Johnny Depp Snatched Titular Role From Tom Cruise Due to THIS Hilarious Issue
Johnny Depp has several titular roles under his belt, but he almost never had one of those because of Tom Cruise.
Hollywood has been blessed with several award-winning actors, including Depp and Cruise. Although their fortes are extremely different, Cruise was actually tapped to play a character in a Tim Burton movie before the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star went on to portray the role.
Depp's skyrocketing career is rooted in the early movies and series he starred in, especially his works with the renowned filmmaker. However, his first meeting with Burton almost never happened Cruise was supposed to be the original star of "Edward Scissorhands."
The film served as the first collaboration between Depp and Burton. But "Edward Scissorhands" writer Caroline Thompson told Dazed Digital that Amber Heard's ex-husband got the role after Cruise failed to get the part.
According to Thompson, the "Top Gun" star lost his position as he did not stop asking how Edward went to the bathroom. He reportedly bombarded the writer and director with questions that broke Burton's vision of having a family movie.
"He was asking the kind of questions about the character that can't be asked for this character! Part of the delicacy of the story was not answering questions like, 'How does he go to the bathroom? How did he live without eating all those years?'" she recalled.
Thompson added that Cruise did not want to continue to appear in the movie unless his questions would be answered.
Johnny Depp Scored Uncommonly Gentle Man's Role
After Cruise lost the role, more A-listers were considered to replace him before Depp. Tom Hanks and Gary Oldman received the offer but turned it down.
Jim Carrey, William Hurt, Robert Downey Jr., and Michael Jackson also joined the long list of the potential actors who could have had made it to the role. But after going through them, Burton went back to his first choice - Depp.
To prepare for the role, the "Fantastic Beasts" star reportedly binge-watched Charlie Chaplin films to master the art of creating sympathy without dialogue.
But after finalizing everything and releasing the film, "Edward Scissorhands" gained commendable box-office sales, which the then-president of 20th Century Fox, Joe Roth, compared to "E.T-sized blockbuster." The film eventually earned $6,325,249 from 1,372 theaters during its opening weekend.
"Edward Scissorhands" then came home with a worldwide of $86.02 million, making it a box office success.
