Why Irrfan Khan rejected Steven Spielberg film with Scarlett Johansson

Irrfan has said no to Steven Spielberg and the reason is he is just not excited about the role. The film will also star Scarlett Johansson. May be he just doesn’t want to repeat The Amazing Spider-Man’s mistake.

Irrfan Khan balances two careers in Hollywood and Bollywood and is often called to make sacrifices in terms of great offers. Ridley Scott’s The Martian is one such film which Khan had to say no to because he was busy shooting for Shoojit Sircar’s Piku.

Irrfan Khan has said no to a film by Steven Spielberg because he was not excited enough by the role.

However, Irrfan has said no to Steven Spielberg and the reason is he is just not excited about the role. The film will also star Scarlett Johansson.

Irrfan Khan and Tom Hanks in a still from Inferno.

“I didn’t feel the character offered to me gave me much scope. So I said ‘No’; though Scarlett Johansson is an actor I would have loved to share screen space with,” he said in an interview to NDTV.

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Earlier, the star – who has wrapped up the shooting of Inferno with Tom Hanks – had said about the Ridley Scott space survival saga, “I am disappointed that things didn’t work out with him. I wanted to work with him (Scott) before as well in Body of Lies (2008), but things just didn’t fall into place. For The Martian as well, I met him and I loved the concept as well. But Piku’s second half of the shoot was still pending and I couldn’t have left that.” Khan was replaced by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the film.

The 48-year-old actor has been part of two Oscar-winning films — Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Life of Pi (2012), apart from featuring in Hollywood blockbusters like Jurassic World and The Amazing Spider-Man.