7 Iconic Roles That Were Almost Played By Bill Murray

Bill Murray is one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood. He has this unique attitude that is hard to resist, and his movies are pretty much always awesome.

The actor has been around for decades now, but what is really funny about his career is how many iconic roles he has actually turned down or missed out on. While we all know him from classics like Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day and Caddyshack, it turns out we could have known him from even more.

The actor has been up for a lot of iconic roles over the years. Whether he turned down or just wasn't picked, these 7 roles would completely change the movie if he were cast.

Han Solo - Star Wars

It's hard to imagine this role as anyone other than Harrison Ford, but turns out Murray auditioned for the role. Other actors who were considered included Kurt Russell, Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson and Steve Martin, but no one could compete with Harrison Ford.  

Allen Bauer - Splash

Tom Hanks won out for this role, but it was okay because Murray was filming Ghostbusters at the time anyways. He isn't really known for his romantic movies, but he probably would have been able to do a great job in the comedic bits.

Eddie Valiant - Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Murray was the directors first choice for the role, but they couldn't get a hold of him. He apparently never knew that they were trying to get in contact with him until years later. He was really disappointed and claims he absolutely would have done this movie if he had the chance to. Instead it went to Bob Hoskins who obviously did a great job.

Charlie Babbit - Rain Man

Hoffman originally wanted Murray to play his brother, but Tom Cruise won out. Murray would have been an interesting choice because it would have been if first big dramatic role at the time.

There are some more really huge roles that could have been played by Bill Murray, including Gotham's most famous hero...

Bruce Wayne - Batman (1989)

While it may be hard to imagine, even Michael Keaton was a strange choice for Batman at the time. Obviously we know he ended up doing great, but Keaton got his start in comedy just like Murray. Tim Burton, director of the movie, had originally been looking at Murray to play the billionaire crime fighter, I guess it just shows that humor was an important component for the film.

Forrest Gump - Forrest Gump

Tom Hanks once again ended up with a role that was almost going to go to Murray! This time, Murray turned down the role early in production. He wasn't the only actor who turned it down. Fellow comedian, Chevy Chase, also turned down the role but apparently the final film is much different from the script he saw.

Buzz Lightyear - Toy Story

Bill Murray was the original choice for the naive spaceman, and when he turned it down Pixar went to Billy Crystal before eventually landing on Tim Allen. Murray has since done some other voice acting including the Garfield films, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and he voiced Baloo in The Jungle Book.

Which of these roles would be the hardest to see him in? Let us know in the comments!