The only actor who turned down two roles in ‘Saving Private Ryan’: “I was offered”
It’s difficult to predict which movies are destined for greatness until anyone’s gotten the chance to see them, but as an immersive World War II epic hailing from one of the best directors in the business, Saving Private Ryan stood a better chance than most of attaining instant classic status.
That’s exactly what happened after Steven Spielberg’s eardrum-shattering, jaw-dropping, and awe-inspiring blockbuster became the highest-grossing World War II movie in cinema history and cut a swathe through awards season, despite being the victim of arguably the most egregious snub in Oscars history.
The director always planned to cast a lesser-known actor in the title role, and Matt Damon’s emaciated performance in Courage Under Fire helped him get the job. Unfortunately for Spielberg, he was suddenly one of the industry’s hottest new properties when the Good Will Hunting script he wrote with Ben Affleck won him an Academy Award for ‘Best Original Screenplay’.
As tends to be the case with any major production, countless names were considered for various roles. Randomly, Vin Diesel was the only cast member with their role written specifically for them to play, while Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford were bandied around for Tom Hanks’ John Miller.
Few actors would turn down an opportunity to work with Spielberg, but doing it twice for the same picture is virtually unheard of. However, Noah Wyle was caught at a crossroads when his status as one of the main stars of what was the biggest show on television at the time ruled him out of Saving Private Ryan twice.
“I was offered the part of Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryan,” he admitted. “And I couldn’t get out of ER to do it.” When the movie started pre-production, Wyle was definitely a bigger name than Damon, but by the time the film was released, the two actors, who are less than eight months apart in age, were equally famous.
Even when Damon was cast, he could have played another character. “There was two,” he explained. “I got offered the part of Upham, which was Jeremy Davies’ part, and he was so phenomenal in that, I couldn’t imagine doing anything close to what he did.”
The year Saving Private Ryan was released, ER was the number one highest-rated show in America, averaging over 25 million viewers per episode, so Wyle was still being seen by a massive audience despite missing out on two parts in Spielberg’s masterpiece.
Still, it’s got to sting for scheduling to rule an actor out of a movie that was nailed-on for critical, commercial, and awards success, especially when he had two bites at the apple and found himself unable to commit to either, especially when it solidified Damon’s stardom and remains Davies’ most memorable big-screen performance.
