Spider-Man's Shailene Woodley Isn't Alone: Stars' Performances That Got Left on the Cutting Room Floor

Celebs like Matthew Fox and Jessica Chastain have seen their acting be edited from movies

By Lily Harrison Jun 19, 2013 9:29 PMTags
Shailene Woodley, Robert Pattinson, Jessica ChastainGetty Images

Despite shooting a couple of scenes as Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Shailene Woodley will not be appearing in the sequel after all.

Sony confirms that the actress' scenes were left on the cutting room floor due to "a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship," director Marc Webb said in a statement to E! News.

Woodley told Entertainment Weekly that she "was bummed" upon hearing the news, but that she believes in "everything happening for a reason."

But Woodley isn't the only actress to see her work edited out. Plenty of A-listers have experienced similar situations. Here's a list of shelved performances:

Robert Pattinson originally had a role in Vanity Fair alongside Reese Witherspoon but the actor's scenes eventually landed on the DVD extras as an alternate ending.

James Gandolfini's role in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was removed after test audiences didn't like his scenes. The actor, however, was still mentioned in an early trailer for the film.

Uma Thurman was slated to costar with Blake Lively in Savages but her part was eventually cut. Director Oliver Stone credited needing the film to be shorter for his reasoning behind the cut.

Tobey Maguire originally was in both Empire Records and Life of Pi. Ang Lee said that he decided Maguire was too famous for the role in his fantasy film.

Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler joined the star-studded cast of Anchorman but didn't appear on the big screen. There was so much great footage from their scenes that creator Adam McKay made a flick, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, with the leftover scenes.

Liv Tyler also fell victim to a too-long film. Her scenes in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You were left on the chopping block in an effort to shorten the musical's running time.

La Toya Jackson's scene in Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno was deleted following Michael Jackson's death. The clip can still be found online after it became a massive viral hit.

Jessica Chastain joined Rachel Weisz, Amanda Peet and Michael Sheen on the cutting room floor for the Terrence Malick film To the Wonder. All four actors expressed gratitude about working on the art house film despite being removed. Malick also famously cut actors from his World War II epic The Thin Red Line, including Mickey Rourke and Bill Pullman, and even edited Adrien Brody's lead role into a minor part of the film.