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One Hollywood star almost took Edward Scissorhands role, but Johnny Depp had other plans

The A-lister has passed on several major film roles over the years, choosing projects that aligned better with his career goals

Recently, Johnny Depp shared an amazing story of how close Tom Cruise was to taking the role of the main character in Tim Burton’s ‘Edward Scissorhands’. A new documentary on the career of Tim Burton features Johnny Depp confessing that some of Hollywood’s brightest stars wanted the role, which included Cruise, Tom Hanks, and even Michael Jackson. Depp admitted that Cruise was seriously considered and almost cast as Edward. On the casting of the film, Depp recalled, “True story,” just to confirm how close Cruise came to becoming Edward. 

However, Depp said he had to fight for the role since he was not yet a Hollywood big name. He was known for his work on the television show ‘21 Jump Street’, and people didn’t take him seriously as an actor. Playing a rebellious character in John Waters’ 1990 movie ‘Cry-Baby’ “was the first solid step in the direction I wanted to go,” Depp said. “The writing was beautiful. The character was beautiful. What I suppose [attracted] me emotionally was that Edward was me. It’s exactly what I should be doing,” he told PEOPLE magazine. 

Depp found it strange to take on ‘Edward Scissorhands’ because a voice in his head kept reminding him he was just a TV actor. “It was weird because there’s always that bastard in your skull that goes ‘Come on, man. You’re a TV actor guy.’ Because at that time it was almost either-or,” he said. Eventually, Burton saw the same thing in Depp and cast him, despite Cruise’s interest. It turned out to be a turning point in Depp’s career, with several more collaborations with Burton in films like ‘Sweeney Todd’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.’ 

However, Edward Scissorhands wasn’t the only film that Tom Cruise lost. Cruise previously turned down playing Tony Stark in ‘Iron Man’ (2008), thus paving the way for Robert Downey Jr., who took this character and turned it into a phenomenon. He also declined a role in ‘The Matrix’ (1999), a revolutionary sci-fi blockbuster that defined an era for Keanu Reeves. He was approached to play Andy Dufresne in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (1994) but he declined the project, which would have been one of the greatest roles ever given, as Tim Robbins took it and made it what it is today.

Depp almost turned down the audition because he felt out of place, especially with so many big stars vying for the role. He even asked his agent to cancel the meeting, but she refused, telling him it was a crazy idea. Talking to Variety, he said, “Tim’s really juggling because he’s getting hit by his agent, the studio, everybody. So I called my agent after reading the script and said, ‘Please cancel the meeting, I’m not going.’ She said, ‘Are you fucking nuts?’” Despite his doubts, Depp eventually met Burton.