3 Actors Who Almost Played Donnie Darko Before Jake Gyllenhaal, One Was Taller Than the Creepy Bunny

A cult classic, Donnie Darko is still considered one of the most complex sci-fi movies ever, which is why it still gives audiences plenty to unpack. However, aside from the story itself, one of the film’s biggest strengths is Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role, to the point that trying to picture the film without him feels strange. He pretty much became the face of the troubled teenager who sees a giant rabbit named Frank, questions what’s happening, and seems totally unable to tell reality from imagination. But did you know he wasn’t the first choice for the lead? When a movie is being put together, plenty of names are considered for its characters, but here the actor became so closely associated with the film that it’s hard not to wonder who almost took his place.

Technically, only one actor other than Gyllenhaal actually got officially attached to the role, but over the years, a few others have reportedly come up as possibilities. So, if you’ve ever wondered what Donnie Darko might have looked like with someone else, this list takes a look at the 3 actors who could have potentially played Donnie instead of the one who ultimately made the role his own.

3) Vince Vaughn

After watching Donnie Darko and finding out that Vince Vaughn could, in theory, have been the lead, it seems like a pretty strange and questionable choice. The story that has circulated about the movie’s casting is that the actor was approached for the role but turned it down because he felt he was too old to play a teenager. And it makes sense, considering Vaughn was already in his 30s, while Donnie was supposed to be a high school student. On the other hand, it’s not hard to see why someone might have considered him either, since the actor already had a sarcastic sense of humor and a somewhat uncomfortable presence that could have worked in some scenes — Swingers and Clay Pigeons are good examples of that.

The problem is that he probably would have made the character feel much older than Gyllenhaal does. Plus, there’s one detail that might seem like a small thing, but really isn’t: Vaughn is around 6’5″, while James Duval, who plays Frank, is around 5’10”. So in an alternate version of the movie, the protagonist could have been considerably taller than the man inside the rabbit suit. Still, it’s worth remembering that the whole story about Vaughn’s casting is somewhat uncertain, because while some sources claim he was indeed involved in the process, others have contradicted that.

2) Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg also appears among the names linked to the casting story of Donnie Darko, and the supposed reason he didn’t end up with the role is pretty specific: he reportedly wanted to play Donnie with a lisp. It’s a small detail, but it could have changed the impression the protagonist gives quite a bit. Gyllenhaal plays Donnie as a kid who is always caught between irritation, confusion, and vulnerability, and he does so with a lower, natural, sometimes dry voice, while Wahlberg probably would have made the character feel more peculiar and less conventional. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t have worked, especially since he was already building his career as an actor at the time, but it’s hard to imagine the same dynamic with Frank, Gretchen, and even Donnie’s parents.

The weird thing is that, just like Vaughn, his involvement in the casting is also not 100% confirmed. In fact, director Richard Kelly doesn’t usually mention him when talking about how he ended up casting Gyllenhaal. But it’s also impossible to say that Wahlberg definitely never came close to the role, since his name has continued to show up for years in reports about the casting alternatives for Donnie. The only thing we can say for sure is that, if it had been him, the film would have had a noticeably different effect, not just because of the list, but because of the more aggressive and confident energy the actor had, especially during the 2000s.

1) Jason Schwartzman

Here we can speak with much more certainty, since Jason Schwartzman really was going to star in Donnie Darko. After Rushmore, the actor was in a perfect position to play the protagonist, as he already had experience playing intelligent, strange teenagers who didn’t exactly seem to fit in with the people around them. He was also very interested in the role, and Kelly managed to attach him to the project, which helped give the movie more credibility and got it more attention in Hollywood. At the time, the production was having a hard time being taken seriously since it was considered too difficult to make, with a first-time director who was also insisting on directing his own screenplay.

And for a while, it looked like everything was going according to plan, with the movie’s financing already being secured, but then a scheduling conflict came up for Schwartzman, and it ended up forcing him to leave the movie at the last minute. At that point, the director had to start looking for a new actor, which is when Gyllenhaal came into the picture. But before the final casting, Kelly later described that period as “horrifying,” because there was a real risk of the entire production falling apart without Schwartzman (and without Drew Barrymore, who had joined the cast with a very limited window to shoot). In the end, everything worked out, but it’s interesting how this casting decision helped give Donnie Darko the push it needed to be taken more seriously by the industry.

5 Actors Who Almost Played Neo In The Matrix Before Keanu Reeves, & One Actually Turned It Down To Make a Flop