John Leguizamo says he turned down an offer to voice a character in 2005’s Happy Feet because he was sick of “doing all these ice movies.”
Speaking with Business Insider, Leguizamo was asked if there had ever been a role that he turned down that he later regretted. Leguizamo revealed he could have voiced the character of Ramón in George Miller’s Happy Feet; however, he opted not to given he was already voicing Sid the Sloth in the Ice Age franchise.
“I had done Ice Age,” Leguizamo said. “I was going, ‘I don’t want to be doing all these ice movies.’ Such a stupid reason. But it seemed logical to me at the moment, and then I lost out on millions.”
Ramón was ultimately voiced by Robin Williams, while Elijah Wood voiced Mumble. Happy Feet made approximately $384.3 million at the global box office off of an estimated budget of $100 million. It spawned a sequel, Happy Feet Two, which was released in 2011.
Leguizamo also turned down roles in The Devil Wears Prada and Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Leguizamo also revealed that he turned down an opportunity to play Nigel in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, which then went to Stanley Tucci, along with the chance to play Eddie in 2005’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which went to Vince Vaughn.
Regarding why he turned down the Mr. and Mrs. Smith role, Leguizamo said, “It was because they were paying them $20 million and they were going to pay me scale. I felt dissed, and they probably weren’t dissing me, but I felt dissed. Sometimes when you’re a person of color, you’re so used to being dissed that you think you’re being dissed, and sometimes you’re not being dissed. So that’s what happens, and you have to go to a lot of therapy to fix that.”
