Hollywood is littered with actors who very nearly took on roles that ended up becoming iconic for other actors. Looking back on it, many find themselves disappointed that they made a "wrong" decision. Once upon a time, Tim Roth was originally offered the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise but he ended up turning it down. How does Roth feel about that now? The actor says that had he played the part, the role of Snape would have looked entirely different, but that he thinks the better man eventually got the role.
Alan took it and ran with it and that was that. It was very different from what I was planning to do with the character, and that's OK. Do I regret it? I don't know if I ever think about things that way. If I had done it, everything would have changed. That's the nature of the randomness of life. It would have been nice to have a 7 year gig, that's a nice and comforting space to be in. But no, I think the better man for the job did the job.
At this point, it's probably hard to imagine anybody other than Alan Rickman playing the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films. Most of us probably picture the faces of the actors from the movies in our minds while reading the books now. However, as Tim Roth explained during a Reddit AMA, everything would be very different if he had decided to take the role. While most of us probably can't picture Roth in the role that Rickman performed, that's ok because Roth would have played the entire role very differently. Our entire view of Snape as a character would likely be very different today. The idea that it could have been better is difficult to wrestle with, but who knows? Maybe it would have been.
Instead of spending a decade working on Harry Potter movies, Tim Roth decided instead to make Planet of the Apes with Tim Burton, which, it has to be said, seems like a really bizarre decision in hindsight. To be fair, from comments Roth has made since, it sounds like the main thing he was actually interested in was working with Tim Burton, which is at least understandable.
However, while Roth may have made a less than exciting movie instead of getting involved in one of the biggest film franchises ever, he seems to have a pretty clear head about the whole thing. While he admits the steady work would have been nice, beyond that it's almost impossible to imagine life had he made the other decision. Literally everything would be different now if he had. As it stands, he appears to be happy with his life where it currently is, so he's fine with the role that got away.
