Woody Harrelson turned down starring in ‘Kong: Skull Island’.
The 55-year-old actor was offered a villainous role in the sci-fi blockbuster but, despite the prospect of a huge pay day, he turned down the part because he didn’t "care" enough about the giant ape.
And Woody is delighted he passed on the part as he wouldn’t have been able to take on his current role of the ruthless Colonel in ‘War Of The Planet Of The Apes’ if he’d committed to the other project.
Speaking to Shortlist magazine, the actor said: "I had the opportunity to star in this big movie ‘Kong: Skull Island’.
"Big movie, big payday, all that stuff. But I just thought ‘I don’t care about ‘King Kong’. And in the end I was so glad I turned it down – because one week later, along comes ‘Apes’.
"I saw the first ‘Apes’ movies and I thought ‘man, that was un-bee-lievable, I can’t wait to see the second one’.
"Then I see the second one, and I thought ‘now I can’t wait to see the third one’. – without realising I’d actually get to be in it."
Harrelson also admitted, despite being cast in three major franchises, ‘Apes’, ‘Hunger Games’ and in the upcoming ‘Star Wars’ spin-off Han Solo movie, he doesn’t star in a film just to make a "hit".
He said: "I feel like every movie I do is ‘one for me’. I don’t do movies just to try to make a hit. I mean, sure… You could point out that I’m doping ‘Star Wars’, I’m doing ‘Apes’ and I get that.
"But, y’know, I really like ‘Star Wars’ and I really like ‘Apes’."
The actor also revealed he lost out at the chance to take on one of the lead roles in ‘Dumb and Dumber’ – which ultimately starred Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels – after making a bet with the director.
He said: "It was shot by one of my best buddies – my onetime roommate, in fact – Peter Farrelly, along with his brother Bobby.
"They’d had no success at that time, but really wanted me to do the movie.
"Pete’s a good pool player, so I challenged him to a game and said ‘if I love this game, I’ll do your movie; if I win, I’m not gonna do it.
"The game came down to the eightball – and I’ve never been so disappointed to sink an eightball in my life.
"Although, I dunno if I could’ve played that part as well as Jeff Daniels did anyway."
Woody Harrelson turns down Kong: Skull Island role
