1. Matthew Broderick, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1986. And they said no!!! Also rejected as Ferris: Jim Carrey, Tom Cruise, John Cusack, Robert Downey Jr, Michael J Fox, Eric Stolz.
2. Adrian Pasdar, Near Dark, 1987. Auditioned for farm boy Caleb who, in order to see more of Jenny Wright, needed to join the undead.
3. Patrick Swayze, Ghost, 1990. Dropped out to wear Edward's scissorhands.
4. Brad Pitt, Thelma & Louise, 1990.
5. Bill Campbell, The Rocketeer, 1991. Disney wanted him. “He’s a very fine actor but I don’t think he has the vulnerability Bill has, he doesn’t have the innocence,” said director (and ex-ILMagic man) Joe Johnston, who obviously knew little of actors and nothing of Edward Scissorhands.
6. William Baldwin, Backdraft, 1991. Phew! What an escape.
7. Christian Slater, Mobsters, 1992. Wise move, like Matt Dillon before him, “I can’t point the finger and blame anybody else,” commented Slater. “Completely my choice. I guarantee you Mobsters will not be in my DVD library.”
8. Keanu Reeves, Dracula, 1992. Or how Bram Stoker saved Francis Coppola’s Zoetrope from bankruptcy.
9. Campbell Scott, Singles, 1992. A reluctant Johnny told Cameron Crowe: “I’m not ready to say ‘I love you’ in a movie the way I would have to say it in Singles.”
10. Sebastian Roche, Household Saints, 1992. Vied with Aidan Quinn to play a cameo of... Jesus.
    
11. Robert Downey Jr, Chaplin, 1992. As proved in Benny & Joon and again in Dead Man, Buster Keaton was more an influence on Depp.
12. Woody Harrelson, Indecent Proposal, 1993. First choice after first choice Tom Cruise refused to be the husband selling his wife for a night for $1m to a horny tycoon played by Robert Redford... aided by porno stud Randy West as his body double.
13. Charlie Sheen, The Three Musketeers, 1993. After the Sherwood Forest clash, four musketeer movies were planned. Johnny agreed to D’Artagnan, the most grimy realistic number, by his Benny & Joon-maker Jeremiah Chechik. Tri-Star refused a pay-or-play deal and the Disney project swept through as the winner wanting Depp for Aramis opposite Brad Pitt (finally O’Donnell) as D’Artagnan..
14. Keanu Reeves, Speed, 1993. Die Hard On A Bus! The studio wanted someone with more clout than Reeves as the hero of Bus 2525 - the one with a bomb aboard! And Depp was in the Jack mix, alongside Billy and Stephen Baldwin, Jeff Bridges, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks (!), Michael Keaton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and, of course, Die Hard star Bruce Willis. A year later Depp was saying if that is what muscles can do for Reeves... and he rushed into John Badham’s thriller, Nick of Time. More rush, less, er...
15. Brad Pitt, Legends of the Fall, 1994. Passed on the fall from innocence.
16. William Baldwin, Sliver, 1994. Billy Baldwin never learned about not picking up Depp’s leavings the first time.
17. Tom Cruise, Interview With The Vampire, 1994.
18. Linden Ashby, Mortal Kombat, 1994.      Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon, was set for Johnny Cage in the $20m debut of the franchise based on the video game, when accidentally shot dead during The Crow, 1993. Next contenders - Depp, Tom Cruise, Gary Daniels and Jean-Claude Van Damme (how did they get in there?). They were all bypassed by the Floridian surfer and martial arts champ.
19. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Basketball Diaries, 1995. Interested some years before in Jim Carroll’s semi-autobiography.
20. Kevin Kline, French Kiss, 1995. Director Lawrence Larry Kasdan’s - more Meg Ryan’s - first idea for the passionate Frenchman after Depardieu had no room for it in his packed schedule.
    
