Hollywood seems like a wonderful place to those of us who don’t read too deeply about its history. It’s where movie magic is made, and it’s full of shiny celebrities, and that seems really nice.
Actors are elevated to great heights in our minds because of the roles they play and the people we want them to be in real life. The stories behind those roles aren’t always what you think, however. Sometimes an actor stumbles into a role for some very unexpected reasons.
10. Bill Murray Thought Garfield Was a Coen Bros Movie
At this point in his career, Bill Murray is as much an urban legend as he is a man. There are stories of random people meeting him in the most unexpected places and being briefly befriended by the eccentric comedian and it happens so often that someone made a documentary about it. It’s hard to know if everything you think you know about Bill Murray is true.
As for what Murray has had to say about his own work, it’s just as weird. For instance, he famously voiced Garfield the Cat in the animated movie that came out in 2004, something he later made a joke about in the movie Zombieland.
Murray, who started out doing comedy and is more known for quirky, prestige comedy dramas these days, seemed like he was slumming it in the movie Garfield and people wanted to know why. So, in an interview, he explained what happened.
Garfield was written by a man named Joel Cohen. According to Murray, he mistook him for Joel Coen, one of the famous Coen brothers from movies like Fargo.
Murray explained that once they agreed to pay him enough, he finally went to record his lines after only reading a couple of pages, and they were all terrible. He complained so much that someone had to explain it wasn’t the Joel Coen he was thinking of.
That story’s all fine and good, of course, but he did return for a sequel as well, so it seems like maybe the job wasn’t that confusing after all.
9. Coolio Was Promised a Role in Batman 5 to be in Batman and Robin
The Batman franchise has been an absolute rollercoaster through pop culture. From the original comics to the campy ’60s show it was always something the public had a general idea of. Then Tim Burton brought a dark and quirky Batman story to the big screen with Michael Keaton in the title role and kicked off what could be considered the modern superhero blockbuster era.
That Batman franchise had four parts with three different actors in the cowl. Each film was received a bit worse than the movie before it once Burton left the director’s chair, too.
By 1997’s Batman and Robin starring George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the franchise had run its course. The movie was critically shredded, and the franchise died for over a decade before it was rebooted by Christoper Nolan with The Dark Knight in 2008.
Batman and Robin was notable for giving us Batgirl and bat-nipples on the bat-suits, but it also featured rapper Coolio in an extremely weird cameo. He doesn’t do much except oversee a race, and it’s odd that such a recognizable face filled the role.
According to Coolio, it wasn’t just because he wandered by the set one day. He says director Joel Schumacher promised him a role in the planned sequel, what would have been Batman 5, as the villain Scarecrow. His appearance in Batman and Robin would have just set him up as an in-universe character. But that sequel never happened and Coolio never got the role.
8. Patch Adams Agreed to The Movie About His Life in Exchange for Funding He Never Got
Patch Adams was one of Robin Williams’ most famous roles, in which he plays the titular doctor who uses humor to help treat his patients. In real life, Dr. Adams has been accused of being a bit of a jerk and not nearly as lovable as Williams made him seem.
If the man isn’t so loving and fun, why did he ever agree to a goofy yet heartfelt movie about his life? Turns out he may have been duped a little, and that could be why he’s a jerk. This is a chicken or egg situation.
Adams is on record saying he hated the movie, and it’s not just because it was a little sappy. He says that the producers agreed to help fund his nonprofit healthcare project in exchange for making the movie. But then they never paid for anything.
Adams also had issues with his portrayal in the film, which he felt made him and the work he did seem dumb at best. Critics agreed, and the movie has a very poor rating overall, something which the real Adams felt was a kick in the teeth in terms of the actual work he does and the people he tries to help.
7. Brian Cox Thought the 007 Reality Show He Hosted Was a Movie
In 2023, a James Bond-themed reality show called 007: Road to a Million debuted on Prime. The show forces couples – friends, siblings, spouses, or whatever – to solve clues and find money in exotic European locations in what is loosely related to the idea of spies and James Bond. It was hosted by Succession star Brian Cox, which gave it some clout.
Cox later said he agreed to be on the show because he was called and asked about it. He was very excited to be in a James Bond movie, which is what he thought he was agreeing to, so he signed up. He had wanted to be in one for years. It was only later that they clarified for him that this was not a 007 movie, but a reality show.
6. Will Smith Did Fresh Prince Because He Was Broke
Will Smith’s career may have started as a sort of goofy, PG-rated rapper but it was his turn as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that made him a household name and propelled him to stardom. From there he became, for a time, one of the biggest actors in the world.
