Welcome to Film Industry Trivia a blog dedicated to digging up interesting nuggets of trivia about the film industry. You can find out how movies were put together, who the first choice directors, actors and actresses were and read stories about the actual production of some of your favourite films. Just imagine for a moment how different some of the most celebrated films in history may have been if the first choice actor or director had gotten the gig. You can expect more in depth articles over the next few weeks but to whet your appetite here are a few of my favourite close calls in casting. First up is Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones, of course it is now impossible to imagine anyone other than Harrison Ford as Indy but Tom Selleck was actually cast in the role and had to decline it because of his commitment to Magnum P.I. Mel Gibson turned down the role of Maximus in the smash hit Gladiator. Russell Crowe got the part and it won him an Oscar. Quentin Tarantino originally wanted Michael Madsen to play Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction but Madsen turned down the role to do Wyatt Earp and the part went to John Travolta. The role of Michael Corleone in the Godfather trilogy was turned down by Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman before Al Pacino was eventually cast. For The Shawshank Redemption the lead role of Andy was offered to Tom Hanks and Kevin Costner who both said no leaving it open for Tim Robbins. Stay tuned for more film industry trivia.