‘I am devastated and furious’: 12 actors controversially recast in films, from Johnny Depp to Rachel Weisz
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From salary disputes and poor scripts to feuds and voiceovers that apparently sound ‘too old’, Hollywood is filled with stories of emergency recastings due to off-screen conflicts, writes Adam White. Nothing riles up actors or their fans quicker than a controversial bit of recasting. Venture into any Fantastic Beasts hashtag – or the YouTube comments section for one of the trailers for the franchise – and you’ll be inundated by Johnny Depp fans condemning his exit from the series.
![[Julia Sawalha as Ginger in ‘Chicken Run']](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/03/04/12/ChickenRun02.jpg)
Often it becomes a poisoned chalice for the film itself, fans quick to express their anger at the idea of a Mummy movie without Rachel Weisz, or a Nightmare on Elm Street revival without the original Freddy Krueger. Many times it’s the actors themselves who go public with their upset, from Terrence Howard’s frustrations with Marvel to Julia Sawalha’s disappointment over her exit from the Chicken Run sequel.
![[Rick Moranis and John Goodman in ‘The Flintstones']](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/03/04/12/shutterstock_editorial_5883807p.jpg)
Money is typically at the root of it, but other situations are arguably far more infuriating: scheduling problems, feuding, a voice that apparently sounds “too old”. We’ve gathered together 12 times when actors were recast for sequels or reboots of much-loved films, giving way to all kinds of upset….
![[Crispin Glover in ‘Back to the Future']](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/03/04/12/shutterstock_editorial_5886092u.jpg)
Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Days after the British High Court found that a newspaper report dubbing him a “wife beater” was “substantially true”, Johnny Depp announced that he’d been asked by Warner Bros to resign from the Fantastic Beasts franchise. The actor had played villainous Gellert Grindelwald over two movies, with Mads Mikkelsen stepping in to replace him for the third film The Secrets of Dumbledore. The move sparked an abundance of Twitter outrage, with hashtag campaigns proclaiming support for Depp, and others pledging to boycott the rest of the Fantastic Beasts series unless the actor is reinstated.
