John Leguizamo is fessing up to a few roles that he turned down during his career that ultimately felt like big mistakes on his part.
During a new interview with Business Insider, the Colombian native wasted little time in revealing that he regretted turning down a key part in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).
‘Oh yeah. The Devil Wears Prada, the Stanley Tucci part,’ Leguizamo, 63, confessed.
Tucci memorably played Nigel Kipling, the Art Director of Runway magazine, in the comedy-drama starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt.
The Devil Wears Prada was a box office success as it grossed $326.7million worldwide on a budget of $35-41 million.
John Leguizamo is fessing up to a few roles that he turned down during his career that ultimately felt like big mistakes on his part. During a new interview with Business Insider, the Colombian native wasted little time in revealing that he regretted turning down a key role in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Leguizamo did not reveal exactly why he decided to turn down the role of Nigel Kipling.
But he did share two other films that he regretted passing on.
‘Happy Feet, the Robin Williams part. And Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the Vince Vaughn part,’ he said.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) is an action-comedy film that famously starred Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie.
‘Well, for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, it was because they were paying them $20 million and they were going to pay me scale,’ he said, in a reference to Pitt and Jolie.
‘I felt dissed, and they probably weren’t dissing me, but I felt dissed,’ he explained, adding, ‘Sometimes when you’re a person of color, you’re so used to being dissed that you think you’re being dissed, and sometimes you’re not being dissed. So that’s what happens, and you have to go to a lot of therapy to fix that.’
Leguizamo was offered the role of Eddie, which had third billing under the two superstars that ended up being played by Vince Vaughn, 54.
Again, this turned out to be another big hit that he shot down, with the Doug Liman-directed film grossing $487.3 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $110 million.
As for Happy Feet, the Encanto actor was concerned about being typecast after appearing in animated adventure comedy film Ice Age (2002), which ended up being a big enough hit, earning $383.2 million, that it set up a franchise run.
In the wake of Leguizamo passing, the late Robin Williams ended up playing Ramón, Cletus, Lovelace and the narrator.
‘Oh yeah. The Devil Wears Prada, the Stanley Tucci part,’ Leguizamo, 63, confessed. Tucci (pictured) memorably played Nigel Kipling, the Art Director of Runway magazine, in the comedy-drama starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt
Leguizamo also regretted passing on Happy Feet, which he based on not wanting to get typecast after his success with Ice Age. The late Robin Williams landed the role instead
‘I was going, “I don’t want to be doing all these ice movies.” Such a stupid reason. But it seemed logical to me at the moment, and then I lost out on millions,’ he confessed.
After the original, Leguizamo would play Sid, a ground sloth, in the sequels Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (2009), Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), all of which were box office hits.
During the conversation with the publication, the Broadway star also revealed that he had turned down the crime-drama film Carlito’s Way starring Al Pacino a few times before agreeing to sign on.
‘I’ve studied with some of the greatest acting teachers and all I get to play are drug dealers,’ he said of his hesitancy in taking the role of Benny Blanco from the Bronx. ‘So it was a mixed blessing.’
But then they came to him one last time to share with him the actor they were also considering for the character.
The Carlito’s Way star said he passed on Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which went to Vince Vaughn, when he was going to make scale compared the lead roles of Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie who he maintained were pulling in $20 million
With Ice Age, the Columbian native ended scoring a big franchise that included four successful sequels. Leguizamo has played Sid the sloth in the Ice Age films and its four sequels
‘They told me that they were going to give it to Benicio [del Toro] and I went, “Okay, I’ll do it,”‘ he confessed about his change of heart.
In hindsight, Carlito’s Way and Super Mario Bros (both 1993) are considered to be Leguizamo’s breakout roles.
His long Hollywood resume also includes performances in such films as Die Hard 2 (1990), Regarding Henry (1991), Executive Decision (1996), Summer Of Sam (1999), Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Chef (2014), John Wick (2014), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) and The Survivor (2021).
He also has a number of acting credits for television including The Brothers Garcia (200-2004), ER (2005-2006), Bloodline (2016-2017) and Latin History For Morons (2018).