21. John Leguizamo, To Wong Fu, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, 1995.      Johnny is exactly what was required to stop the drag number from being a drag.
22. Antonio Banderas, Assassins, 1995.      A year earlier, the Sylvester Stallone-Banderas combo was seen as Wesley Snipes-Depp.
23. Val Kilmer, Heat, 1995.      His price was too high for a budget already paying for Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and auteur Michael Mann.
24. Javier Bardem, Perdita Durango, Mexico-USA-Spain, 1996. Romeo wherefore art thou.... He had been Javier Bardem, then Depp when Spanish director Bigas Luna prepped the movie - and finally, Bardem again for Alex de la Iglesia.
25. Michael J Fox, Mars Attacks! 1996.      Of course, director Tim Burton called on Johnny. And, of course, Johnny said... well, he said No on this occasion. (Very wise).
26. Val Kilmer, The Saint, 1997. Among Roger Moore’s 80s/90s projects was producing a St Pierce Brosnan (!) or being the ageing hero, finding his illegitimate Saint son - nearly Ralph Fiennes for director Sydney Pollack. Fiennes was then asked to be the real Simon Templar by final director Philip Noyce. So were: Costner, Ralph Fiennes, Gibson, Hugh Grant. Kilmer... who later admitted to Moore: “We really screwed that up, didn’t we?”
27. Matthew Broderick, Addicted To Love, 1997.      Meg Ryan tried again - for Griffin Dunne's directing debut.
28. Jude Law, Gattaca, 1997.      Too busy preparing his dir-acting debut, The Brave, to play third DNA banana to Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman.
29. James Caviezel, The Thin Red Line, 1998.      “Let’s sign this napkin,” Depp told director Terrence Malick at Sunset Blvd's Book Soup Bistro. “You tell me where to show up, when, what to play.” Twenty years after Days Of Heaven, the new generation longed to join Malick’s comeback.
30. Tom Cruise Eyes Wide Shut, 1998.     Stanley Kubrick  (wisely) considered Depp for  Dr William Harford. Kubrick’s final film sucked due to Cruise and the missus.  And Kubrick.
    
31. Keanu Reeves, The Matrix, 1999. The Wachowski brothers’ obvious choice for Neo. Warners voted: Brad Pitt or Val Kilmer. They passed. OK, said Warners: Johnny Depp or Keanu Reeves. (As if that was a choice).
32. Kevin Kline, Wild, Wild West, 1999. Director Barry Sonenfeld was allowed to go for broke to attract Will Smith as West, James West. Had more trouble filling Artemus Gordon's boots.
33. Loren Dean, Mumford, 1999.      Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan sought him as Mumford town’s popular “shrink.” Dr Mumford.
34. James Franco, James Dean, TV, 2001.      Johnny (and then his one-time screen brother, DiCaprio) were up for LA auteur Michael Man’s bio-project before it became Mark Rydell’s lame tele-movie.
35. Sam Rockwell, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, 2002.      Johnny talked to Bryan Singer about a fifth true-life role - as Chuck Barris, TV's Gong Show host and, so he claimed, a CIAssassin. Singer quit for X-Men II, letting George Clooney make his (superb) directing debut. Depp stayed around as exec producer. He could not play every cuckoo in town
36. Eric Bana, Hulk, 2003. In the lead during the earlier race, when the effects were just not brilliant enough in the 90s. (And plain stupid in 2003).
37. Matt Damon, The Brothers Grimm, 2004.      When director Terry Gilliam (and MGM) was planning on Depp, Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman. Except Tim Burton was not directing.
38. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Aviator, 2004. The Hughes brothers, Allen and Albert, planned a Howard Hughes story for their From Hell star. This once, director Martin Scorsese moved faster.
39. Kevin Spacey, Beyond The Sea, 2004. When his 164-page scenario did not attract Tom Cruise, auteur Barry Levinson turned (as most people were doing) to Johnny. Finally. it was Spacey, the mega Bobby Darin fan, who wrote, directed acted and sang the biopic - and cut costs by making it (rather well) in Germany.
40. Jim Carrey, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, 2004. No time for the lead role - three hours of make-up!
    
41. Jude Law, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, 2004. ... nor even to stick around as Lemony’s voice narrating the story.
42. Martin Henderson, Bride and Predujice, 2004.      Gurinder Chadha’s inevitable first choice for Darcy in her slice of Bollywood Meets Jane Austen. Second choice: Joaquin Phoenix.
43. Brad Pitt, Mr and Mrs Smith, 2005.      Over-stretched with a mass of projects. If he had not passed, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt would never  have been born  to Brad and Angelina Jolie in 2006.  Destiny!
44. Benicio Del Torrro, Sin City, 2005.      Johnny was reserved for Wallace in Hell And Back until that Frank Miller tale was dropped. Robert Rodriguez then asked  Depp to be Jackie Boy and then, Depp could not get free. Part of Jackie’s story (when  he was actually dead) was guest-directed by Quentin Tarantino.
45. Toby Jones, Infamous, 2006.      Second consecutive film study of Truman Capote writing In Cold Blood, with an even better performance than that of the Oscar-awarded Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote, 2005.  Even the  magic Depp could not have bettered Jones.
46. Jean Reno, Flushed Away, 2006.      Jean Reno proudly beat Johnny, Kevin Kline and Stellan Skarsgard to voicing... wait for it... Le Frog.
47. Marlon Brando, Superman Returns, 2006.
48. Kevin Spacey, Superman Returns, 2006.
49. Colin Farrell, Ask The Dust, 2006. Even with Johnny aboard, Robert Towne’s script was continually shelved by one studio after another muddling the Depression with... depressing.
50. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight, 2007.
    
