James Purefoy spent weeks filming as V before walking away from V for Vendetta, unable to work under the mask for the entire shoot. Hugo Weaving replaced him and ended up voicing the role without ever showing his face on camera. Purefoy has said the physical strain of acting through latex for months just wasn't sustainable. Weaving reportedly never watched the finished film. | © FX
Voice work almost saved the recasting on The Libertine, since Samantha Morton left the 2004 production before shooting wrapped around her. Samantha Sherwin took over the role opposite Johnny Depp, though details on the exact reason for Morton's exit were never widely publicized. The film had already struggled to secure financing for years under director Laurence Dunmore. Morton's replacement barely registers in most cast discussions of the movie today. | © Universal Pictures
Edge of Darkness lost its lead when Robert De Niro exited the 2010 thriller during pre-production over creative differences with the studio. Mel Gibson stepped into the role instead, marking his first leading part in eight years. The film was based on a 1985 BBC miniseries of the same name. Director Martin Campbell had worked on both versions. | © Netflix
Nicole Kidman dropped out of Panic Room just weeks into filming in 2001 due to a knee injury from an earlier film, Moulin Rouge!. Jodie Foster took over the lead role of Meg Altman opposite Kristen Stewart. Director David Fincher had already shot several scenes with Kidman before the recasting happened. The film went on to gross over $196 million worldwide. | © A-Film Distribution
A young Richard Gere left The Lords of Flatbush partway through filming after clashing with co-star Sylvester Stallone. Stallone, who was also rewriting scenes, has said the two never got along on set. Gere's role as Chico was recast, and the character's screen time shifted elsewhere in the finished cut. It was 1974, years before either man became a household name. | © The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon / YouTube
Something was clearly wrong on the set of Wicked Stepmother, and Bette Davis knew it before anyone said so out loud. She left after shooting only a handful of scenes, citing poor health, and never returned. Director Larry Cohen rewrote the film around her absence, making her character vanish in a puff of smoke early on. It was Davis's final screen credit, released in 1989, the same year she died. | © 20th Century Fox
Jean-Claude Van Damme was hired to play the alien in Predator, back when the creature was meant to move fast and fight like a martial artist. The suit he wore was thin, uncomfortable, and reportedly gave him heatstroke during test shoots in Mexico. Producers scrapped the whole design after deciding the creature needed to be terrifying rather than agile. Van Damme was let go, and Kevin Peter Hall took over in the taller, redesigned suit audiences know today. | © Sony Pictures Releasing
Signing on is one thing, seeing it through is another, and these actors bailed partway through filming, forcing reshoots, recasts, or chaos. Here are 15 famous actors who quit films mid-production.
