Dennis Quaid Nearly Rejected His Breakout Role In Oscar-Winning 1979 Movie Before The Director Stepped In

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Dennis Quaid has an impressive, genre-spanning career and has appeared in many acclaimed movies, including The Parent Trap and the baseball drama The Rookie. For portraying Frank Whitaker in Far From Heaven, Quaid earned particular praise from audiences and followed that success by starring alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in The Day After Tomorrow, which generated over $552 million globally. While he earned an Emmy Award nomination for his performance in HBO’s The Special Relationship, Quaid has also been attached to several critical and commercial failures over the years, including The Alamo and Movie 43.

More recently, Quaid starred in A Dog’s Journey and the biographical drama Reagan, where he played the former U.S. President. While he voiced Jaeger Clade in Strange World, the 2022 Disney animated film was nonprofitable at the box office, despite being well-received by audiences. However, Quaid garnered positive attention for his performance in Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance in 2024, portraying a producer who removed Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) from her long-standing television spot. He currently stars as murderer Keith Hunter Jesperson on Happy Face.

Dennis Quaid Nearly Rejected Breaking Away

The Film Is Considered His Breakout

Dennis Quaid recalls nearly rejecting one of his first major roles in the Oscar-winning 1979 movie Breaking Away. The comedy drama, directed by Peter Yates of Bullitt, centers on Dave (Dennis Christopher), a teenager in Bloomington, Indiana, who aspires to join competitive bicycle racing. Along with Quaid and Christopher, the cast includes Daniel Stern, Jackie Earle Haley, Barbara Barrie, and Paul Dooley.

During an interview with Business Insider, Quaid revealed that Yates stepped in to get him on board for Breaking Away. The actor explained that he had been previously cast in The Dukes of Hazzard and lined up a film with Lee Majors when he auditioned for Breaking Away. However, the director said to him, “you have to do this movie,” and Quaid remains grateful for the experience. Read his comments below:

I actually got the part of Bo Duke, the John Snyder role. I also had this movie with Lee Majors about construction crews building high rises. So I went into this general audition with Peter Yates, the director of ‘Breaking Away,’ and he saw me as Mike and I said, ‘I’m sorry but I’m already doing this other movie.’ He blocked the doorway and said, ‘Listen to me, young man, you have to do this movie!’ And he was right. Peter Yates taught all us guys film acting and I could never thank him enough.

Source: Business Insider

Breaking Away

Release Date

July 20, 1979

Runtime

100 Minutes

Director

Peter Yates

Writers

Steve Tesich

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