Sam Elliott recalled losing the chance to play Indiana Jones in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark after an overly frank meeting with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. He believed his bluntness about his career made Lucas see him as “a cocky jerk”, illustrating how an actor’s manner in auditions can affect major casting decisions.

Elliott was among the actors considered during preliminary casting, but Harrison Ford ultimately secured the role that became central to his film career. Elliott later said he knew immediately after the meeting that he would not be cast, and reflected that he should perhaps have been more enthusiastic about Lucas’s Star Wars rather than voicing his opinions so directly.