1

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones

Dinklage was hesitant about playing a character that would stereotype a little person but producer/screenwriter David Benioff described how the character was neither hero nor villain, that he had flaws and strengths like anyone and Dinklage took the part.

2

Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings

Mortensen didn’t want to work on such a long production so far away from his family and turned down the role. But his son saw the script in the kitchen and passionately told him about the LOTR saga, winning him over.

3

Tom Cruise as Maverick in Top Gun

The producers wanted to convince Cruise by giving him a taste of the flyboy life and took him to fly with experts in California. The instructors wanted to pull a prank on Cruise and gave him an extreme flight in hopes of scaring him. But, as we now know, Tom Cruise is a goddamn lunatic with a need for speed. As soon as he got off the play, he called the producers and took the role.

4

Mark Ruffalo as Hulk in The Avengers

Mark Ruffalo confirmed that he almost turned down the role until his good buddy Robert Downey Jr. encouraged him to accept it.

5

Christian Bale as Batman in Batman Begins

Bale had just lost a lot of weight for a role in The Machinist and didn’t even want to listen to the proposal but when director Christopher Nolan appealed to Bale he had a change of heart.

6

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Elizabeth in Donnie Darko

At first, Maggie believed she was only being offered the role because she was Jake Gyllenhaal’s real-life sister and she thought that they should offer the role to an actress who was more established than her. She ultimately got over it and agreed to take the job.

7

Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill in Gangs of New York

Martin Scorsese sent Leonardo DiCaprio to persuade Day-Lewis to play the unforgettable Bill the Butcher. DiCaprio picked him up at Day-Lewis’s house and they walked around for 10 minutes before Leo worked up the courage to finally speak. It wasn’t until later, at a dinner with Leo’s Hollywood pal Tobey Maguire, that Day-Lewis was finally convinced.

8

Chris Evans as Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger

Evans was unsure of handling the fame he thought playing Cap would bring him. But his mother convinced him, saying it would give him the opportunity to act for the rest of his life and never worry about the rent.

9

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in Hunger Games

Lawrence was unsure of taking on a role in a huge franchise but her mother convinced her to accept when she reminded her that in this case she had liked the story, so why not take it.

10

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack in Titanic

Leo was convinced by Paul Rudd, whom he had just worked with on Romeo and Juliet. Rudd’s father was an expert on the Titanic and Rudd pointed out some of the incredible aspects to the true story.

11

Julia Roberts in Friends

Matthew Perry approached Roberts about a cameo and she jokingly said she would do it if he wrote her a paper on quantum physics. He faxed her one the next day.