Would a Hollywood studio ever make two movies with everything the same but with a different lead actor?
Question by Variant7: Would a Hollywood studio ever make two movies with everything the same but with a different lead actor?
I sometimes wonder how a movie would be different if everything was the same, but they had a different actor or actress in the lead role. I’m curious to see how that would change the tone of the movie, and how the interactions with the rest of the cast would be different.
For example, I heard that Will Smith was a casting consideration for The Matrix (which Keanu Reeves got). I also read that Ewan McGregor was considered for the role of Jack in Titanic (which went to Leonardo DiCaprio). I think these movies would have a different look and feel if these other casting choices were made.
Do you think a movie studio would ever make the same picture twice (filmed simultaneously), kind of like as a fun experiment? People would most likely go to see both versions of the film, just to see how the different lead role changes the film. An example is that Eric Stoltz was originally cast as the lead role in the Back To The Future movie (which they started filming with him); however, they found it didn’t have the comedic effect they wanted, and so they decided to replace him with Michael J. Fox.
So, do you think a movie studio would ever do this?
Best answer:
Answer by JimKF
I think it’s only been done once, a long time ago. In 1931, Universal filmed two Dracula’s at the same time. One was in English with Bela Lugosi and another in Spanish with Spanish actors. They used the same script and sets but filmed at different times. I think one was filmed during the day and the other at night. Some horror buffs feel the Spanish version is actually better and scarier. It is very good. The Dracula Legacy DVD set has both versions.
With the cost of making a film so high, I don’t think any studio would take a chance on making the same film twice with different actors, unless they were sure they would make money on both films.
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