Cruise rejected as Ledger replacement

Tom Cruise offered to be one of the replacements for Heath Ledger in his final film, but was turned down by director Terry Gilliam.

Ledger died before he had completed his work on the fantasy adventure The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, and Gilliam was considering shutting the film down and starting again with another actor.

However, Hollywood stars Johnny Depp, Colin Farell and Jude Law all agreed to play different aspects of Ledger's character in a bid to complete the film. They, in turn, donated their fees to Ledger's daughter Matilda.

But Gilliam has revealed that they weren't the only stars keen to help out.

He told Total Film, "I'm not sure if it was Tom (Cruise) or his agent. I know there was a period when Tom's agents were keen. The thing is, I was only interested in people who were friends of Heath. Simple as that. I wanted to keep it in the family."

Source: Yahoo! Movies