"Devastating": Jack Thompson reveals the iconic movie role that got away
Jack Thompson is a name many would recognise.
He can boast a stellar acting career, however he has admitted there is one role that might have changed his whole life if he’d gotten it.
Appearing on Anh's Brush With Fame on Tuesday, the 80-year-old Aussie screen legend revealed he only just missed out on the lead in Schindler's List.
The Steven Spielberg-directed film was released in 1994.
The iconic movie won seven Oscars, with Liam Neeson ultimately cast in the role.
The 68-year-old Irish actor also picked up a Best Actor Oscar nomination, but Jack said the role was “almost” his.
“I'd done camera tests, shot a couple of scenes, and then did a whole afternoon with Spielberg,” he explained to host Anh Do.
“At the end of it [Steven Spielberg] said, ‘Well, there's not much doubt.’”
Jack said Steven then told him that he had to catch a flight to New York, and they'd sign the contracts when he returned on the Monday.
But while he was in New York, the legendary director met up with Liam and had a change of heart.
Liam Neeson in the Schindler's List
Jack said while the news was “a bit devastating”, he was ultimately “OK” with it, due to the complex nature of the business.
However he confessed that the full impact of what had occurred only struck him ”months and months and months later”.
“I’m on my farm, I've gone right up to the back hill, and I get off the horse… and [I'm thinking about] what had just happened with Schindler's List and I just [yelled]: ’F***’,” he admitted.