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Roles
he didn't get & what he thinks on them
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1990 -- Hi-Tech Light Bragade
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Sorbo auditioned for a part in the movie 'Hi-Tech Light Bragade'. Kevin didn't got the part and the movie never was made.
Judging by the title
there must be a story about some mobile army unit. Seeing the picture
one can guess that Kevin' character was going to be quite energetic.
Nothing else to say.
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1991(?92) -- Gumshoes
For those of you unfamiliar with American slang, 'gumshoes' mean 'detectives'
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"Sorbo was getting
"pilots and pilots, back to back to back." ...'Aspen', 'Condition
Critical'... Even a CBS concept called 'Gumshoes' with Peter Scolari
and Ed Asner, "a sort of a 'Barney
Miller' meets 'Police Academy' where my character was sort of a
Ted Danson womanizing private
eye but just a total goofball as well." (11.05.95
Newsday)
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[I'm not sure about my understanding this bit - looks like some filming was made, but the whole thing wasn't concluded.]
1992/93 -- Twenty Bucks
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Released: 22.10.93 --
Genre: Comedy/ Psychological Drama -- Rated: R
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| Q: Is that true that you turned down a part in the film called "Twenty Bucks"? -- Kevin Sorbo (laughs): It's not true that I turned it down. I'm an actor and I want to work... So! I won an audition for that, it was a very small film, independent film. <...> A part eventually went to Brendan Fraser, who plays my wife's husband. Sam Jenkins is in a movie and she plays fiancee. It's a very funny movie about what happens to the twenty dollars that travels through very different people. (10.01.03 Interstellar Transmissions, Radio Show - by the ear) |
| The roaming of currency begins after it comes out from a downtown Minneapolis [ha!] ATM machine to a young busy mother. Banknote is taken from her by the wind and starts to change hands... One of the encounters on the dollars's way is with a couple on the verge of marriage. The bill is given by the wealthy father of the bride (Anna - Sam Jenkins) to the blue-collar working stiff his soon-to-be son-in-law (Sam - Brendan Fraser) as a symbolic gift. As in all other incidents the painted piece of paper manages to alter situation. |
1993 -- Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
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"Kevin Sorbo: It
got down to Dean and me for Superman. My agent actually told me I had
the role and then 24 hours later they gave it to Dean. I'm not bitter.
He makes a much better Superman and the decision left me open for Hercules."
(24.08.97 Calgary Sun)
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True, he may have been heartbroken at the time. He had auditioned seven painstaking times with high hopes. Teri Hatcher got the part of Lois Lane and Warner Bros. was looking for an actor 6 feet 2 or taller with blue eyes and about 32 to 34 years old for Superman. Kevin Sorbo seemed ideal. However, Dean Cain - 6 feet tall, brown eyes, 26 years old - was called back to read four times. On-screen chemistry can be so strong that the casting of an ideal type can be overridden in favor of something less than the ideal if the chemistry is formidable enough. Robert Butler, the director of the pilot, after seeing Dean and Teri together in the dailies commented, "They've got it!" So, Dean became Clark Kent /Superman. |
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"Kevin Sorbo: You
know what? It happened for the right reason. Although I would have made
a good Clark Kent. I look better in glasses." (31.08.97
Chicago Sun-Times)
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"TTV: Now that Superman's ratings
are sagging are you glad you got Hercules instead? Kevin Sorbo: You know what? The whole thing with Dean Cain, the initial disappointment for me was the fact I got called from the Lorimar casting people. I've had agents call me up: "Oh, you got the part." Well, I learned very quickly not to believe anything my agent tells me. In that case, you listen because I never had that happen before. I did... I thought I'd given a good reading. [Do you like this 'I did... I thought I'd given' thing as much as I do?] Then, 24 hours later, they call back and said they were going with Dean. Yeah, sure, you're upset. You're upset initially, but I put up with so much rejection in this business. They say you're suppose to develop a thick skin basically. You know what? We're actors and actors deal with their emotions. So, yeah, you take it personally. Yeah, you get upset about it. For me, it's another trip to the gym. You work out and get it out of your system. So I got over it. And really when it comes down to it, Dean was right for the part anyway. He's a much better Superman than I would be. And everything worked out the way it was supposed to. I heard the ratings were sagging there. But I never said yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not one of those guys who says 'I can play it better'. I cringe when I hear other actors say that. That comes from insecurities and jealousies, as far as I'm concerned. And, you know, you wouldn't play it better. You'd play it differently. To me, it's just like, 'All the power to him.' Yeah, I heard the ratings were down, but I certainly don't wish that on him." (11.96 Total TV mag) |
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"Wasn't Sorbo the
runner-up for 'Lois and Clark'? The actor kicks his head back in laughter.
