You Won't Believe Who Almost Played Edward Scissorhands Instead of Johnny Depp

Edward Scissorhands tells us a story of a unique human creation, unfortunately left incomplete. As it comes from his name, Edward has scissors instead of his hands. So you can imagine how hard his life might be.

The character didn't have that many lines in the movie, and he communicated mostly with facial expressions and body movements. Burton's first choice to portray this character was… Johnny Depp, of course.

But everything could have gone differently, if only Burton paid enough attention to all the requests he received about playing in the movie.

Because among them was one from Michael Jackson, who was really eager to take part in this particular one.

According to writer Caroline Thompson, Jackson actually "pursued Tim," but was never given the real opportunity to even undergo a casting for the role.

Although by the time Edward Scissorhands was created the King of Pop was already known as an actor, albeit not so popular one.

Still, Burton didn't take his request seriously and never even met with Jackson. And although most fans are happy that Michael-Edward never happened, some others are sure that he would have done great.

Many Reddit fans believe that this was some sort of a best opportunity, with comment sections filled with opinions like "oddly, Jackson probably would have worked in this role" and "Michael Jackson would have been AMAZING."

But even despite that, it seems that Michael Jackson didn't stand a chance to try and portray the iconic character. The role of Edward was also eyed by Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Gary Oldman and even (unexpectedly) Jim Carrey!

Also, William Hurt and Robert Downey Jr. expressed interest in the role as well. But still, you cannot prevent what is meant to be.

That's why Tim Burton's first choice was definitely the best one.