The actor who says no has the power to change film history just as much as the actor who says yes. So what if Gandalf sounded like Bond, James Bond? Or what if he was Lecter, Hannibal Lecter? Or what if you found Forrester at Hogwarts, running through the hallways screaming, “You’re the man now, dog”?
Sean Connery said no to some extraordinary parts, many of which became landmarks in cinema history, causing a bunch of us to wonder: Would Sean Connery have made those films better? Would adding those iconic titles to his filmography have elevated his star status to unthinkable heights? The dude was already a superstar, but if he was also in The Matrix and Jurassic Park, would he have become a super-duper superstar? Did Sean Connery miss out on more greatness, or did his refusals help make those movies what they became?
Before Sean Connery became James Bond, he appeared in Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure as the character O’Bannion, one of Tarzan’s enemies. Producers reportedly liked him enough to offer him the title role of Tarzan in the next film, titled Tarzan the Magnificent. But Sean Connery passed, and Gordon Scott returned as Tarzan.
The unconfirmed story goes that Sean Connery turned down Tarzan in order to be James Bond. But other reports say all of this is complete nonsense and that these urban legends and rumors kind of got mixed up along the way, and Sean Connery was only asked to return as a villain again, not as Tarzan. So, who knows?
In the late 1960s, the screenplay for The Thomas Crown Affair was written with Sean Connery in mind. This character was literally written for him. He’s a wealthy criminal who robs banks for the thrill of it and does it as cool as cool can be. A role perfectly suited for that cool, classic Connery confidence.
But Mr. Connery passed on the role. Steve McQueen took the part instead, and his version of Thomas Crown brought us a different kind of movie star: less polished, more in tune with the counterculture of the time. You know, kind of scruffy.
Years later, Sean Connery reportedly told a producer that he should have been Thomas Crown. Funny enough, another 007 would take on the Thomas title when Pierce Brosnan starred in the John McTiernan remake. And, yeah, John McTiernan made The Hunt for Red October and Medicine Man. So, there. And now I think Michael B. Jordan is getting to have a Thomas Crown affair for himself.
It’s actually really easy to picture Sean Connery in this film, but imagining him also means imagining a different movie. Would it have been better? Who knows? Probably not. But it absolutely would not have been the Steve McQueen Thomas Crown Affair that we know. And that’s the trick with movie what-ifs. We can imagine the other actor, but we forget that the roles change along with them.
Sean Connery’s most famous role was also one he repeatedly tried to escape. After starring as James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, Mr. Sean made it clear that he was leaving the 007 franchise for good. Well, for good for now. But at the time, the producers still wanted to bring him back for Live and Let Die.
And yes, it would have been nice to have a few more James Bond films with Sean Connery, but this decision not to return would introduce us to Roger Moore as 007. And ain’t nothing wrong with that.
For Sean Connery, the answer was simple. He had played James Bond enough times. When discussing returning to the character, he reportedly asked, “When does my obligation stop?”
When does an actor get to truly leave behind the character that made them famous? Mr. Sean had spent years making James Bond iconic, but he didn’t want to be Bond forever. Diamonds may be forever, but Sean Connery’s run as 007 sure was not. Roger Moore got his chance, and the series found a new rhythm, followed by a handful of other worthy successors in the following decades.
I know we cannot forget that eventually Sean Connery would return to James Bond once more, kind of, in Never Say Never Again. But turning down Live and Let Die gave the franchise room to move on. Sometimes the no is what lets the next chapter begin.
Connery was among many actors reportedly considered to play Rick Deckard, the detective hunting replicants. Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, and Clint Eastwood were also considered before the role went to Harrison Ford. But I’m sure Sean Connery would not have understood this one anyway.
William Shatner really, really, really wanted Sean Connery to play Sybok, Mr. Spock’s estranged half-brother. He was too busy to be a Vulcan. He was making Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at the time. So, yeah, he had to say no.