'I was a pretty good Clark Kent. With the suit on and the glasses, I
looked pretty damn good! In the suit and with the hair, Dean Cain made
a better Superman - so they made the right choice." (06.11.00
Cinescape)
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Q: You were runner-up
to Dean Cain for the role of Superman. As an actor are you resentful
of the success that a show has and do you feel that the part should
have been yours? -- Kevin Sorbo: I thought I had a good shot, but I
can't be resentful because he got the part. Things worked out though,
because six months later I got the part of Hercules and we went seven
seasons whereas "Lois and Clark" only went three. Plus, Dean
made a better Superman than I would have, though I think I might have
made a better Clark Kent. (03.04 Dvd/authority Online)
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1993 -- NYPD Blue
Sorbo was auditioning for Detective John Kelly on "NYPD Blue", later played by David Caruso.
1993 -- The X-Files
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"TVW: Before Hercules, you were up for David Duchovny's role in 'The X-Files'. What would you have brought to Fox Mulder that Duchovny hasn't? -- Kevin Sorbo: David is very good at what he does, but I think I would have brought a different sense of humor. I can be very sarcastic." (07.07.97 Australia TV Week) Kevin Sorbo: "I was one of many who were being considered for Fox Mulder, so that wasn't such a disappointment." (24.08.97 Calgary Sun) 'People make too big a deal out of me getting the Agent Mulder role in that,'' he said with a laugh. ''I got in to read twice for that part. Nowhere near getting it. How would he be different if I played him? Mulder would be taller.'' (29.08.97 Winston-Salem Journal) |
1997 -- Black Dog
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"Black Dog' will be
the second of a three-movie deal Sorbo signed with Universal. "I'm
finally going contemporary", he says. Deep in debt, trying to save
his marriage, Jack breaks parole to drive a truckload of toilets (he
thinks) from Atlanta to New Jersey. In fact, the load includes illegal
firearms, and Jack becomes the target of both federal agents and villains
who want his contraband. "I'm the guy in the middle", Sorbo
says, "not knowing whats going on till its too late."
(01.09.97 Atlanta Journal Constitution)
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| "Black Dog' moves me into this century and that's truly exciting," admits Sorbo. His female fans might be a little disappointed that his new character keeps his shirt on for the whole film. "I get to wear jeans, cowboy boots and lots of different shirts." (24.08.97 Calgary Sun) |
| "Kevin Sorbo: I'm chopping the hair off [5 inches], playing a regular guy, an ex-con trucker, who gets caught up in this arms-smuggling deal. A straight action film, which hopefully will keep me from getting typecast as just a sword-fighting guy with his shirt off all the time.'' (29.08.97 Winston-Salem Journal) |
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"Kevin Sorbo was
forced to abandon his starring role in the action film 'Black Dog'.
