Rachel McAdams Turned Down ‘Iron Man,’ ‘Casino Royale,’ ‘Mission: Impossible III’ and ‘Devil Wears Prada’ in Two-Year Period: ‘I Felt Guilty’
Posted April 19, 2023 by: Admin
Nicholas Hoult has been in the news lately for losing roles in popular movies like “The Batman,” “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” and “Top Gun: Maverick” one after the other. However, this is nothing compared to the several A-list projects that Rachel McAdams turned down in the mid-2000s. In her recent Bustle profile, McAdams revealed that she declined offers for “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Casino Royale,” “Mission: Impossible III,” “Iron Man,” and “Get Smart” during a two-year period when she moved back to Canada after the success of “Mean Girls” and “The Notebook.”
All five movies that McAdams rejected, which were released between 2006 and 2008, became box office hits. “Casino Royale” reignited the Bond franchise with Daniel Craig in the role, while the first “Iron Man” launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe. McAdams eventually entered the superhero universe in 2016’s “Doctor Strange” and reprised her role in 2022’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”
McAdams admits that there are things she wishes she had done, but she believes that the right person was cast for each role she turned down. “There’s certainly things like ‘I wish I’d done that,’” McAdams said. “[But] I step back and go, ‘That was the right person for that.’”
Turning down those films and taking a two-year break from Hollywood when her career was on the rise made McAdams feel guilty, but she knew it wasn’t quite right for her personality and what she needed to stay sane. She says there were definitely anxious moments of wondering if she was throwing everything away, and it took her years to understand what she intuitively was doing. However, she has no regrets as many of her early films like “Mean Girls” and “The Notebook” are now classics.
“Mean Girls” is currently getting the musical treatment for a new film based on Tina Fey’s Tony-winning Broadway adaptation. Reneé Rapp is stepping into the shoes of McAdams’ character Regina George after playing the part on Broadway. When asked if she would make a cameo in the musical film, McAdams said, “I don’t see a way to shoehorn us in. If Tina [Fey] can figure it out, I’m there, for sure.”
McAdams often has interactions about her early career films as the interest in them has never waned. Her next feature is the Judy Blume adaptation “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” which will open in theaters on April 28 from Lionsgate.
