The Oscar-winning Jack Nicholson role Burt Reynolds turned down: “He said he’d do it”
Actors turn down parts all the time, but rejecting a role that had been written specifically for him to play would have stung ten times harder for Burt Reynolds when the person who replaced him ended up winning an Academy Award for their performance.
What made it even worse is that Reynolds headlined two movies the same year the one that got away was released, and both of them bombed at the box office. Not only that, but his major missed opportunity was a critical and commercial monster that became one of the defining films of 1983.
To put things into perspective, the heart-wrenching drama that Reynolds passed on was the second highest-grossing film to hit cinemas that year, behind only the Star Wars sequel Return of the Jedi. At the Oscars, it earned 11 nominations and won five, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Actress’, and ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
Reynolds might have been a huge star in the 1970s, but things weren’t quite so rosy the following decade. It wasn’t until Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights came along in 1997 that he enjoyed a cinematic renaissance, but it could have happened 14 years previously had he not turned his back on Terms of Endearment.
James L Brooks had started writing the screenplay with Reynolds as his only choice for Garrett Breedlove, which was based on personal and economic factors. “Here’s what it was like: I couldn’t get the movie made, so with Burt, I could get the movie made,” he told Collider. “He said he’d do it, and then a movie came along, and I got a call from his publicist, and he said, ‘Burt’s not going to do the movie, but he wants you to know he loves you.'”
Instead, Reynolds headlined Blake Edwards’ comedy The Man Who Loved Women and reunited with his Smokey and the Bandit, The Cannonball Run, and Hooper director Hal Needham for another action-packed car movie in Stroker Ace, both of which crashed and burned at the multiplex.
Harrison Ford and Paul Newman also knocked back the chance to replace Reynolds in Terms of Endearment before Nicholson came aboard, which nabbed him his second Oscar. It also marked the start of a beautiful friendship between actor and filmmaker, with Nicholson and Brooks working together on Broadcast News, As Good As It Gets, and How Do You Know.
Would Reynolds have replicated Nicholson’s success and taken home the prize for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ had he followed through on his promise to tackle Terms of Endearment? It’s hard to say, but Boogie Nights did indicate that he had an awards-worthy supporting performance in his locker, so it can’t be ruled out.
It was there for the taking, but it would be an understatement to say his loss was Nicholson’s gain.
