Voice castings that almost were

[Sidewinder1984]

An idea I had for a thread yesterday...there have been numerous times in live-action when an actor/actress has been cast for a part, only to drop out or be replaced at the last minute. When has this happened in animation?

A few examples I can think of:

Charlie Schlatter as Phillip J. Fry in Futurama (Billy West)
Tim Curry as the Joker in Batman: TAS (Mark Hamill)
Jeff Bennett as Daffy Duck in Duck Dodgers (Joe Alaskey)
Chris Latta as Moe and Mr. Burns in The Simpsons (Hank Azaria & Harry Shearer, respectively)

That's all I can think of now...

[Neo Ultra Mike]

Well techincally Phil Hartman was suppose to play Zap Brannigan on Futurama put then due to his unfouranate death the role was taken over by Billy West. I also believe Billy West was supppose to play Invader Zim (or at least did in the never televised pilot) but due to Richard Hortatziz being freed up after Angry Beavers ended the role was given to him.

[Ishtar]

I believe Marc Thompson was originally gonna voice Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but that role went to Dan Green.
Also, Chris Farley was gonna be Shrek, but he passed away and Mike Meyers got the role.

[Juu-kuchi]

Yuri Lowenthal would've been Renton for Eureka 7 for the entire run had not they decided to scrap him after the first 13+ episodes for Johnny Yong Bosch.

[Tay the Cat]

Phil Harris was supposed to be in TaleSpin but he felt he was too old after trying to do the Baloo voice again.

Then he died soon after.

[FightingDreamer]

Yuri Lowenthal would've been Renton for Eureka 7 for the entire run had not they decided to scrap him after the first 13+ episodes for Johnny Yong Bosch.

I thought the scenario was that Yuri auditioned, voiced 1 or 2 episodes, and then got dropped for Johnny. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (I probably am:sweat:).

[Michael24]

Also, Chris Farley was gonna be Shrek, but he passed away and Mike Meyers got the role.

I remember reading that Chris Farley had actually recorded the part while he was still alive. Would make for an interesting alternate audio track.

I also read that William H. Macy tried out for Brian on Family Guy. Not sure why it didn't happen, but I think it would have been pretty cool.

[Dr.Pepper]

I heard somewhere that Tom Kenny was to do the voice of Numbuh 1 was Kids Next Door, but they thought he sounded to old.

[Lonestarr]

I don't know about Tim Curry. I had heard that he was to play the Joker in the 1989 movie, which would've been cool.

Only one I can think of: real-life couple Will Arnett and Amy Poehler were originally approached to voice Dick Daring and Agent K on "The Replacements". I forget why it fell through, but then Bryan Cranston was next asked for Dick. Ultimately, though, it went to Daran Norris and Kath Soucie, who do very well in the roles.

[Cullen]

An idea I had for a thread yesterday...there have been numerous times in live-action when an actor/actress has been cast for a part, only to drop out or be replaced at the last minute. When has this happened in animation?

A few examples I can think of:

Charlie Schlatter as Phillip J. Fry in Futurama (Billy West)
Tim Curry as the Joker in Batman: TAS (Mark Hamill)
Jeff Bennett as Daffy Duck in Duck Dodgers (Joe Alaskey)
Chris Latta as Moe and Mr. Burns in The Simpsons (Hank Azaria & Harry Shearer, respectively)

That's all I can think of now...

And in Futurama, Matt Groening almost considered doing the voice of Bender while John DiMaggio almost voiced the Professor.

[Mikintosh]

The woman who voiced Judy Jetson had actually recorded her part for the Jetsons Movie, but they decided to have Tiffany (why?) do the voice instead. As IMDB says, the original actress was very gracious in returning to the part after that.

[Tobias]

The woman who voiced Judy Jetson had actually recorded her part for the Jetsons Movie, but they decided to have Tiffany (why?) do the voice instead. As IMDB says, the original actress was very gracious in returning to the part after that.

I think it was so they could put a Tiffany song (who was at the time still popular I believe) into the movie and advertise a 'big celebrity' as being part of the cast.

[The Overlord]

And in Futurama, Matt Groening almost considered doing the voice of Bender while John DiMaggio almost voiced the Professor.

Speaking of Futurama, I heard tht Nicole Sullivan was almost cast as Leela.

