23 major stars who were totally cut out of their movies

Mary Jane Watson – MJ – was supposed to appear for several scenes in this sequel and Shailene Woodley was on set to shoot those segments. It was ultimately thought her inclusion would take focus off Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) so she was shifted to a threequel that never happened.

A dream restaurant date with Krysten Wiig's character is followed by a nightmare visit to an ice rink where Paul Rudd's character gets abusive. Test audiences hated it, so it was cut (just like his finger under that skate).

Everyone thought Jena Malone was playing Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl, in Batman v Superman so it was a surprise when she didn't appear in the theatrical cut of the movie. It was equally as surprising when she showed up in the minor role as S.T.A.R. scientist Jenet Klyburn in the director's cut.

SJP thought she was doing directors Rob Epstein and Jeff Friedman a favour when she stepped in at the last second to play feminist icon Gloria Steinem after Demi Moore dropped out. But they didn't do her any favours, changing the ending and cutting her role completely.

The Spice Girls didn't want to be in Glitter's gang when he was found guilty of attempted rape and other sexual offences, removing his four minutes from their movie.

The Rolling Stone originally played Fitzcarraldo's assistant Wilbur, but he gathered no moss and departed to tour with the band when the production was delayed and Werner Herzog dropped his character from the script completely.

The sweeping nature of Terence Malick's war film and the number of actors and cameos involved almost invited disappointment but most surprising is Billy Bob Thornton's three-hour voiceover going unused. They should count themselves lucky, as Viggo Mortensen, Gary Oldman, Jason Patric and Martin Sheen never even made it to set before their roles were slashed.

Blake Lively's character originally had an awful lot more backstory in Oliver Stone's drug thriller, courtesy of Uma Thurman's portrayal of her mum. "It was really beautiful stuff," Lively said of the trimmed footage.

Bruce Willis' doctor was supposed to escape his wife Madeline (Meryl Streep) and ex-wife Helen (Goldie Hawn) by faking his death and running away with bartender Toni. When test audiences wanted a darker ending, Tracey Ullman's Toni was out.

You wouldn't know it, as she's been reduced to an uncredited voice, but Angela Bassett plays the boss who orders Brad Pitt's assassin to dispatch his wife. It was actually her scenes that were killed off in Doug Liman's romcom.

A drugged-up Sarah Connor (Lynda Hamilton) was supposed to see Michael Biehn's Kyle Reese in a dream sequence but the actress' description of it in the next scene was so vivid it was eventually cut.

The final edit of the reboot for those loveable Muppets couldn't quite pack in all of its star cameos, leaving these four actors disappointed. At least Gervais and Trejo made it into the sequel as recompense.

"Narrative choices." That's what director Scott Cooper blames for keeping Sienna Miller out of Black Mass, even after she'd gone to enormous lengths to master a Boston accent.

Anarchic comedian Rik Mayall was supposed to bring mischievous ghost Peeves to life throughout the Harry Potter films. When he was cut because director Chris Columbus didn't like the character design, Mayall's review suggested the film needed more Peeves: "The film, with respect... No, with no respect at all, the film was shit."

One-time Crystal Maze host Edward Tudor-Pole might feel the same about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, because he only got to play sinister shopkeeper Mr Borgin in the extended DVD release.

Do we think James Gandolfini seems a likely love interest for Sandra Bullock? Test audiences convinced director Stephen Daldry otherwise and that whole subplot went swimming with concrete shoes.

You know you're killing it as an actor when test audiences ask for your tiny role to be extended. Or it can backfire: Chris Cooper's bookend appearances as a child murderer had to be removed entirely because people wanted more focus on him.

Nine minutes of footage exists of Ashley Judd's courtroom scene, where killer Mickey (Woody Harrelson) cross-examines her himself before stabbing her in the ear with a pencil. None of it made it into Oliver Stone's film, though.

Costner is the dead college friend whose funeral reunites classmates in The Big Chill and the actor shot flashback scenes that were supposed to make it into the movie. Director Lawrence Kasdan had to kill them in editing: "It didn't work. I felt so bad about it."