- Zoe Kazan, What if he Afri an-Ameri an opera singer , 2010. Can guys ‘n’ girls be just… friends? Things changed between the drawing board and the set. Such as cousins MEW and Casey Affleck turning into Kazan and Adam Driver. In his first non-Harry Potter movie, Daniel Radcliffe outshone them all. Also seen for Chantry were Hall, Rose Byrne and Deborah Ann Woll. Rebecca is the daughter of the iconic UK stage director Sir Peter Hall and the African-American opera singer diva, Maria Ewing.
- Carey Mulligan, The Great Gatsby, 2011. Australian director Baz Luhrmann’s hunt for Daisy in the fourth Gatsby movie since 1926 matched all the season’s other major auditions. As if the only actresses left on planet earth were: Hall (Daisy in Baz’s script workshop), Jessica Alba, Abbie Cornish, Eva Green, Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley, Blake Lively, Rachel McAdams, Natalie Portman, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde, Michelle Williams. And Mulligan… soon sobbing on a red carpet, after being handed a phone. “It was Baz: Hello Daisy!” (Except, sadly, she wasn’t).
- Abigail Spencer, Oz: The Great and Powerful, 2011. Among the many hoping to be the witch Theodora in the Wizard of Oz prequel. Rebecca found familiar faces in the casting halls. Blake Lively, Rachel Weisz , Olivia Wilde were also up for parts.
- Sandra Bullock, Gravity, 2010. Once Angelina Jolie passed (twice),they all wanted the 3D sf special written by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron and his son, Jonas – Rebecca, Abbie Cornish, Marion Cotillard, Scarlett Johannsson, Blake Lively, Sienna Miller, Casey Mulligan, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Olivia Wilde…Becausethe female astronaut is alone on-screen for most of the movie. . (Sorry about that, George Clooney).
- Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables, 2012. Hall was among the potential Fantines – Amy Adams, Jessica Biel, Emily Blunt, Marion Cotillard, Rebecca Hall, Kate Winslet – until Hathaway’s audition had everyone in tears…
- Rachel Weisz, Oz the Great and Powerful, 2012. Disneyland is no Oz. Yet having lost a bundle on the depressing Return To Oz, 1984, the Mouse House primed the pump anew for this dangerously titled flop. Also up for Evanora: Amy Adams, Kate Beckinsale, Keira Knightley, Kristen Stewart. Director Sam Raimi’s favourites became Hilary Swank and Michelle Williams. Then, Weisz arrived out of the blue… and blew everyone away. And Williams became an excellent Annie/Glinda.
- Andrea Riseborough, Shadow Dancer, UK-Ireland, 2011. Hall was the first choiceof documentary-maker James Marshall for his first fiction movie – as an active IRA bomber working withMI5 to protect her son.
- Sandra Bullock, Gravity, 2012. Once Angelina Jolie passed (twice), they all wanted the 3D sf special written by Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron and his son, Jonas – Rebecca, Abbie Cornish, Marion Cotillard, Scarlett Johannsson, Blake Lively, Sienna Miller, Casey Mulligan, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Olivia Wilde… Because the female astronaut is alone on-screen for most of the movie. (Sorry about that, George Clooney).
- Zoe Kazan, The F Word, 2012. Rose Byrne, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Deborah Ann Woll were also up for the friendship v romancemovie inherited by Daniel; Radcliffe from Casey Affleck.
- Keira Knightley, Laggies, 2013. For Annika in her sixth feature, director (and actress) Lynn Shelton also saw Anne Hathaway. Hall quit for the wrong reason: Transcendence, Johnny Depp’s fifth successive flop in three years.
- Abbie Cornish, RoboCop, 2013. Jessica Alba, Kate Mara, Keri Russell auditioned and Hall passed on being the Mrs Robo-reboot who, as Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers put it, intuits that her husband’s heart is still in the right place.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 11