Tim Burton’s 1990 film was his Hollywood breakthrough
Lauren Murphy
It was the role than turned Johnny Depp from a teen idol into a bona fide Hollywood superstar – but we could well have seen another famous name in the lead role of ‘Edward Scissorhands’.
Depp has revealed that two other major names were in the running to play the lead in Tim Burton’s 1990 fantasy film about a humanoid with scissors instead of hands.
In an interview for a docu-series currently being made about Burton, Depp reminisced about the character and said that Tom Cruise “was not far away from actually playing Edward Scissorhands — true story”, according to People.
He added how other famous names, including Michael Jackson and Tom Hanks, had contacted Burton to express interest in playing Edward, but that the role ultimately went to Depp, although he remembers thinking: “He’s never going to cast me when everyone in Hollywood is after the part”.
The 61-year-old actor, who was 27 when the film was released, went on to star in ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?’, ‘Donnie Brasco’, ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ and ‘The Ninth Gate’ in the 1990s alone, leaving his ’21 Jump Street’ days far behind.
Burton’s next film, of course, is the highly anticipated ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ sequel, which will be released in September.
Source: https://entertainment.ie/movies/movie-news/edward-scissorhands-tom-cruise-michael-jackson-560974/