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Hollywood is full of countless stories of actors who almost played iconic roles. Will Smith has played a lot of major parts in big tentpole franchises, but he has turned down just as many if not more roles that could have potentially made him an even bigger star than he already is. However, not every story you hear about a famous actor turning down a role is true, and Kevin Bacon is putting one such story to rest.
The story, as it has gone for many years, is that while the late Patrick Swayze was the first choice for the lead in one of the best ’90s movies, Ghost, by the movie’s writer and producer, Bruce Joel Rubin, others were less sure that the Dirty Dancing actor was the right choice. As a result, several other actors were considered and even offered the role of Sam Wheat in Ghost. Kevin Bacon is one of those who reportedly turned down the role, but the Footloose star recently told Business Insider that’s not what happened. Bacon said…
No, I wish. I don’t think I would’ve turned it down. I mean, I have no memory of that. And by the way, the other piece of that is ‘Ghost’ without Patrick Swayze — I don’t know. It could have gone nowhere.
In Patrick Swayze’s autobiography, he mentions that Ghost director Jerry Zucker wasn’t so sure about him. He lists Bacon among a list of actors, which include Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks and Alec Baldwin, who were “under consideration” for the part. Tom Cruise was also reportedly considered. Swayze doesn’t claim any of them were offered the role. It’s possible that over the years details have gotten confused. Bacon may have been considered as a possible star, but without ever being offered the part.
For his part, Kevin Bacon indicates that had he been offered Ghost, he almost certainly would have taken it. We can probably take him at his word. Nobody would necessarily fault him for not taking the part had it been offered, lots of stars have been in the situation of saying no to big movies. Bacon is far from the only one who is reported to have turned down the role, and if even only some of those names are accurate, several major stars did turn down Ghost.
It’s a good thing for the rest of us that he did. Even Kevin Bacon recognizes now that had Patrick Swayze not starred in Ghost, the film might never have become the massive hit that it was. Ghost was the number two movie at the domestic box office in 1990, and the film ended up winning Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar. Bacon would go on to star in the cult classic Tremors the same year Ghost was released.
The movie is so iconic that it was in line to get a remake with Channing Tatum announced last year. While we haven’t heard much about the project since then, considering how popular the first film was, finding a cast the second time around probably won’t be much of a problem.