But the film’s mythical planet, Sha Ka Ree—get it? Sean Connery, Sha Ka Ree—became a silly little phonetic nod to the star who couldn’t join the voyage. So, yeah, he may not be in Star Trek V, but he’s kind of there in spirit, I guess.
And I could totally see Sean Connery crushing it in this role, or at least crushing it in the outfit.
For The Silence of the Lambs, director Jonathan Demme wanted an actor with intelligence, authority, and a presence that could make a quiet conversation feel dangerous. He thought Sean Connery could be remarkable in the role, and the script was sent to Sean first.
But the actor reportedly found the material repugnant, disgusting, and downright sickening, saying that he would not dream of playing the part. So Jonathan Demme moved on to Anthony Hopkins, whose performance became one of the most chilling in film history.
Connery as Lecter is a fascinating idea. He had the voice, the elegance, the ability to make politeness feel like a warning. But Anthony Hopkins brought something stranger that I just don’t think Sean could have done. Anthony’s stillness and precision are just not something we would have gotten with good old Sean.
It would have been interesting, yeah, but it wouldn’t have been this. Connery’s refusal left the door open for a performance that became its own kind of monster. And it’s a beautiful thing.
Sean Connery was reportedly considered for John Hammond in Jurassic Park, the man who brings dinosaurs back to life. But rumor has it he passed on the opportunity due to salary issues. Money, money, money. He wanted more of it.
Richard Attenborough ultimately played John Hammond with warm perfection, so everything’s fine. Connery might have made Hammond more commanding. And sure, yeah, that would have been interesting, but I don’t think it would have made the movie better. It probably wouldn’t have made it worse either. But Attenborough made us want to believe him, and Sean Connery just doesn’t look like a guy who likes dinosaurs. I don’t know. He’s more of a dragon guy.
Sean Connery was reportedly John McTiernan’s first choice to play Simon Gruber, the elegant terrorist who turns New York into a deadly puzzle. Like I said before, John McTiernan had previously worked with Sean Connery on The Hunt for Red October and Medicine Man. So, yeah, it totally could have happened, but Sean Connery had no interest in playing the villain.
Jeremy Irons got the part instead, bringing a theatrical energy to this menace that made him a perfect foil for Bruce Willis. Sean would have been fun, though. But, yeah, Jeremy’s the guy.
Sean Connery was reportedly considered for Dumbledore, but, yeah, he didn’t want to do it. There are rumors out there that say he didn’t want to be in a silly little wizard movie for kids. I think that’s all just kind of a bunch of Hollywood gossip and fake news, but it’s on the internet, so it is easy to imagine his commanding voice echoing through Hogwarts.
But Richard Harris gave the first Dumbledore a gentle, old-world presence. Connery just doesn’t really have that. He can be gentle, just not that kind.
Probably the biggest what-if of Sean Connery’s later career may be Gandalf. Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy was offered to Sean Connery, but he turned it down because he didn’t understand the material. Apparently, he has to understand a thing to do a thing.
Connery later said that he read the book, read the script, and even saw the movies, but he still didn’t get it. Reports said that Sean Connery was offered a pretty big salary plus a share of the box office, which could and would have amounted to an enormous sum. Mountains of money.
Studio executives have confirmed that, yeah, one of the most famous actors in the world looked at this fantasy epic about a magical battle of good and ancient evil and simply couldn’t see himself inside of it.
Ian McKellen became Gandalf, and his wonderful performance carries the weight of a myth and the warmth of a wise grandfather. I can just see that Sean Connery probably might have given Gandalf a different kind of authority, more of a warrior, more of a king or something like that. Something kind of like what he did with King Richard in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which probably wouldn’t have worked as well. Probably definitely.
But Ian McKellen’s Gandalf feels both powerful and deeply kind at the same time. And it’s impossibly hard now to separate the wizard from the actor who brought him to life.
Connery’s absence became part of the story. The part did not need the biggest star. It needed the right one, which would later turn Ian McKellen into the biggest star, rising to icon status himself.
