1. - Tom Wilkinson, John Adams, TV, 2007. HBO and director Tom Hooper’s first choice for Benjamin Franklin. Rush made sure he was available to be King George VI’s speech therapist in Hooper’s next gig, The King’s Speech, 2010, earning Rush an Oscar nomination.

2. - Mark Strong, Green Lantern, 2010. No matter how often the directors changed (from Tarantino, Zack Snyder, Greg Berlanti (the film’s producer and co-scenarist) to, ultimately, 007’s Martin Campbell, Rush had to pass on the villainous Sinestro (originally based on David Niven) - far too busy being King George VI’s speech therapist in multi-award winner, The King’s Speech.

3. - Sacha Baron Cohen, Les Misérables, 2012. After making The King’s Speech together, Rush was rapidly short-listed by his Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper for the thoroughly dastardly Monsieur Thenardier. But...