[Sharklady]

> The woman who voiced Judy Jetson had actually recorded her part for the Jetsons Movie, but they decided to have Tiffany (why?) do the voice instead. <

That original actress was Janet Waldo. And I recall she was plenty ticked off about it at the time, saying it was very disloyal of Hanna-Barbera. I can't say I blame her.
Furthermore, it sounded all wrong for only one cast member to have a replacement voice.

[Mek]

. I also believe Billy West was supppose to play Invader Zim (or at least did in the never televised pilot) but due to Richard Hortatziz being freed up after Angry Beavers ended the role was given to him.

I thought it was Mark Hammil, not Billy West who was originally supposed to be Zim.

[Sidewinder1984]

Here's a few more:

Ted Schwartz as Rodimus Prime in the third season of Transformers, replaced by Dick Gautier. Some of Schwartz's lines actually made it into the final version of "Five Faces of Darkness", though I can't remember where.

Hanna-Barbara initially wanted Mel Blanc to voice Scrappy-Doo, but they couldn't get him for some reason and so Frank Welker was cast. He recorded a few episodes as Scrappy before Lennie Weinrib was given the job instead.

According to the book The Magic Behind The Voices, another actress was originally cast to play Mary Kay Bergman's roles on South Park. Parker and Stone weren't happy with the actress' performance so Bergman was brought in instead.

[Wussycat]

Kelsey Grammer was originally going to be the voice for Hades in Hercules.

[HellCat]

Mel Blanc was nearly C-3P0. Lucas wanted a slick, used car dealer type voice but Blanc apparently convinced him to go with Daniels' interpretation

[Beat]

The most infamous I can think of, Captain Planet was originally supposed to be played by Tom Cruise.

[Stu]

Micheal Rosenbaum was nearly was cast as Spider-Man for the MTV show before it eventually went to Neil Patrick Harris.

Corey Burton was apprantly seriously considered for Batman before they instantly realised that Kevin Conroy was perfect for the role. Not sure if this counts either, but Clancy Brown originally auditioned for Superman before he was given the job as Lex Luthor.

[Martiangirl]

I read that Disney originally wanted Alan Rickman to voice Scar for The Lion King. Rickman turned it down because he didn't want to be continually typecast as a villain (he had already played a number of villainous roles including in Die Hard and Prince of Thieves). He later changed his mind about , but by then the part was already given to Jeremy Irons.

[Mek]

Oh, I can't believe I forgot THIS gem:

Everyone who's familiar with the live-action 'Hellboy' movie probably knows about the whole Abe Sapien voice-over scenario. For those that don't, long story short is that the guy who plays Abe on-screen (a VERY sweet and kind-hearted gentleman by the name of Doug Jones) originally tried out to voice Abe -which would make sense, wouldn't it?-...

But then studio politics picked David Hyde-Pierce (you may know him from 'Fraiser' and 'Treasure Planet') over Doug in the end. Which is kinda depressing, but such is Hollywood. To David's credit, however, he declined any sort of mention in the credits, nor did he do any publicity stuff for the film, as he felt the entire role was Doug's when all was said and done, which was very polite of him to do so.

Now how does this tie into the topic? Simple.

When 'Hellboy: Sword of Storms' -the recent animated movie- was announced, the company behind it tried to get David to reprise the voice-over work for Abe. Makes sense, given that pretty much everyone in the live-action film reprised their roles.

At the time, Abe's role was pretty minor and David Hyde-Pierce declined, and went on to voice the Zombie guy -I forget his name- in the 'The Amazing Screw-On Head' pilot. Which, ironically enough, is a Mike Mignola project as well.

(Bear in mind this was before they realized the movie was a bit too short and had to add on stuff to lengthen it, and thus added more scenes with Abe and Liz)

So by default, Abe's role in the animated movie was handed back over to Doug, which in the end turned out to be a sort of 'vindication', as one might put it. Suffice to say Doug will now be doing the voice-over work for Abe in the sequel to the live-action movie and forthcoming 'Hellboy' video game as well. So whether you liked him or not as Abe's voice-actor in 'Sword of Storms', he's staying put, and rightfully so.

[Aldrius]

I read that Disney originally wanted Alan Rickman to voice Scar for The Lion King. Rickman turned it down because he didn't want to be continually typecast as a villain (he had already played a number of villainous roles including in Die Hard and Prince of Thieves). He later changed his mind about , but by then the part was already given to Jeremy Irons.

Jeez. Alan Rickman would have been equally awesome.

I seriously can't decide who I like better.

