Actors are the reflection of the stories they tell; which in turn are the reflection of the society we live in. Often, these actors end up becoming larger than life for their fans around the globe. Also, with audiences world over waking up to the power of cinema, actors are no longer restricted to one particular geographical location. With their amazing on-screen work and fascinating off-screen lives, actors become legends and their stories become urban tales.
Hence, we’ve compiled a list of 20 such urban tales surrounding your favorite Hollywood actors.
So, here’re 20 fascinating facts about your favorite actors that you didn’t already know.
1. Nicolas Cage was paid $20 million for playing Superman in a movie which got shelved.
This almost happened. Nic Cage was almost going to be Superman for Tim Burton’s Superman Lives in 1998 which never got made.
2. A man pointed a gun at Sean Connery on a film set, only to be swiftly disarmed and tossed on the ground by Connery.
Actress Lana Turner who was shooting with Sean Connery when her boyfriend Johnny Stompanato barged on to the sets of the film to threaten Sean Connery with a gun. The 6ft. 2 in. bond actor bent Stompanato’s arm making him drop the weapon.
Sir Sean Connery, ladies and gentlemen.
3. Sean Bean has died in over 25 films and TV shows.
Well, well… We’re not surprised.
4. Bill Murray doesn’t have an agent. You can leave him a voicemail message, hoping that he’ll like the project and will get back to you.
Some say, Bill Murray missed out on great roles because of not having an agent but it’s trivia like this that makes Murray stand a hundred miles ahead of other actors in his league. No, you won’t find this number on the Internet. We tried.
5. Ronald Reagan was denied the role of a President because he didn’t look the part.
The 40th President of the United States of America was primarily an actor before actively venturing into politics. Reagan once auditioned for the part of a president in a play called “The Best Man” in 1960 but the producers thought he didn’t look presidential enough for the part.
People still argue whether he was presidential enough for being the actual President of the United States, but that’s another story.
6. 2010 was the first year since 1974 that Christopher Walken didn’t appear in a movie.
That’s 36 years of consistency. What the what!
7. Jim Carrey was Disney’s first choice to play Cap’n Jack Sparrow.
Director Gore Verbinksi’s first choice to play the legendary pirate was Jim Carrey. Unfortunately for Carrey, production schedule of The Curse of The Black Pearl co-incided with the shoot of Bruce Almighty.
8. Matthew McConaughey claims he hasn’t worn deodorant in 20 years.
This news first came to light when Matthew McConaughey was shooting for Fool’s Gold with Kate Hudson who begged McConaughey to use a deodorant during the shoot, where he was shirtless for most part. As his fans, we choose to embrace denial with this stinky piece of information.
9. Jennifer Lawrence auditioned for the role of Bella in Twilight.
Before Katniss from The Hunger Games, J Law auditioned for the role of Bella in the Twilight series. Jennifer Lawrence is glad she lost the role to Kristen Stewart. So are we Jen, so are we.
10. In his 1992 autobiography, Mark Wahlberg wrote a dedication to his penis.
Two decades later, the actor regrets dedicating his autobiography to his penis. He said “I thought it would be funny”, he said. It kind of is, Marky Mark!
11. Brad Pitt was nearly beaten up by Mike Tyson when he was dating Tyson’s estranged wife, Robin Givens in 1989.
Mike Tyson says in his book, Undisputed Truth that he once saw a blond who he thought was a woman get out of his then-wife’s car. The blond was none other than a disheveled Brad Pitt who said “Dude, don’t strike me . . . we were just going over some lines” with a terrified look on his face.
12. Jim Carrey has never been nominated for an Academy Award.
He’s won Golden Globe multiple times but hasn’t been nominated for an Oscar yet. And Jim Carrey being Jim Carrey has made fun of this factoid on numerous occasions.
13. Nicolas Cage turned down the part of Neo in the Matrix.
Nic Cage, who’s one of the easiest actors to make fun of in Hollywood today, thanks to a bad hairdo and questionable movie choices, was once the most sought after player in the game. He reportedly denied doing Matrix as it was being shot in Australia and he didn’t think he was mature as an actor for it.
14. Michael Jackson paid a witch doctor $150,000 to put a curse on Steven Spielberg.
According to Vanity Fair, Michael contacted a witch doctor in Mali to finish off his perceived enemies, those that include David Geffen and Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, reportedly had denied Jackson a role in his unsuccessful film Hook. This story gets weirder with each reading.
15. James Franco got a “D” in his acting class at NYU. This happened while he was filming “127 Hours.”
The stories goes that Franco had enrolled in an NYU acting class where the teacher graded his work as “D”. This was while he was working on 127 Hours. Another part of this story is that the professor was later fired for grading Franco’s work as “D”.
16. Robin Williams’ last line in Good Will Hunting, “That son of a bitch stole my line,” was ad-libbed.
According to Matt Damon, during the last line, Robin Williams would say a different line in each take and the moment he said “Son of a bitch, he stole my line”, Damon grabbed director Gus Van Sant as he knew they had got the perfect shot.
17. Chris Hemsworth’s real life wife stood in for Natalie Portman in the kissing scene at the end of ‘Thor: The Dark World’.
Natalie Portman said that there’s a reason her kiss with Chris Helmsworth at the end of Thor: The Dark World is so steamy. That’s because she wasn’t in it. Chris was in Hong Kong and Natalie couldn’t reach there in time for the re-shoots so the makers put Chris’s real life wife actress Elsa Pataky in Natalie Portman’s wig and costume. #RelationshipGoals
In case you were wondering, this is Chris Helmsworth and his wife, actress Elsa Pataky.
18. Nicolas Cage named his son Kal-el after Superman.
Nicolas Cage and his wife wanted the name of their son to be something good, unique and something that’s American. According to Nic Cage, Kal-El from Superman fits the bill and has a nice ring to it.
19. Robert Downey Jr. was once arrested after driving naked in his Porche with cocaine, heroine, and a .357 Magnum.
Downey was once found driving naked in his Porsche on Sunset Boulevard, naked, in possession of cocaine, heroine and a .357 Magnum. After doing time in prison and rehab center, Downey turned his life around and how!
20. At age 37, Jack Nicholson discovered that the woman he’d always thought his sister was actually his mother.
The initial reason for keeping up this charade was that his mother, June, had gotten pregnant with him at the age of 16 with someone unknown (he still doesn’t know, but doesn’t care to find out either). June’s mother wanted June to continue to pursue her promising dancing career, thus she would take care of Jack posing as his mother, with June as his sister.
