Posted on Jan 31, 2022

10 Actors Who Had Parts Written For Them, And 10 Who Had To Fight For Their Roles

A world without Niles Crane? Unthinkable.

BuzzFeed Contributor

@netflix / Netflix / Via giphy.com

Henry Cavill, an avid gamer, was a big fan of the video game version of The Witcher, and when Netflix announced it was planning on a limited series adaptation of the books the game was based on, he immediately started campaigning to play Geralt of Rivia.

"He was really annoying," Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who'd been hired to produce and write the show, revealed. "I finally said, 'I will meet with you. The show is not green-lit. There is nothing.' I said, 'Thank you. Now I have to go write the show.’"

Despite Cavill's obvious interest, Hissrich and the other producers still auditioned over 200 actors for the role of Geralt, but ultimately she knew he was the right choice for the actor.

@paramountplus / CBS / Via giphy.com

Plenty of people were probably surprised when they tuned into Frasier and were introduced to Niles Crane, seeing as Frasier had never mentioned having siblings on Cheers. (There's actually a joke about this in Season 2 of Frasier, when Ted Danson guest-stars as Sam Malone.)

It turns out there was never a plan for Frasier to have a brother. It wasn't until the casting director came across a photo of David Hyde Pierce and, struck by the resemblance between him and Kelsey Grammer, showed the creators.

At first, they weren't interested in bringing a brother into the picture, having just worked on Wings, but after watching some footage of Pierce, they "fell in love with him" and wrote the role of Niles.

Paramount Pictures

Harrison Ford was the first choice to start in Ghost, but according to Patrick Swayze's wife, Lisa Niemi, he read the script and was determined to play Sam.

Whoopi Goldberg, meanwhile, was having trouble being seen as more than a comedian, but Swayze campaigned for her to play Oda, and the two managed to land their respective roles after reading for director Jerry Zucker together.

"I was really fortunate that Patrick and Whoopi were able to read together so that I could see it in front of me and go, 'Yeah, that works,'" Zucker said. Goldberg ended up winning an Oscar for her performance.

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Shape of Water writer and director Guillermo del Toro had both actors in mind when he penned the script and told them both personally. After a few drinks, he approached Sally Hawkins at a Golden Globes afterparty, telling her, "I'm writing a movie for you where you fall in love with a fish-man!'"

Octavia Spencer revealed that, during a three-hour conversation that was supposed to be a half-hour meeting, the project didn't come up until the last few minutes, when he told her he'd written a part for her. She signed on sight unseen.