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From best-selling, critically acclaimed novels to manuscripts so obscure no more than a dozen people ever read them, filmmakers have searched through good books, bad books and everything in between looking for new stories to tell, or sometimes just dramatize. The more pedestrian movies do only that, taking what was on the printed page and transferring it to a new medium that, even with movement, color and sound, still requires fresh inspiration. Many great works of fiction have fallen victim to this indifference. But several others have benefited from the vision of directors and screenwriters who saw new possibilities in them. The movies on this list have either done full justice to prominent fiction, or made something exceptional of lesser-known works. They are all classics in their own right.

Have you ever watched a great movie and been so impressed with the lead actor or actress that you thought they were “perfect” for the role? Such casting usually doesn’t happen by accident. The movie studio, producer, director, casting agencies, agents, actors and actresses all vie to fill key movie roles through auditions, networking and other methods. Often, fate intervenes in the process. An actor everyone thinks is perfect for the role wants too much salary. Or an actress rejects the role because she doesn’t like the script.

Hollywood history is full of instances in which an actor or actress took an Academy Award-winning role that another performer passed up. Here’s a look at 10 famous movie roles rejected by other stars.