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GREAT ANIMATION WHAT- IFs..

You may have heard about the famous near misses in film. How George Raft turned down the role of Rick in Casablanca, Katherine Hepburn passed on Scarlett O'Hara, Akira Kurosawa and David Lean were supposed to team up to make a film about Pearl Harbor, and that before Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast as the murderous cyborg in Terminator they were first considering O.J. Simpson! Well, we have similar cases in animation.

Here are a few:

-DISNEY'S HERCULES- Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Hades, James Woods did the voice,

-DISNEY/AMBLIN WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?- The role of detective Eddie Valiant was first offered to Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman before Bob Hoskins did the part.

-DREAMWORKS THE PRINCE OF EGYPT- the role of Moses father Pharoah Seti was first considered for CHARLTON HESTON, and PATRICK MAGEE. Patrick Stewart did the part. For Zepporah's Father Jethro the directors considered MEL BROOKS, before deciding upon DANNY GLOVER.

-DREAMWORKS ANTZ- was supposed to be Woody Allen paired with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Arnold passed and Sly Stallone stepped in.

-DREAMWORKS SHREK- Chris Farley was supposed to be the voice of Shrek, but he died of a drug overdose and Michael Myers did the part. For Evil Lord Farquhard they considered William Shatner, then went with John Lithgow. Jeanene Garofalo was considered for Princess Fiona before they picked Cameron Diaz. And in an earlier draft the witch who put the spell on Fiona was going to be voiced by Jean Stapleton.

-WARNER BROS -OSMOSIS JONES- Will Smith was originally thinking of doing Ozzie but Chris Rock took the part. For the villain Thrax they considered AL PACINO, but went with LAWRENCE FISHBURNE.

-WARNER BROS. Before Jim Carrey did THE GRINCH, he was first considering doing a remake of the 1965 Don Knott's fantasy the AMAZING MR LIMPETT.

-NELVANA LTD. ROCK & RULE- the voice of Mock was offered to Mick Jagger, then David Bowie, before getting Lou Reed.

-TURNER ANIMATION's the PAGEMASTER (1993)- the music was originally suppose to be written and performed by Michael Jackson, but then some of those allegations popped up...

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History for 8/19/2006
B-Days: Orville Wright, Ring Lardner, Ogden Nash, Alfred Lunt, George Enesco, jockey Willie Shoemaker, Malcom Forbes, Tipper Gore, Gene Roddenberry, Colleen Moore the It Girl, Jill St. John, Ginger Baker drummer of Grand Funk Railroad, Dawn Steel, John Stamos, Peter Gallagher, Matthew Perry, former President Bill Clinton is 60

1955 - WINS radio, announces it will not play "copy" white cover versions of black R&B . DJs must play Fats Domino's "Ain't It A Shame," not Pat Boone's. In 1957 Little Richards classic “Tuttie-Fruitie” never got higher than 17th in the Billboard Charts while Pat Boones version, by his own admission awful, went to number one.

1977- Groucho Marx , the last surviving Marx Brother, died at age 86. In his final years Groucho had rewrote his will in favor of his hot young personal secretary Erin Fleming. After his death a furious legal battle opened between Fleming and the Marx children.

2335 – According to Star Trek the Next Generation this is the birthday of William T Riker, in Valdez Alaska, first officer of the Enterprise.


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