for reasons unknown to her, they decided to go in a different direction.
In a 2018 Q&A video, Kimberly said, "Some people asked me or said that they heard I was working on something, which was not the case at the time. I was available and ready to do it, and had talked to them about possibly — about doing it. But Disney decided to go in a different direction and recast the role. So, that's really all I know about the situation."
Here they are side-by-side.
13. Damion Poitier already had a small role (Man #1) in The Avengers when the director decided to film an extra scene featuring Thanos. Since the role hadn't been cast yet, Damion stepped in.
His appearance as Thanos was uncredited, and the role was recast to Josh Brolin in Guardians of the Galaxy and the subsequent MCU movies that Thanos appeared in.
Damion may have been replaced as Thanos, but he moved on to a new role in the MCU. He made an appearance as one of Crossbones' mercenaries in Captain America: Civil War. He also did stunt work in that film as well as for Thor: The Dark World.
14. And finally, Edward Norton played Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (2008). Initially, Marvel was onboard with his plans for a The Dark Knight-esque duology, but "as it turned out, that wasn’t what they wanted."
In a 2010 statement, Marvel said, "We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in The Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members."
Then, Norton's agent released a statement, which said, "This offensive statement from Kevin Feige at Marvel is a purposefully misleading, inappropriate attempt to paint our client in a negative light. Here are the facts: two months ago, Kevin called me and said he wanted Edward to reprise the role of Bruce Banner in The Avengers...This past Wednesday, after several weeks of civil, uncontentious discussions, but before we had come to terms on a deal, a representative from Marvel called to say they had decided to go in another direction with the part. Counter to what Kevin implies here, Edward was looking forward to the opportunity to work with Joss and the other actors in the Avengers cast, many of whom are personal friends of his. Feige’s statement is unprofessional, disingenuous, and clearly defamatory. Mr. Norton's talent, tireless work ethic, and professional integrity deserve more respect, and so do Marvel’s fans."
In 2019, Edward told the New York Times Magazine, "We had positive discussions about going on with the films, and we looked at the amount of time that would’ve taken, and I wasn’t going to do that. I honestly would’ve wanted more money than they’d have wanted to pay me."