I don’t think he’ he’d be a good Gandalf anyways
nothing against him, but what we got was perfect.
this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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It's hard for me to imagine anyone else in any of the roles. They are all such perfect fits.
Gollum should've been played by Nicolas Cage. With no VFX or makeup.
Also Willem Dafoe with a bald cap could pull it off.
"I'm something of a hoarder myself ... but only for this precious ring!"
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That reminds me of how Will Smith turned down Neo in The Matrix because he thought Wild Wild West was the safer bet.
He would have been an awful Neo. Bullet dodged for everyone.
Ouch
Honestly, the only good decision he's made lately was to not appear in the Independence Day sequel.
i'm gonna be honest looking at will smith's career the good decisions were ones other people made
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He would've been awful. Connery was good at playing smarmy dickheads, but he was kind of ass any time he wasn't playing a smarmy dickhead.
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To be fair to Connery, Zardoz was right after 007. He was type casted and nobody would hire him. He had to do something different to get new work. Also, Zardoz is legit a good movie... If you get past the weird and laughable aesthetic choices, the plot is a decent sci fi plot.
And then Highlander, so it was no wonder he was a bit wary when it came to LOTR.
My shubmarine doeshn’t react well to bulletsh, Ryan.
You've really gotta admire his outright contempt at the thought of even attempting a Russian accent in that movie.
His character is actually Lithuanian, so he shouldn't have a Russian accent. Not that Scottish is accurate...
It was a thriller movie in the 90s for American audiences.
Whether he had contempt or not the accents did not matter. Just needed something to indicate "not American"
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But Highlander was awesome.
It won the Academy Award for best movie ever made.
Also, Zardoz is legit a good movie
Also, Zardoz is where he came up with the policy of not acting in movies that he doesn't "get".
Zardoz is legit a good movie
I assumed it was going to be, but when I watched I found it aggressively terrible.
But, did you watch it a second time? Honestly it's awful the first watch because you can't get past the aesthetic of it. When I watched it again I realized the movie itself is pretty good. It's practically the definition of a good bad movie.
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Zardoz is legit a good movie
Well, ok. But we are comparing it with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
(But then, committing to a trilogy probably has a huge opportunity cost.)
Bear in mind that very few people thought a film adaptation of LOTR was actually going to be any good. It seems obvious now, but it was not seen a really viable project with how trilogies were made at the time (with many years between them) the amount of budget needed, and the effects challenges. The guys who made the movies deserve a lot of credit for doing something so well that it looks obvious when they are done, but little thinks like how to do the hobbits were seen as effects challenges with no real solution that wouldn't look stupid or be insanely expensive.
Connery would have been the biggest name in the film and getting attached to something that wound up looking like shit or making him look stupid would have been a bigger problem for him than anyone. Again, its obvious that they turned out great, but look at what Peter Jackson made before this and its not really as obvious a choice as one would think now (although I am personally a fan of his early work, I get why people might not be and why people maybe wouldn't hand him the biggest film franchise in history).
And just for a fun tidbit, at the time that Connery bailed on the offer the film was being produced by Weinstein, so I get maybe not wanting to work with that dirtbag. They almost lost Liv Tyler for the same reason and reportedly did lose them Ashley Judd and Mia Sorvino, who flat out refused to be attached to anything involving him.
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I heard this story, not sure if it's true, but I choose to believe it and will not hear any corrections; apparently, he was approached about Gandalf, but he turned it down because he didn't really understand it. Then he was approached about Dumbledore, but turned it down because he didn't really understand it. After seeing how those two franchises turned out, he said, "screw it, I'm taking the next role that I don’t get." That role was Alan Quartermaine in League of Extraordinary Gentleman. After that movie bombed he retired from acting altogether.
That role was Alan Quartermaine in League of Extraordinary Gentleman. After that movie bombed he retired from acting altogether.
Which is a shame really because I remember it being... Kinda good? Clearly not a work of great art, but fun action silliness. Admittedly I watched it as a kid and never again so who knows really.
Didn’t hate it? It was a fun action film. Sometimes people take things too seriously.
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I'd also argue that however the movie did after the fact, turning down roles you don't understand is probably the smarter option. Maybe those other movies would have also flopped if they had Connery in those roles.
Like I can't picture him doing a good Gandalf. It wouldn't be Gandalf, it would be Sean Connery in a wizard outfit. I can't think of any roles where Connery played someone who wasn't Sean Connery. He brought a lot of charisma to his roles but not a ton of range.
Jesus can you actually imagine if LOTR had Sean Connery instead of Ian McKellen? Hideous prospect. No shade to Connery, he's played some of my favourite characters over the years, but christ that would have been a terrible mistake.
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There was a population boost in the town they filmed Zardoz in due to all of the drug-induced revelry that was going on during the making of that movie.
There is a good chance that town is populated with tens if not scores of Sean Connery's illegitimate grandchildren now.
“And sho do all who live to shee shuch timesh. But that ish not for them to deshide. All we have to deshide ish what to do with the time that ish give to ush.”
I mean, maybe the bottom picture made perfect sense to Sean?
Yeah, it's called "I was young and broke, and needed the money".
Although, I really do recommend watching Zardoz at least once. It's a trip.
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I've enjoyed a great deal of movies with Connery as the lead. I think he made the right choice not being Gandalf.
Zardoz was awesome though. It actually had an interesting world and compelling sci fi ideas. And one of the greatest reveals in cinema! You know why call him "Zardoz", right?
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I'm sure his time on league of extraordinary gentlemen made him never want to do anything even near that kind of movie ever again.
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The gun is good!
The name is Grey. Gandalf the Grey.
Connery even made a Michael Bay movie watchable.
There's not many actors that can say that.
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