Sean Connery was reportedly considered to play Nigel Powers, Austin’s dashing spy of a father. But when they couldn’t get James Bond, they went to the next best British spy from the ’60s, the guy who played Harry Palmer: Michael Caine. His dry, dignified performance made the parody even funnier.
And I really can’t see Sean Connery matching Michael Caine’s comedic timing and chemistry with Mike Myers or Beyoncé.
Sean also declined to plug himself into The Matrix franchise. He said that he had been offered a role twice and declined because he didn’t understand it. The specific character he was offered is less clear in these accounts. Some say that he was offered the role of Morpheus, but it was probably more likely that he was offered the Architect, the program who explains the design of the Matrix in those sequels.
The Morpheus part of this rumor is probably bogus, because I just can’t see Sean believably engaging in all that hand-to-hand combat. He was already kind of too old for flipping around in 1999, I think.
So, yeah, missing out on The Matrix meant missing out again on another huge paycheck and on increasing his iconic movie status. All because he could not make sense of the script. He’s got to understand it, and he didn’t seem to understand much.
The Architect role eventually went to Helmut Bakaitis, who delivered his explanation of the Matrix with a mathematical calm. Connery might have made the character more imposing, more human, more like a monarch explaining the rules of his kingdom. Once again, he probably would have done what he did in Prince of Thieves.
He might not have minded missing out on Austin Powers, but Sean Connery later said that he regretted passing on The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix.
After declining both, Sean was most likely desperate not to miss out on the next big blockbuster yet again. So, he joined a film that everyone promised him would be a surefire, guaranteed hit with the potential for sequels and merchandise and more.
That film was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a fantasy adventure he also didn’t fully understand, but did anyway. I like to call The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen LXG. Nowadays, LXG is mostly remembered as a failed attempt at redemption for Connery, who was just sick and tired of letting these cinematic juggernauts slip through his fingers.
This film about these extraordinary gentlemen became Sean Connery’s last live-action feature. It was not the triumphant fantasy blockbuster he might have imagined, and it reportedly left him disillusioned with filmmaking to the point where he turned his back on movies forever.
LXG. It was supposed to be Sean’s second chance, but ultimately became a symbol of how his time had passed.
But film is not a collection of perfect roles waiting for the perfect actor. It’s a chain of accidents, refusals, compromises, and surprises. We can imagine Sean Connery in those parts, but we absolutely can’t know what those films would have become. The alternate versions exist only in our heads, and that may be why they’re so irresistible.
Would Connery’s legacy have been even more legendary if he had played Gandalf? Yeah, maybe. Would he have made a terrifying Hannibal Lecter? Almost certainly. Could he have given The Matrix a voice that sounded like the universe itself? Yeah, I can hear it now.
But that doesn’t mean his legacy was incomplete. The man gave us James Bond, the spy who changed what a movie hero could be. He gave us an Oscar-winning performance in The Untouchables, showing that he does have the skills and is full of warmth, fury, and grief. He was a true artist. He gave us Henry Jones Sr., the father of Indiana, who turned the story of The Last Crusade into something much more than just relics and traps. He gave us a whole gallery of characters made larger by his presence.
We can imagine Sean Connery in any and every film ever made, but we don’t really need to, because Sean Connery already gave cinema plenty of wonderful characters. We did not need more.
Saying no helped Steve McQueen create his own version of cool. Saying no gave Roger Moore the chance to become James Bond. Saying no let Ian McKellen venture to Middle-earth. Saying no got Anthony Hopkins an Oscar. Connery’s refusals left room for some of cinema’s greatest films and franchises to find their own legends.
More importantly, saying no helped keep Sean Connery special. If he had said yes to every single project thrown his way, we might have seen so much of him that the magic would have worn off. Imagine Pedro Pascal levels of overexposure times a million.
Connery didn’t need to be in every movie. When he appeared, it meant something. So, thank you, Sean. Thank you for knowing when to say no.