James Bond star Sean Connery turned down a role later in his career that could have won him an Academy Award.
The star who also appeared in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Untouchables, and The Rock, has a Hollywood legacy rivalled by few. While he may have picked up Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards in 1987 for The Untouchables, Connery could have bagged a second win as Bes Actor just a few years later.
But he, along with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, were considered for the role which would later bag its performer an Oscar with one of the shortest performances ever nominated. Not only did the film win an Academy Award for its lead star, but managed to complete a “Big 5” sweep.
The “Big 5” is a win in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay categories.
The Silence of the Lambs remains the last film to pick up a “Big 5” win at the Oscars, and Connery could have been part of it had he picked up the role of Hannibal Lecter.
Connery was in with a chance of the role, while fellow award winners Pacino and De Niro were only considered for the part. Fans are now wondering how Connery would have fared in the role, which eventually went to Hollywood legend Anthony Hopkins.
One user wrote: “To be honest, Hopkins’ interpretation was a huge part of the movie’s success. It may not have worked with those other actors.” Another agreed, adding: “I can’t imagine them pulling it off.”
But another user suggested a subtle addition to the performance from Connery could have “worked really well,” though it would have been a gamble not necessary to telling the story.
They wrote: “However with Sean Connery there could have been this seductive male homme fatale aspect to Hannibal that wasn’t there in the original. Might have worked really well.. or not.” Another agreed, adding: “I was just thinking about how easy it is to see Sean Connery being too macho with it.
Some users have disagreed though and say Connery in the role would have been a near-disastrous affair. They claimed: “I could see De Niro. Watch Cape Fear. He calculating and outright terrifying. Connery would have been almost comical, in a sad way.”
Others are saying the right choice was made after all, writing: “Movies that could have been great have failed because they were miscast; movies that should have been forgotten are classics because their actors found the role of a lifetime.
“Actors know this, and make their choices accordingly. I mean, really – they wanted Sean Connery to be Gandalf. Think of what we would have lost.”
Sean Connery passed away on October 31, 2020, aged 90. The Scottish actor died peacefully in his sleep in the Bagamas, having been “unwell for some time”, according to his son.