51. Mathieu Almaric, Le Scaphandre et le papillon, France-US, 2007.      Artist-turned-film-maker Julian Schnabel’s first choice for the paralysed Jean-Dominique Bauby had another date... with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.  Almaric’s brilliance led him to Spielberg and James Bond.
52. John Cusack, Shanghai, 2008.      Depp was once interested in the project of  Shanghai-born LA producer Mike Medavoy. Because, as his  usual director Tim Burton  said: “He didn't become an actor to be glamorous; he wanted to become characters. Those are the kinds of people I enjoy working with. They're not in it for the celebrity or the perks; they're doing it because they kind of want to hide. (Laughs) That's why I like him. He's more like Lon Chaney or Boris Karloff than he is Alan Ladd.”
53. Emile Hirsch, Speed Racer, 2008.      Depp was keen when Mexico’s Alfonso Cuarón was due to direct.  Not when he wasn’t.
54. Russell Crowe, State of Play, 2008.      Or, State of Delay as Brad Pitt called it after being stalled so long on it. When  he finally walked,   the role of journalist  Cal McAffrey was offered to Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, Tom  Hanks,  Crowe took over - after discussing the film with Ridley Scott... one  of the few directors never attached to it.
55. Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine, 2009.
56. Daniel Craig, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, 2010.
57. John Cusack, Shanghai, 2010. Depp was very keen in 2008 before the location work was banned by China. Cusack took over the spy hero Paul Soames - opposite Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li… in London and Thailand.
58. Ben Kingsley, Hugo, 2010. Depp and producer pal Graham King snapped up Brian Selznick's 2007 novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret - as a kids’ film for cinema fans. (Hence, a perfect vehicle for Martin Scorsese). The main character - after young Hugo - is French silent movie icon Georges Melies, the veritable father of Cameron, Jackson, Lucas, Spielberg... and now, Scorsese. Keeping a producer credit, Depp kept a back seat - and sat on it , playing guitar in the band at at the Gare Monparnasse in Paris.
59. James Franco, Oz, the Great and Powerful, 2011. When first planning the Wizard of Oz prequel, Disney asked Johnny Depp to enter the wizard’s hot-air balloon. Tim Burton wasn’t directing and Johnny was already due as Tonto in the studio’s The Lone Ranger. Downey was just as busy and refusing various offers. Enter: the actor-writer-director-painter-photographer of the moment, studying a PhD in English at Yale and digital art at the Rhode Island School of Design.
60. Chris Hemsworth, Snow White and the Huntsman, 2011. Like Michael Fassbender - among others - a-hunting, Johnny did not go. Perhaps because the huntsman went by the rather Monty Python name of... Eric.
    
61. Ben Foster, Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father, 2011. Depp refused The Son (he’d made his Mafia movie in 1996: Donnie Brasco). After numerous discussions with and/or about the British Dominic Cooper, Robert Downey Jr, James Franco and Shia LaBeouf, Foster eagerly rejoined his 1999 Liberty Heights-maker Barry Levinson to become John Gotti Jr. John Travolta was The Father... of New York’s Gambino Mafia family.
62. Ralph Fiennes, Grand Budapest Hotel, 2012. Wes Anderson’s follow-up to his 2012 summer hit, Moonrise Kingdom, had first been a Johnny Depp vehicle. He just couldn’t make ’em all.
63. Pierce Brosnan, A Long Way Down, 2012. Johnny nabbed the movie rights to Nick Hornby’s fourth book before its 2005 publication. But it was Brosnan helping to form a surrogate family on New Year’s Eve with Rosamund Pike, Aaron Paul and Toni Collette.
64. Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2013. Wes Anderson’s first choice for Mr Gustave, the much troubled yet perfectly composed concierge of the hotel, changed his reservation. Fiennes was an odd substitute. Opposite Adrien Brody, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton - and, of course, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson..
65. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, 2013. The lead in the Frank Mller-Robert Rodriguez sequel was Depp’s - but so were too many others. The latest flavour of the month - in everything from Dark Knight Rises to Lincoln - took over after surrendering offers for Guardians of the Galaxy.

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