Russell Crowe: Roles He Missed That Other Actors Made Famous

Known for his Oscar-winning performance in “Gladiator” and nomination for his role in “A Beautiful Mind,” Russell Crowe is a Hollywood A-lister with a bad-boy reputation and a blunt way of speaking.

Here are four roles Crowe didn't take or didn't get that other actors made famous.

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1. Wolverine in the "X-Men" film series
Actor Hugh Jackman has famously thanked Crowe for turning down the part that gave him the long-running role as Wolverine. In 2012, Crowe explained in an interview with actress Michelle Beadle on Access Hollywood why he turned it down: “I had just done a character whose animal totem was a wolf — which is that fellow Max in ‘Gladiator’ — so I didn’t want to be connected to a wolf again,” he said. “And, plus, it’s a cartoon, and I’m not really into those.” Wolverine became such a synonymous character with Jackman that it's hard to picture anyone else playing the role.

2. Aragorn in "The Lord of the Rings"
In 2011, when he gave a talk at Durham University in England, The Daily Telegraph says Crowe told students he had turned down the role of Aragorn in “The Lord of the Rings” because the film’s budget was under pressure and the producers wanted to pay him 10 per cent of the profits instead of an upfront fee. Not taking the role cost Crowe millions, since the series was such a success. Actor Viggo Mortensen got the role instead.

3. Langdon in "The Da Vinci Code"
As People magazine put it, despite rumblings that the role would go to Crowe, “and novelist Dan Brown’s own description of his hero as looking like Indiana Jones in tweeds,” Tom Hanks got the role as scholar Robert Langdon in Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s movie version of the runaway bestseller “The Da Vinci Code.”

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4. Stonewall Jackson in "Gods and Generals"
Crowe was the producers’ first choice to play Stonewall Jackson in the Civil War film “Gods and Generals,” The Los Angeles Times noted in a 2003 story. “There was an $8 million offer on the table and, (director Ronald) Maxwell said they were ready to go higher, but with time running short, they opted for Stephen Lang.”

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