Who Is That?! 12 Horror Roles that Were Recast for the Sequel
John Squires
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What happens when you’re making a sequel to a horror movie and you want a character that survived the first one to be in it, but that actor isn’t available or just plain isn’t interested? Well, folks, this is Hollywood we’re talking about, and the show must always go on.
In horror movies and big time Hollywood hits alike, there have been countless times over the years where filmmakers have been forced to re-cast roles so that beloved characters could return for sequels. Obviously, the ideal situation is for the actor who played a character in one movie to be the same actor who plays that character in the next movie, but things don’t always work out as planned. Sometimes those actors demand too much money to return; other times they’re too busy doing something else.
Here are 12 situations where a role was re-cast for a horror sequel!
1) TOMMY JARVIS – FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 5/PART 6 – JOHN SHEPHERD/THOM MATHEWS
Tommy Jarvis was of course played by a different actor in all three installments of the Friday the 13th franchise that he appeared in. Since Part 5 took place many years after the events of Part 4, Corey Feldman naturally had to be replaced by an adult actor for that sequel, which ended up being newcomer John Shepherd. Though Shepherd was offered the role of Tommy Jarvis again in Part 6, he demanded far too much money to return, and he has noted in recent years that he’s glad the studio didn’t meet his demands.
Director Tom McLoughlin was sold on Thom Mathews being the new Tommy Jarvis, both because of his established name within the genre (having previously starred in Return of the Living Dead), and because he felt the actor could believably play a grown-up version of Feldman’s Jarvis.
2) MIKE – PHANTASM/PHANTASM 2 – A. MICHAEL BALDWIN/JAMES LEGROS
Though director Don Coscarelli planned on having all of the actors from Phantasm reprise their roles for the sequel, Universal had other plans. Executives wanted to replace both Michael Baldwin and Reggie Bannister with recognizable actors, but Coscarelli fought tooth and nail to keep them on board. After a round of auditions, Universal offered him the chance to keep only one of the two actors and replace the other character with a new actor, and Coscarelli was forced to re-cast the role of Mike, bringing in actor James LeGros.
A. Michael Baldwin ended up returning to the role for both Phantasm 3 and 4 and reprises it once again in upcoming sequel Phantasm: Ravager.
3) ANGELA BAKER – SLEEPAWAY CAMP/SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2 – FELISSA ROSE/PAMELA SPRINGSTEEN
Since the follow-up to Sleepaway Camp was made five years later, Felissa Rose had by that point taken a lengthy hiatus from acting and was focusing on her studies at New York University. As a result, she was unavailable to reprise the role of summer camp slasher Angela Baker. The role was filled in Sleepaway Camp 2 by Bruce Springsteen’s younger sister, Pamela, who also returned for the second sequel.
Much to the delight of fans of the first film, Felissa Rose made her triumphant return as Angela Baker many years later, in the 2008 sequel Return to Sleepaway Camp.
4) CLARICE STARLING – SILENCE OF THE LAMBS/HANNIBAL – JODIE FOSTER/JULIANNE MOORE
It would be quite an understatement to say that it was a daunting task for Julianne Moore when she took over the role of Clarice Starling for the decade-later sequel to Silence of the Lambs. Though Foster won an Academy Award for playing the character in 1991, and had up until 1997 confirmed that she would in fact be a part of the sequel, she eventually turned the project down. Reports suggested that she was asking too much money to return, but her official word was that she was simply too busy filming another movie at the time.
Many actresses were considered for Clarice 2.0, including Angelina Jolie and Gillian Anderson, but Julianne Moore, suggested by Anthony Hopkins, was given the role due to her proven versatility as an actress. Foster was quoted after the movie came out as saying that the characterization of Clarice in the film “betrayed” the original depiction of the character.
MORE RECAST ROLES ON NEXT PAGE!
