The insane reason Garth Brooks “refused to accept” a role in ‘Saving Private Ryan’
One of the many interesting things about rewatching Saving Private Ryan through a modern lens is to see just how many actors in the movie went on to bigger and better things after playing bit-parts in Steven Spielberg’s classic, one of the greatest war films cinema has ever produced.
The director thought Matt Damon would fit the bill, casting him based on the strength of his performance in Courage Under Fire, only to be undercut when Good Will Hunting was released seven months beforehand, which made the former unknown an Academy Award winner by the time Spielberg’s epic hit cinemas.
Tom Hanks was already a two-time Oscar winner and one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and Tom Sizemore was a reliable character man who’d been in some impressive pictures, but names like Vin Diesel, Jeremy Davies, Adam Goldberg, Nathan Fillion, Bryan Cranston, Paul Giamatti, and Andrew Scott went on to become stars of screens big and/or small, franchise fixtures, or ‘that guy from that thing’ favourites.
However, as ridiculous as it sounds, Garth Brooks was almost cast in a key part. Not just any part, though, but as Daniel Jackson, the devoutly religious sniper brought to memorable life by Barry Pepper. If that still wasn’t perplexing enough, the character had been written specifically for him by Frank Darabont, who performed uncredited rewrites on Robert Rodat’s Oscar-winning screenplay.
As hard as it sounds to believe, that isn’t even the half of it. Most actors, never mind country musicians who didn’t have acting careers to speak of, would leap at the opportunity to play a role penned for them by the director of The Shawshank Redemption in a movie that was being helmed by Steven Spielberg.
In a lawsuit filed against Brooks and his Red Strokes Entertainment company by his long-time business partner, Lisa Sanderson, plenty of dirty laundry was aired, but none of it was anywhere near as mind-boggling as the explanation for why the crooner declined an invitation to join the Saving Private Ryan ensemble.
“Sanderson introduced Brooks to Frank Darabont and arranged for him to write a role for Brooks as a sniper in the motion picture Saving Private Ryan,” the complaint read. “Brooks refused to accept a role, indicating that he wanted to be the star and was unwilling to share the limelight with the rest of the ensemble cast, which included award-winning actors Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Edward Burns, among numerous other well-known and critically acclaimed actors.”
That’s preposterous, but somehow, there was more: “Brooks further stated that although he idolised Tom Hanks, he did not believe anyone would want to see that movie. When Brooks rejected the role in Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg asked Brooks what role he did want to play and Brooks replied, ‘A bad guy.'”
In short, Brooks knocked back the sniper because he wanted to be the leading man and didn’t think audiences would be interested in seeing Hanks lead a movie that became the highest-grossing World War II film of all time, requesting that he play the villain instead, even though Saving Private Ryan didn’t have one.
To put the final dash of icing on a cake made entirely of stupidity, it was also noted that Spielberg also offered him a role in Twister as recompense, which he also turned down. Why? “Brooks also passed on that film, saying the star of the film was the tornado and Brooks wanted to be the star.”