[dth1971]

How about this? Casey Kasem wanted to be the voice of Reggie Mantle in the Filmation Archie cartoons but since Casey signed to do the voice of Robin in Filmation's Adventures of Batman John Erwin got the voice of Reggie in the Archie shows.

[Sharklady]

> Jeez. Alan Rickman (as Scar) would have been equally awesome (as Jeremy Irons.)
I seriously can't decide who I like better. <

I'm sure Mr. Rickman would have done a very good job with the role.

But I'm just as glad Mr. Irons got it, because only he could do the "You have no idea" in-joke.

[G1Ravage]

That original actress was Janet Waldo. And I recall she was plenty ticked off about it at the time, saying it was very disloyal of Hanna-Barbera. I can't say I blame her.
Furthermore, it sounded all wrong for only one cast member to have a replacement voice.

Elroy was also replaced, as the original actor had already passed on.

[Tay the Cat]

Elroy was also replaced, as the original actor had already passed on.

That would be Daws Butler.

Speaking of him, he was slated to be the voice of Top Cat (he could do a spot-on Phil Silvers impersonation). However H-B were afraid of it becoming a kiddie show simply because he was attached to it. So they replaced him.

[FightingDreamer]

> The woman who voiced Judy Jetson had actually recorded her part for the Jetsons Movie, but they decided to have Tiffany (why?) do the voice instead. <

That original actress was Janet Waldo. And I recall she was plenty ticked off about it at the time, saying it was very disloyal of Hanna-Barbera. I can't say I blame her.
Furthermore, it sounded all wrong for only one cast member to have a replacement voice.

Funny, I remember hearing that Ms. Waldo dealt with her replacement quite graciously.

[Sharklady]

> Elroy was also replaced, as the original actor had already passed on. <

Really! I couldn't tell the difference.

> Funny, I remember hearing that Ms. Waldo dealt with her replacement quite graciously. <

Well, she may have confined herself to making that one irate comment in a magazine interview, but she did do that much.
As said, I can't really blame her- it's not like Tiffany was a clearly superior choice. :shrug:

[Tobias]

Elroy was also replaced, as the original actor had already passed on.

Yeah, but he wasn't voiced by a big name celebrity like Tiffany, though. If would have made more sense to get a big name child/teen actor to voice Elroy, and it'd be more respectful than replacing a voice actress who's still alive.

[HenriDucard]

Sherman Howard was supposed to play Lex Luthor but it went to Clancy Brown instead. Howard did play Derek Powers in Batman Beyond though.

[Cullen]

I also heard when they were first making the Simpsons, Yeardley Smith almost got cast as Bart and Nancy Cartwright almost voiced Lisa. But then they switched.

[GregX]

Seth Green was almost cast as Lexington on "Gargoyles", but Thom Adcox got the role instead.

[Animeforever'04]

Yuri Lowenthal would've been Renton for Eureka 7 for the entire run had not they decided to scrap him after the first 13+ episodes for Johnny Yong Bosch.
was there ever a sound clip of this?

[Aldrius]

Sherman Howard was supposed to play Lex Luthor but it went to Clancy Brown instead. Howard did play Derek Powers in Batman Beyond though.

He wasn't supposed to, but he was highly considered for the role.

[Anwar]

He was highly considered for the role because he physically played Lex Luthor on the "Adventures of Superboy" TV show in the late 80s.

[Aldrius]

Or because he gave a good performance? :P

You're probably right, though.

Uhm. I still can't think of anything. I guess in Reboot season 3 they replaced Michael Benyaer with Ian James Corlett (though that's not a voice casting that almost was)... but then had both as bob in season 4. (yes, at the same time. :P There was copies and... stuff... and yeah.) I'm not exactly sure why he was recast. I'm thinking it was too much of a hassle to hire Beyaer to do what was only a reccuring role (with him in LA and the studio in Vancouver and such). Though Ian was really good at what Bob's character became. (The more surreal, kindof calmer Bob as opposed to the higher energy more goofy season 1/2 Bob.)

[hobbyfan]

How about this? Casey Kasem wanted to be the voice of Reggie Mantle in the Filmation Archie cartoons but since Casey signed to do the voice of Robin in Filmation's Adventures of Batman John Erwin got the voice of Reggie in the Archie shows.

Holy undiscovered information, Batman! :D

I thought for sure that Tim Curry had actually done an ep of Batman:TAS as Joker before Mark Hamill was brought in. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. wasn't the original pick for Alfred, either IIRC.