There’s a world in which Smith never became the Fresh Prince, though, and it’s easy to imagine. He was not eager to become a sitcom star; it hadn’t been his big dream or the goal of his career. Instead, it was something he agreed to because he was in a financial bind with the IRS and it was an easy way to get out.
He once explained that, after his song “Parents Just Don’t Understand” hit it big, he was not entirely responsible with his money. He was soon famous but entirely broke, and needed to pay taxes on all the money he’d wasted.
The IRS repossessed most of what Smith had bought, things like a car and motorcycle. His second album was not a hit, so a girlfriend suggested he “hang around the Arsenio Hall Show” and try to meet someone famous. That advice is absolutely baffling but not as baffling as the fact it worked. Smith ran into Quincy Jones, the two got to talking, and he pitched the Fresh Prince idea. The rest is history.
5. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Agreed to be in Airplane! For a Rug
It’s rare that a pro athlete becomes an actor, or at least a prolific one, but many athletes have had a turn or two on camera. Back in 1980, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a memorable role in the comedy Airplane! And the story of how he ended up in the film is as goofy as the movie itself.
The co-pilot role was originally written for baseball player Pete Rose, but he declined. The producers were able to get in touch with Jabbar, but he had a stipulation. He wanted an additional $5,000 on top of the promised salary because there was a rug he wanted to buy. That was the only way they’d get him on board.
Producers agreed to the rug bonus, and Jabbar starred in the movie, delivering some of its most memorable lines.
4. Leonard Nimoy Only Agreed to Wrath of Khan Because Spock Died
The cast of the original Star Trek was known to have their ups and downs over the years in terms of how they felt about fans, about the show, and each other. The show debuted in the ’60s, after all, and then had a resurgence in the ’80s with films that led to The Next Generation and now a massive Trek universe of shows and movies.
Back in the ’80s, Leonard Nimoy was happy to distance himself from his role as Spock. He was not a fan of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and didn’t want to return to make Wrath of Khan because he didn’t want to make another bad movie.
Nimoy was talked into starring in the movie when they told him Spock would die. He agreed killing Spock would be better than just not appearing at all, so he came back. He would come back for part three as well when the studio allowed Nimoy to direct as well as star.
3. Celine Dion Only Agreed to Record My Heart Will Go On as Demo
You could make a good argument that Celine Dion’s most famous song is “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic. Being one of the highest-grossing films ever, the song had a lot of reach that none of her other music ever could. The fact she never wanted to sing it makes it even more interesting.
On the day she recorded the song, Dion wanted to skip it. She says she was tired; it was probably late, and the song never appealed to her, anyway. It was her husband who convinced her to try it as a demo track if nothing else. Just something she could bang out quickly, and then they could go home.
She recorded it and that recording ended up being what was used in Titanic, a song that stayed in the number one Billboard spot for 16 weeks.
2. Randy Savage Only Agreed to Wrestle a Hamster If It Was a Boy
Besides a long career of parody songs, Weird Al has had several moments to shine on TV and in movies. His show The Weird Al Show from the 1990s was as weird as you’d expect and featured skits, music, and guests. In one episode he had wrestler Randy Macho Man Savage on, and part of his appearance involved wrestling a hamster.
Wrestling a hamster is goofy and that should be all you need to know about it but it was not all Randy Savage needed to know. For whatever reason, Savage had a hard time understanding the joke. In the skit he’s supposed to lose and, apparently, it was very hard to get Savage to understand this because he felt like he should not lose to a hamster. He thought it would be bad for his image.
When he finally understood the joke, he had one caveat that needed producers to confirm before he agreed to the part. The hamster had to be a boy, because he didn’t want to lose to a girl.
1. The Cast of Starship Troopers Agreed To the Shower Scene Only If The Director Also Got Naked
Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers is, on its surface, a very goofy sci-fi action movie full of vaguely dumb characters blowing up bugs in space. But there is some serious satire of war and governments behind all that, the sort you’d expect from the man behind RoboCop.
One of the most well known scenes in the movie takes place in a shower. The entire squad, male and female, shower together. It’s very casual in the movie and the idea is that these are soldiers and they do everything together, who cares if it’s co-ed. But in real life, these were actors being put into an uncomfortable situation.
Before they agreed to do the scene, one member of the co-ed cast had a demand of Verhoeven. They’d get naked if he agreed to do it with them. That was probably part joke, part challenge, and part effort to feel less exploited overall.
Verhoeven had “no problem” with the request, so when you watch that scene know that not just the cast, but the director and also his cinematographer, who apparently came from a nudist colony as a youth, stripped down.