- Joseph Mazzello, Radio Flyer, 1990 Columbia won what was then the hottest script in town – and cowardly chickened out of its subject, cast and debuting writer-director. And called in Richard Donner – “hey, The Goonies was a great kids’ movie!” However, the main subject here was (or had been) child, abuse. When David Mickey Evans was still in charge of his own semi-autobio drama, Rosanna Arquette’s kids – well, Lorraine Bracco’s now – were James Badge Dale and Joseph Mazzello as his younger brother, abused by their stepfather. Elijah had auditioned for poor Bobby and won Mike. Steven Spielberg had produced Donner’s Goonies, so he visited his new set… and signed young Joe for the first two Jurassic Parks,1992. DME turned his ruined script into a novel, The King of Pacoima (with no cuts) and directed 16 other movies by 2022.
- Heydon Prowse, The Secret Garden, 1992. The future Frodo passed on the invalid Colin in what Roger Ebert saluted as Agnieszka Holland’sbeautiful, intelligent film. Discovered when the talent hunt reached his UK school, Prowse never made another film. Far too busy these days as – sez IMDb – activist, journalist, satirist, director and comedian.
- Macauley Culkin, Richie Rich, 1995. As The Big Mac’s father stretched out his big money negotiations, young Wood (cousin of an evil Mac in The Good Son, 1993) nearly took over the role of the rich kid – although his own demands, half of Mac’s $8m salary, were considered “unrealistic’ by producer Joel Silver.
- Adam Grenier, Drive Me Crazy, 1999. Wood was 18 going on 13… Too young looking, therefore, to beMelissa Joan Hart’s bait to win back her wandering high school prom datefrom asassy cheerleader.
- Heath Ledger, The Patriot, 1999. After Braveheart, Mel Gibson tackles the American Revolutionary War… sans slavery! Ledger, Wood, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joshua Jackson, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinz Jr, Brad Renfro and Paul Walker were seen for Gibson’s eldest son. Fed up with only being teenage beefcake, Ledger was about to quit acting and return down-under when he won Gabriel.
- Patrick Fugit, Almost Famous, 2000. Mad for the role, Wood tested as William Miller, aka the writer-director Cameron Crowe in his young “daze” on the road as a Rolling Stone rock journo. Fugit won and his voice broke duhring the shoot of what remains Crowe’s finest film.
- Lou Taylor Pucci, Thumbsucker, 2004. Hobbits don’t suck thumbs! This once, Elijah was a tad old to pass for 16-year-old son of Tilda Swinton and Vincent D’Onofrio. Enter: Pucci. (Thumb in French is… puce).
- Ed Spelerers, Eragon, 2005. First choice for novelist Christopher Paolini’s titular fantasy hero… finding a dragon’s egg that makes him realisehe mustbattle an evil king.
- Cam Gigandet, The Experiment, 2009. In as Travis, then out after a few days. Boy, he wuz right! Straight to the video bin for this re-trash of Germany’s Das Experiment, 2000, based in turn on Professor Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford University study of the psychological effects of being a jailbird or a warder… it says here.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 9