Most Coveted Show or Movie A Big Name Star Wanted to Downgrade To

[green_garnish]

Title is probably confusing, so let me try to explain. Every now and then a show or movie boasts an appearance by an actor (often uncredited) that would normally be considered significantly under the actor's skill. Robin Williams, for instance, did Whose Line Is It Anyway and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Whoopi Goldberg also did Whose Line. Several movie A-Listers were on the phone during Frasier's run.

Is there a particular movie or show that includes an unexpected appearance of a star well beyond the show's talent that resonates will with you?

[Midvillian1322]

Brad Pitt as the Weather man on The Jim Jeffries show
Then Seth Rogen as his replacement.

Seth Rogen on alot of ****. Think the guy forgets how big he is. Him in The League(He might have been a producer and he's friends with a bunch of the cast of that show).

[AnakinFlair]

Lot's of A-Listers had guest spots on Friends, including Robin Williams and Brad Pitt, but I'm not sure that would qualify for this.

[The Gold Stream]

george clooney did dog sounds for south park in an early episode

[Bunch of Coconuts]

george clooney did dog sounds for south park in an early episode

He also recently appeared on John Oliver’s show.

[Cyke]

george clooney did dog sounds for south park in an early episode

Kind of like paying back a cool favor -- Clooney is the one that helped circulate Matt Stone and Trey Parker's work, garnering Hollywood attention and eventually Comedy Central. The rest is history.

I feel like the title of the post could be flipped -- rather than as a downgrade for an actor, it'd be more like a major "get" for a show. I think of how DS9 producers were over the moon because they didn't think they'd get the likes of Frank Langella on the show; same with Voyager and Jason Alexander. In the other direction, Whoopi Goldberg basically used her celebrity power to get into TNG, which the producers were only more than happy to accommodate -- anytime she became available for filming, the writers would basically shoehorn Guinan into the script, sometimes giving lines from other characters to her instead.

The producers of the original Fast and Furious film were surprised to get Vin Diesel, as at the time he was considered doing much more serious films and indie movies, with enough clout to turn down roles comfortably even though he had only been a supporting actor up until then -- Diesel was considered their longest shot and biggest get.

Then there's the all-time great Academy Award nominees David Straitharn. Everything he does is complex and thought provoking, and he continues on to this day. But getting him not just in the Expanse but to cast him in a recurring role is a pretty fantastic get.

I also wouldn't count Robin Williams in the Adventures of Baron Munchausen -- regardless of box office, it was intended to be a big budget spectacle, and Williams enjoyed it so much that he teamed up with Terry Gilliam outright for the Fischer King.

[babyblob]

One major grab even thought the movie bombed was Alec Baldwin for The Shadow. I mean he had great roles in the Hunt for Red October, Glengarry Glen Ross. he was on the rise. Sadly The Shadow bombed as Superhero movies were not the norm. I would love to see a remake of The Shadow and find a way to work Alec in somewhere.

[DrNewGod]

One major grab even thought the movie bombed was Alec Baldwin for The Shadow. I mean he had great roles in the Hunt for Red October, Glengarry Glen Ross. he was on the rise. Sadly The Shadow bombed as Superhero movies were not the norm. I would love to see a remake of The Shadow and find a way to work Alec in somewhere.

It may look that way now, but The Shadow was meant to be a big offering. It was chasing those 1989 Batman dollars that, sadly, didn't quite fully understand what made Burton's film work. It was a project very much in line with Baldwin's rising star status of the time.

Digressing, The Shadow looks to me like a great project that went off the rails somewhere. It had a lush look to it (for the time), and all of its main cast were solid talents. I wonder what a better director-editor team might have made of it.

[Powerboy]

Back in the day, plenty of big names wanted to do the Batman show. Even Frank Sinatra wanted to do something different and wanted the role of the Joker. They offered to create a role for him but he passed when he couldn't get the Joker.

Some actors started doing television when they couldn't sustain a movie career anymore, like Burt Reynolds. Sammy Davis, Jr. did appearances on the Wild Wild West and, later, All in the Family. John Wayne appeared on "Maude" and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.

Maybe the biggest one I can think of other than Sammy, who was at the height of his career at the time, was Bruce Willis doing "Friends".