Though Sorbo reported to the set, an adverse reaction to an anticoagulant
drug, given following his recent aneurysm, resulted in his departure
from the project during the first day of filming." (12.97
Dreamwatch)
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Jack Crews was played by Patrick Swayze. The type of action flick/thriller about a troubled but kindhearted truckdriver who was tricked into haulage of illegal weapons. Suddenly he finds himself wanted by both the mob and the cops. His situation become more desperate when his wife and daughter are kidnapped and he has to save three lives in one smart move. Good guy in a spin, an undercover FBI agent, tons of exploding eighteen-wheelers, folk songs, chases, crashes, sugary plot and some fun... Standard and simple B-movie. To watch with keen interest and to forget in two weeks. I don't think that Sorbo as Jack could change it. So nothing is missed. IMHO. |
2000 -- Unknown movie
| Kevin Sorbo: I'm actually in discussions right now about doing a movie in January. (04.00 Xena Magazine #4) |
| Q: Do you have any upcoming movie roles? -- Kevin Sorbo: There's one movie, which I'm not supposed to talk about, but it would be perfect for me. It's about golf. That was another reason for me slimming down, so maybe I would be considered for other roles. (16.07.00 Fort Worth Star Telegram) |
2001 -- Black Hawk Down
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Ridley Scott, the Oscar-nominated director: "We had to do this film relatively quickly, because we started in March and were going to release in December of the same year." (2001 Prevue) The film re-creates the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission to capture the Somalian warlord Aidid turned into a 16-hour bloody urban warfare. |
| "Andromeda" screenwriter Zack Stentz: "Kevin Sorbo was offered a very high-profile role in a very high-profile film by an Oscar-nominated director that he had to turn down. If there wasn't the threat of a strike we would undoubtedly have re-arranged Andromeda's schedule to let him to do that, because that kind of raising his profile is good for us as well." As they had expected actors' and writers' strikes the season 2 shooting started up two months ahead of schedule, with a plan to break regardless of whether or not there was a strike. (03.01 Interview for Slipstream Web) |
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Kevin Sorbo: I was gonna do a movie this year, but because of all the talk of the actors' strike and writers' strike, everything was put on hold. (11.01 Xpose #61) |
| Kevin Sorbo: About 3 years ago [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer offered me a part in "Black Hawk Down", but the studio Tribune didn't let me have the 2 months off I needed to shoot that film in Morocco so… You can write them a nasty letter cause I tried to explain to them that we got to get possible feedback for the show. (03.04 Phone Call formerly on Apollo's Temple) |
| Kevin Sorbo: I wanted to do it, but they needed three months to shoot the film in Morocco. So I needed two months off from "Andromeda", and Tribune wouldn't let me do it. I think they missed the boat there because we could have moved 'Andromeda'. I tried to explain how we would benefit but they didn't understand. (08.04 UGO.com) |
2002 -- Unknown movie(s)
| "Kevin Sorbo: I will be doing a film next January." (20.07.01 Chat with RTL Newmedia) |
| "Kevin Sorbo: I kind of had a movie that looked like it was going to happen. I got okayed by the studio. I got okayed by the director, okayed by the producers, by everybody, and then the star nixed me at the last minute. I won't say his name, but suffice it to say I wasn't surprised, because there are a lot of insecure people in this business, and I think he was afraid I might upstage him to some degree on the set. [That's] my opinion and my agent's opinion. It's the business. A lot of actors don't want to work with me because I'm 6'3" and they're 5'7". That's the way it is." (14.02.02 13th Street) |
| "...an A-list Hollywood superstar, Sorbo politely declines to identify, shot down his taking on a major supporting role in an upcoming production." (05.02 Starlog) |
| Kevin Sorbo: One of the reasons I took the show ["Andromeda"] is we get a four-month hiatus. When the last hiatus [01-04.02] came around I came close on two movies, but I got nixed by both lead actors. I'm not going to tell you who the names are, but it's funny when the studio says yes, the director says yes, the producer says yes, but then these guys are big name actors and they've got a lot of say, a lot of power, and they don't want to work with me. Now, we can come up with all the different ideas about why they didn't want to work with me, and some are probably positive for me, some are probably negative for me. ((11).02 Prevue Mag Online #520) |
2003 -- Remake of "It's a Wonderful Life"
| Sorbo said Lifetime channel had wanted him for their remake of the perennial classic film "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) to play the James Stewart role, but Tribune wouldn't let him off "Andromeda" to do it. Kevin was obviously disappointed. (22-24.08.03 KS on Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic - sum of reports) |
Any corrections & additions are more than welcome
