15 Surprising Stories Of Celebrities Getting Cut Out Of Famous Films

They cut out Leonardo DiCaprio?!

1. Leonardo DiCaprio was cut out of the 1992 thriller Poison Ivy, starring Drew Barrymore.

ABC, New Line

Leonardo recently told Marc Maron on his WTF podcast that back when he was appearing on the sitcom Growing Pains, he was cast as a character who was supposed to deliver a somewhat wordy insult to Sarah Gilbert's character. He couldn't get it right, though, so the director simplified things and told him to just enter the room, look at Sarah, and say, "Problems." In the end, the whole bit was cut from the movie.

2. Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future — and filmed the role for five weeks! — before being replaced by Michael J. Fox.

Universal

Basically, after five weeks, director Robert Zemeckis decided Eric just wasn't working as Marty. According to the book We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy, part of the problem was that Eric's take on the role was too serious, and he wasn't delivering on the script's humor.

3. Daisy Ridley would have made her first appearance in a major motion picture in The Inbetweeners 2 but had her performance cut.

Justin Tallis / Getty Images, Film4/Bwark

Daisy filmed a scene that was supposed to open the film, but months later the filmmakers decided they wanted to reshoot it (for non-Daisy reasons). Unfortunately, by then she was busy shooting Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so they had to recast the role.

4. Speaking of Star Wars, Prince William and Prince Harry shot cameos as stormtroopers in Star Wars: The Last Jedi but were cut out in the end.

Wpa Pool / Getty Images

The brothers didn't mess up their cameo royally (sorry) but, rather, were cut because they stand over 6 feet tall and looked out of place with the rest of the more average-height stormtroopers.

5. Sterling K. Brown was cut out of M. Night Shyamalan's Split.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images, Universal

The This Is Us star played a professor/neighbor who advises Betty Buckley's Dr. Karen Fletcher character about her patient Kevin. Unfortunately, M. Night decided that Sterling's scene took the film away from its main focus too long. You can watch one of his deleted scenes here.

6. Paul Rudd's part as a bad date of Kristen Wiig's Annie was cut out of Bridesmaids.

Universal

According to director Paul Feig, Paul was very funny in his scene but the movie was already running long, and there really wasn't a need for a third man in Annie's life. You can see some of Paul's cut performance here.

7. Harrison Ford made a cameo in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial but ended up forever an outtake.

Universal

Considering that E.T. was written by Harrison's then-wife, Melissa Mathison, and directed by his Raiders of the Lost Ark collaborator Steven Spielberg, it makes sense that Harrison would make a cameo. But his part as an uptight principal who reads Elliott the riot act after all the drama in the escaping-frogs scene didn't add much, so out it went.

8. Seven years before Robert Pattinson played Reese Witherspoon's love interest in Water for Elephants, he played her son in a part that was cut out of Vanity Fair.

Robert Marquardt / Getty Images

Since Reese is only nine years older than Robert, they make a whole lot more sense as a couple than as mother and son, which might have something to do with why his scenes were cut. You can see one of his cut scenes here.

9. Shailene Woodley shot scenes as an iconic Marvel character in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 but didn't make it into the final film.

Larry Busacca / Getty Images, Sony

If you know Spider-Man's history, you know that after Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone in the films) is killed, Peter eventually finds love again with Mary Jane Watson. Shailene filmed a small role as Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with the plan to bring her back in a larger role in the third film in the series. But as director Marc Webb told the Los Angeles Times, “It felt like a distraction. You can’t have Peter thinking about Gwen every moment and then there’s this girl next door who’s suddenly there.” Alas, the third film in the series never happened, and Shailene never appeared as Mary Jane.

10. Angela Bassett shot scenes as a villain in the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith but got the ax.

Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images, 20th Century Fox

Director Doug Liman initially filmed scenes with Jacqueline Bisset playing the role, then reshot the part with Angela. In the end, neither actor appeared in the film (save for Angela's voice on the phone). The director told Entertainment Weekly her character was cut because he reconceived the film's ending.

11. Matt Damon filmed a cameo reprising his Linus Caldwell character from Ocean's 11 (and its two sequels) in the woman-lead reboot of the series, Ocean's 8, but was left on the cutting room floor.

Warner Bros.

Matt's appearance was likely cut partially for plot reasons — Carl Reiner was also cut out after filming scenes as his Ocean's 11 character. But according to the Mercury News, another reason was a petition that asked for Matt to be removed because of his "thoughtless and sexist comments about Harvey Weinstein."

12. Jena Malone was cut out of the theatrical release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Warner Bros.

Jena's performance was included in the "Ultimate Edition" home video release, however. That's Jena above as Jenet Klyburn, a weapons expert and ballistics specialist at S.T.A.R. Labs who helps Lois Lane.

13. Tim Roth filmed scenes for Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood but didn't make it into the final film.

Charley Gallay

Tim has delivered memorable performances in a number of Quentin Tarantino films, like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and The Hateful Eight, but his role as Jay Sebring’s British butler didn't make it into this year's Oscar contender.

14. Ellen Pompeo filmed a key role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but she's not in the final film.

Focus Features

Ellen (seen in a deleted scene above) played Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend Naomi, but director Michel Gondry decided not to use her scenes, perhaps for reasons expounded upon in this video essay.

15. Kevin Spacey's performance as J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World was entirely cut out of the film following sexual assault allegations.

Sony

The part was entirely reshot with Christopher Plummer (who earned an Academy Award nomination for his work), although the actor he replaced can be seen in one wide shot.