Robin Wright

 

  1. Molly Ringwald, Sixteen Candles, 1984.    Wright and Laura Dern auditioned as Samantha Baker but never stood a chance. The new teenage angst maestro John Hughes had noticed Molly at another casting session, considered her to be the perfect American teenager and kept her photo on his desk as he wrote the film – over a weekend.   They made two more hits together and then rowed over a fourth – “I can’t be 16 forever!” – and never worked together again.
  2. Molly Ringwald, The Breakfast Club, 1985. He passed on Wright twice. And yet they say writer-director John Hughes was a genius. Get out! Molly Ringwald, The Breakfast Club, 1985.      …. was a genius.  Get out!
  3. Nicole Kidman, Days of Thunder, 1989.      Dr Claire Lewicki was aimed at all the usual misses. Wright, Kim Basinger, Sandra Bullock, Jodie Foster, Heather Locklear, Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone,. And a newcomer to such rosters: Alison Doody. They all passed what was a formulaic Tom Cruise movie – ie, all about Cruise as a cocky young talent, with an older mentor, older (even taller) woman, and surpassing his enemies… literally, in this chapter, as a Daytona NASCAR driver. He chose Kidman, after seeing Dead Calm, and promptly married her. And she learned about superstar formulas. When she begged time to study neurosurgery for her surgeon’s role, she was told, basically, not to be so silly.
  4. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, 1991.    The Robin who would be Maid Marian had read and compared notes – and heights – with Kevin Costner.  But she and then-husband Sean Penn were infanticipating.
  5. Sharon Stone, Basic Instinct, 1991.
  6. Laura Dern, Jurassic Park, 1992.
  7. Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction, 1993.
  8. Jeanne Tripplehorn, The Firm, 1993.     Director Sydney Pollack was hesitating between Robin and Bridget Fonda when he saw Basic Instinct.
  9. Nicole Kidman, Batman Forever, 1994.
  10. Laura Linney, Congo, 1995.       Robin and Hugh Grant wound up as Laura and  Dylan Walsh, (the future Nip/Tuck plastic surgeon).

  11. Julia Ormond, Sabrina, 1995.    Even before the bad casting, director Sydney Pollack’s totally unnecessary re-make was already a gross error of judgement. He tested Juliette Binoche and dancer Darcy Bissell and considered Wright, Sandra Bullock, Julie Delpy, Cameron Diaz, Demi Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow, Catherine Zeta-Jones. All better suited than Ormond. ” I have no regrets,” Wright declared in 2015. “That’s what is so great.”  
  12. Patsy Kensit, Grace Of My Heart, 1995.      First choice of director Allison Anders (and her producer Martin Scorsese). When she refused, Patsy won the songwriter from several other aspirants. “Everybody wanted it – because it was Anders, Scorsese, Turturro, Stoltz, Matt Dillon, Bridget Fonda…”
  13. Kelly Lynch, Heaven’s Prisoner, 1996.     For the hero’s wife in the first  film about James Lee Burke’s ex-alcoholic Vietnam vet and Cajun cop David Robicheaux  –  incarnated by Alec Baldwin.
  14. Helena Bonham Carter, Wings of the Dove, 1997.      Everyone wanted Forrest Gump‘s gal.  Even for a Henry James book.
  15. Lucy Liu, Charlie’s Angels, 2000.  Tele-tycoon Aaron Spelling decided to put Aaron’s angels on the big screen  (to help generate a new series on the small). His first new  trio: MTV discovery Jenny McCarthy, ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and 007’s Hong Kong martial arts superstar. Then, Drew Barrymore showed him how to do it. with the  third  of her numerous (canny) productions. Just look at the 25 girls she shuffled to find the right  angel Alex Munday: Aaliyah (“too young”), Jennifer Aniston, Asia Argento, Halle Berry, Lara Flynn Boyle, Helena Bonham Carter, Penélope Cruz, Kristin Davis, Jodie Foster, Angie Harmon (stuck on Law & Order),  Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nia Long, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tiffani Thiessen, Uma Thurman, Liv Tyler, , Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Robin Wright, Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones… And two singers: Lauryn Hill and another  Spice Girl: Victoria Beckham.
  16. Mia Sorvino, WiseGirls, 2002.   Quit when the first helmer, Richard Donner, pulled out.  “I didn’t want to work four movies in a year and be on every magazine cover,” Wright told The Sunday Times in 2015.  “I did it the way I wanted to do it and that’s a real gift.”
  17. Rachel McAdams, Red Eye, 2004.    Scenarist Carl Ellswsorth’s airplane  thriller was penned for the Penns – Sean and wife Robin Wright.  Except they were no longer the Penns.  (Again).
  18. Naomi Watts, Mother and Child, 2008.    Change of Elizabeth in another great woman’s movie from Colombian auteur Rodrigo Garcia (son of novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez) – and three great performances from Watts, Annette Bening, Kerry Washington.
  19. Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right, 2009.   Director Lisa Cholodenko’s first thought for the Lesbian partner of Annette Bening – whose children are searching for their sperm-donor father (Other kids in the film were fathered by  Michael Eisner, David Mamet, Steven Spielberg – Lisa, Zosia and Sasha).
  20. Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight, 2014. Because he was in  a snit when his script wes leaked, this is the Tarantino  film that  nearly wasn’t. And isn’t. A movie, that is. It’s a single-set stage play with enough speechifyin’ for a UN climate congress. Never mind, Quentin loved his second Western (third if you count Reservoir Dogs). Or was it just searching for his Dasiy Domergue among Wright, Geena Davis, Jennifer Lawrence, Demi Moore, Katiee Sackhoff, Hilary Swank, Amber Tamblyn (excellent, if too young, duringthe public April script reading at LA’s United Artists theatre),  Michelle Williams, Evan Rachel Wood.   No, he was  “crazy, gaga, eyes popping out of my head happy with this film.” Good for him. Not for us.  He was punching below his weight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Robin Wright PennCasting Calls:  20