Steve McQueen’s impressive movie career cemented his status as a Hollywood icon of the 20th century, but his petty rejection of what would become one of the greatest Westerns of all time may have prevented him from becoming an even bigger star. After getting his start in projects like Wanted Dead or Alive and Never So Few, McQueen became a box office draw throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His penchant for portraying anti-hero characters and association with the 1960s counterculture movement led to the actor’s reputation as the “King of Cool,” a moniker closely associated with him to this day.
Despite being known publicly as the “King of Cool,” McQueen also had a reputation for being difficult on and off set, especially when it came to his movie demands. This led the Hollywood star to lose out on several roles that would later become well known, including a role in a Bruce Lee movie. However, of all the parts that McQueen lost due to pettiness, one of them might have cost him the opportunity to become an even bigger Hollywood legend.
Steve McQueen Rejected Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid Over Top Billing
McQueen had a solid run of movies throughout the 1960s, but he missed the opportunity to put the cherry on top by starring in one of the best Westerns of all time: 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Although it’s hard to imagine Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid without the now-iconic duo of Paul Newman and Robert Redford, the role of The Sundance Kid was originally offered to McQueen. However, McQueen took issue with the way the lead actors would be billed, and this created an impasse in the movie’s negotiations that was unable to be remedied.
Upset that Newman would receive top billing in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, McQueen requested that he get top billing. The also asked that both outlaws would receive an equal number of lines. The head of 20th Century Fox countered with a compromise that would have half of Butch Cassidy’s posters featuring Newman’s name billed first, while the other half would have McQueen receive top billing. Unfortunately, this compromise wasn’t acceptable to McQueen, so he ultimately rejected the role. Considering the major success of the 1969 Western movie, Redford’s career, and the Newman/Redford pairing, this ended up being a huge mistake for McQueen.
Steve McQueen Would’ve Been Great In Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (But It Obviously Worked Out Well)
Newman and Redford’s partnership in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a big part of what makes the movie so enjoyable, but Steve McQueen’s involvement would have made it equally iconic. Considering McQueen’s pedigree as an action star who gravitates towards anti-hero roles, he would have been a great choice for one of Butch Cassidy’s leads. Coming off a series of starring roles throughout the 1960s, as well as an Oscar nomination for The Sand Pebbles, McQueen could have perfectly concluded a decade of success with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Although McQueen would have undoubtedly been successful if he had taken the role of the Sundance Kid, everything clearly worked out for the best. McQueen continued having a highly successful movie career (though it faltered a bit after this mistake), while Newman and Redford produced an instant classic. Considering how great the completed version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is, it’s hard to dwell on what might have been, especially since all three actors have gained statuses as Hollywood icons.
Steve McQueen Repeated His Billing Argument With Paul Newman On The Towering Inferno
McQueen’s track record of demanding top billing didn’t cease after the stipulation cost him the role of the Sundance Kid. In fact, McQueen even repeated the argument with Newman, when the two were poised to star alongside one another in the 1974 disaster movie The Towering Inferno. Once again, when confronted with the prospect of losing out on top billing to Newman, McQueen was upset, which made it seem like history might repeat itself.
Fortunately, a compromise involving the movie posters for The Towering Inferno was reached. The two stars were offered dual top billing, made possible by their names being placed on the poster diagonally. Whether McQueen or Newman was top billed depended on which side one read the poster from. This time around, McQueen learned from his mistake with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and accepted the compromise. Doing so locked in The Towering Inferno as a highlight of Steve McQueen’s movie career. It also brought closure to the partnership that would have been had McQueen and Newman worked together five years prior.