13 stars who were almost cast in this year's biggest movies

When it came to casting the live-action version of "The Little Mermaid," director Rob Marshall said Styles came pretty close to landing the role of Prince Eric.

"We met with him. He was lovely. What a wonderful guy," Marshall told Entertainment Weekly in April.

He added, "But at the end of the day, he really felt like he wanted to go off and do the movies that he ended up doing, which were sort of darker," referring to Styles' roles in films like "Don't Worry Darling" (2022) and "My Policeman" (2022).

Prince Eric was ultimately played by British actor Jonah Hauer-King.

In 2018, Lizzo posted a video belting out the song "Poor Unfortunate Souls" in full Ursula attire.

Lizzo later revealed that she did a formal audition for the role in 2019, but Melissa McCarthy wound up getting cast as the "Little Mermaid" villain.

"Everyone knows I auditioned for Ursula in 'The Little Mermaid,' and I didn't get it. But you know, I'm fine as hell," Lizzo told Variety in 2022. "That has nothing to do with Ursula, but I was down to make Ursula a THOT, shaking ass."

In the latest "Fast and Furious" installment, "Fast X," Reeves may have nearly played the film's key villain. But the role of Aimes went to "Reacher" actor Alan Ritchson instead.

"I was working on a movie with Hilary Swank up in Winnipeg in the freezing cold, and I got a call that things had shifted in the plans with Keanu Reeves, which is I think who was originally intended to play my part," Ritchson told Entertainment Weekly in May.

Although Ritchson said he was grateful for the role, the actor also admitted that replacing Reeves was a "tough act to follow."

In A24's "Dream Scenario," Cage starred as Paul Matthews, a college professor who inexplicably starts appearing in other people's dreams.

But in September, director Kristoffer Borgli told Collider that the lead role was almost played by Sandler.

"I think that looking back, in retrospect, it's impossible for me to unsee Nic in this part," Borgli said. "He just made the character so watchable and interesting."

Before "Guardians of the Galaxy" star Chris Pratt was cast as Mario in "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," comedian Maniscalco auditioned to voice the iconic video-game character.

During a May appearance on "Live With Kelly & Mark," Maniscalco said he did a full Italian accent when he read for Mario. But the producers ended up giving him a smaller role.

"Everybody was like, 'How come they didn't cast an Italian American for the role?' So, I read for Mario, and I went in there and I did the whole, 'It's a'me, Mario!'" the actor said. "And they said, we're going to give you Spike."

After Pattison starred in Nolan's "Tenet" in 2020, some fans expected the actor to return in the director's latest feature, "Oppenheimer."

But Pattinson wasn't part of the ensemble cast, which included big names like Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and Florence Pugh.

In July, entertainment journalist Tara Hitchcock asked Nolan about Pattinson's absence.

"He was busy," Nolan said. "He's very much in demand these days."

Outside of playing Bruce Wayne in "Batman" (2022), Pattinson is set to voice the heron in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron."

Before Robbie stepped into the high-heeled shoes of Barbie in Greta Gerwig's blockbuster film, she was just a producer helping with the casting process.

Robbie told Vogue in May that they were originally drawn to Gadot for the lead.

"Gal Gadot is Barbie energy," she said. "Because Gal Gadot is so impossibly beautiful, but you don't hate her for being that beautiful, because she's so genuinely sincere, and she's so enthusiastically kind, that it's almost dorky."

When Gadot couldn't commit to the role, Robbie stepped in.

In a July interview with Vanity Fair, "Barbie" casting directors Lucy Bevan and Allison Jones said a number of famous actors auditioned for the various Kens in the film.

This included "Schitt's Creek" star Dan Levy, "Saturday Night Live" cast member Bowen Yang, and "Theater Camp" lead Ben Platt.

Despite making it far in the casting process, all three reportedly had to drop out due to the film's three-month production demands.

"They were, I'm not kidding, really bummed they couldn't do it," Jones told the publication.

Other big names, including Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, and John Cena, went on to play different Kens in "Barbie."

In the same July interview with Vanity Fair, Bevan and Jones also revealed that Michael Cera wasn't always the first choice to play Ken's best friend, Allan.

The role was nearly played by "Mindhunter" star Jonathan Groff. But Jones' said he also couldn't commit to the production process.

"Dear, dear Jonathan Groff was like, 'I can't believe I'm typing this, but I can't do Allan,'" the casting director told the publication.

Although he missed out on the "Barbie" role, Groff is currently starring in the Broadway production of "Merrily We Roll Along" with Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe.

In July, Gerwig told CinemaBlend that she tried to include two of her favorite actors — Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet — in the blockbuster. The stars had previously starred in Gerwig's films "Lady Bird" (2017) and "Little Women" (2019).

The director told the publication that it felt like she was doing something without her "children" when Ronan and Chalamet declined.

She also said she "was so annoyed" because she wanted to give Ronan and Chalamet specialty "Barbie" cameos.