Johnny Depp as Ferris Bueller
Movie: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Played by: Matthew Broderick
John Hughes, for middle-American white kids, was the 1980s. Johnny Depp wasn’t in Hughes wheelhouse, but he wasn’t a stretch for the audience. Whether the rumor is true that Depp had a shot at Bueller is almost irrelevant. Hughes made it clear that he wrote the role for Broderick. If Depp was on the short list of backups, it’s only true in the alternate universe theory. In that universe, Depp married Sarah Jessica Parker.
Molly Ringwald as Vivian Ward
Movie: Pretty Woman (1990)
Played by: Julia Roberts
When Ringwald was hot stuff, she had her pick of films. Sadly, that time passed with the end of the 80s, but she once had an early copy of “Pretty Woman.” The role, of course, went to Roberts, but Ringwald could’ve pulled it off. It might have saved her career. On Reddit, she recently said of the choice, “Julia Roberts is what makes that movie. It was her part. Every actor hopes for a part that lets them shine like that.” Somewhere out there, Roberts kissed Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club and Ringwald played opposite Gere in Pretty Woman.