The 10 Funniest Casting Decisions You Didn't Know About

Michael J. Fox wasn't the original choice to star as Mart McFly in "Back in the Future." They actually shot many scenes first with actor Eric Stoltz, but his chemistry with Christopher Lloyd ("Doc Brown") just wasn't working. You've probably heard this story before. But you haven't heard of these other casting decisions in Hollywood that didn't work out for obvious reasons. Here are the 10 Funniest Casting Decisions You Didn't Know About.

10. Shaquille O'Neal as Paul Rusesabagina in "Hotel Rwanda"


Shaq was awesome in his movie "Kazaam," and producers of "Hotel Rwanda" wanted to have a high-profile celebrity star in their film to draw mainstream audiences to a film about genocide. However, Shaq was unable to capture the emotion of the character as his vocabulary at the time was only up to 36 words. Afer ad-libbing several lines about "being fouled under the baskey," producers had to let him go.


9. Steve Buscemi as Spider-Man


Steve Buscemi is one of our finest actors, but the choice to cast him as Spider-Man was a huge mistake. Despite 9 months in the gym, this is the best he could to fill out the Spider-Man costume. The breaking point for producers came when Buscemi's teeth ripped through five Spider-Man masks. Buscemi still refuses to fix his teeth.

8. Mel Gibson as Oskar Schindler in "Schindler's List"

This should have been a warning sign about Mel Gibson. While playing the role of Oskar Schindler, Gibson laughed his ass off everytime a Jew was killed. He didn't make it past the first day.

7. Flavor Fav as "Troy Bolton" in "High School Musical"

Before they decided on Zac Efron, producers tried out Flavor Flav for the role of Troy Bolton in "High School Musical" to bring the film a more urban feel. However, Mr. Flav refused to remove the giant clock around his neck. One producer said, "For continuity purposes, every time we made a cut in editing, the time on his clock would skip forward or jump pack. It just didn't work out." Also, Flavor Fav reportedly wasn't happy on the set, saying, "Don't get me wrong. I love bitches, but this is way too many in one movie."

6. Paris Hilton as the Virgin Mary in "The Passion of the Christ"

Paris Hilton did a screen test for the controversial Mel Gibson film "The Passion of the Christ." However, she quickly discovered she had auditioned for the wrong role. She reportedly said, "Oh, not this Mary. The other Mary, that one that was a filthy whore."


5. Rosie O'Donnell as "Sue Storm" in "Fantastic Four"

Producers wanted to create a lot of comedy in "Fantastic Four" and picked funny woman Rosie O'Donnell to play the role of "Sue Storm." However, the cinematographer objected to O'Donnell as the Ben Grimm character completely disappeared when Rosie stood in front of him.


4. Larry the Cable Guy as Harvey Milk in "Milk"

Larry the Cable Guy, whose real name is Daniel Whitney, attempted his first dramatic role as Harvey Milk. But Larry didn't quite get the message of the movie when he observed that there "sure were a lot of fags on this movie set, don't you think?"


3. John Goodman as "Andrew Beckett" in "Philadelpia"

"Philadelphia" was a touching and truly amazing story. But before Tom Hanks signed up to play a lawyer, Andrew Beckett, who is fired by a conservative law firm because of AIDS. Goodman had challenged himself to lose an incredible amount of weight for this AIDS-stricken character. However, this was also the year that McDonalds came out with the McRib and Goodman actually gained weight.

2. Amy Winehouse as Queen Elizabeth II in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"

Director Shekhar gave singer Amy Winehouse her first dramatic role in a feature film. However, Winehouse's drug problems spread to the movie set.

1. Clay Aiken as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in "The Wrestler"

Director Darren Aronofsky wanted to really challenge himself by originally choosing Clay Aiken to play the role of beaten down wrestler. "I wanted to prove that as a great director, you can take any actor and make them thrive in that role." Unfortunately, Aiken didn't work out too well in the wrestling scenes, insisting on creating his own signature wrestling move called "The Rim Job."