- Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction, 1993,
- Courteney Cox, Friends, TV, 1994-2004.
- Samantha Mathis, BrokenArrow, 1996. For his second Hollywood actioner, Hong-King director John Woo thought of the Friends star as the park ranger. Plus Halle Berry, Lauren Holly, Helen Hunt – she preferred Twister. Presumably they all agreed with Roger Ebert’s comment that The Girls’s sole purpose was to take off her shirt as soon as possible. Slater suggested his similar main squeeze from Pump Up The Volume, 1990.
- Kate Winslet, Titanic, 1996.
- Monica Potter, Martha – Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (US: The Very Thought of You), 1997. “There’s an element of romantic comedy,” felt Nick Hamm, “where you have to discover someone new.” Bad news for all the three girl-Friends… Anniston, Courteney Cox. Ohio’s Potter did exceedingly well, to also beat s Nicole Kidman – to Martha, lusted after by the three guys, in the great British romcom by Peter Morgan, better known (revered) for such real-life studies as The Queen, Frost/Nixon, The Crown. Potter finished as a TV queen. She shone in Boston Legal, Parenthood, etc, but deserved better.
- Maria Pitillo, Godzilla, 1997. Aniston was in the first casting notions in 1997 when the opening date was already set for May 20, 1998… Pitillo won the Golden Raspberry award as the Worst Support Actress. A star was not born. But if Audrey Timmonds had been played by: Connelly, Sarah Jessica Parker (she wed the unlikely hero, Matthew Broderick, 19 days into the shoot), Parker Posey, Winona Ryder or Renée Zellweger? No, the film just stank..
- Neve Campbell, The Lion King 2 : Simba’s Pride, 1998. The first triumph was Bambi meets Hamlet in Africa, the sequel turned Kobu and Kiara into Romeo and Juliet. Sarah Jessica Parker was seen about voicing Simba’s headstrong daughter, Kiara.
- Jennifer Love Hewitt, Heartbreakers, 2000. The first plan? Aniston as Page aka Wendy aka Jane (finally aka Jennifer Love Hewitt) opposite Cher as her mother Angela aka Max aka Ulga (aka Sigourney Weaver). Yes, they were a scam team, seducing and fleecing old men. Like Gene Hackman.
- Cameron Diaz, 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, Micheile Yeoh. 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.
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Scooby-Doo, 2001. One hot TV star for another as Daphne in the live-action version of the old tele-toon. Live, not lively… Jennifer Love Hewitt was the brunette notion.
- Renée Zellweger, Chicago, 2001.
- Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2001.
- Jenna Elfman, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, 2002. “A pretty grim experience all around – longest year and a half of my life.” Director Joe Dante refusing to say anymore about how his planned tribute to his late friend, toon ikon Chuck Jones, ended up a mess. Then again, when the suits approve Elfman over Aniston, Shannon Elizabeth, Sally Field, Rene Russo and Renée Zellweger as Kate, know you’re in trouble.
- Charlize Theron, Waking Up In Reno, 2002. Aniston and Brad Pitt were due as the white trash couple until Reno loomed large in their own life. Or they re-read the script – trashier than the couples.
- Naomi Watts, I Heart Huckabees, 2004. Considered as Dawn Campbell when Gwyneth Paltrow quit. Nicole Kidman was tied up with The Stepford Wives, Britney Spears auditioned (twice) and then, with a bound, director David O Russell’s iniial choice was available.
- Nicole Kidman, Bewitched, 2004.
For inexplicable reasons, Hollywood kept trying to make a movie out of the 1968-1972 ABC sitcom about a good-looking witch and a Dagwood husband. In 1993, Penny Marshall was going to direct Meryl Streep as Samantha, then passed the reins to Ted Bissell and he died in 1996 when his Richard Curtis script was planned as Melanie Griffths’ comeback. Nora Ephron co-wrote and directed this lumbering version about an ego-driven actor trying to save his career with a Bewitcher re-hash, but with the emphasis on him (of course) as Darrin, rather than the unknown he chose for Samantha because she can wiggle her nose… (You didn’t need a nose to know it stank). Over the years, 37 other ladies were on the Samantha wish-list. Take a deep breath… Kate Beckinsale, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Connelly, Cameron Diaz, Heather Graham, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd, Julianne Moore, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Winona Ryder, Brooke Shields, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Renee Zellweger. Plus seven Oscar-winners: Kim Basinger, Tatum O’Neal, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon… two Friends: Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow… eleven other TV stars: Christina Applegate, Patricia Arquette, Kristin Davis, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Helen Hunt, Jenny McCarthy, Alyssa Milano, Brittany Murphy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alicia Silverstone… even Drew Barrymore and Uma Thurman, who had already re-kindled Charlie’s Angels and The Avengers. -
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada, 2005. Sixteen other women were up for Vogue editor Anna Wintour (er, Miranda Priestley!) in the delightful look at the real fashion world, based on the tell-all by Lauren Weisberger, who used to work for Wintour (but claimed it wasn’t about her!) Seven only had the wherewithall to match Meryl Streep: Jennifer Aniston, Glenn Close (fed up of villains), Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helen Mirren, Julia Roberts and Hilary Swank. “Sinfully funny, deliciously glossy,” said Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers. “Streep knocks every laugh out of the park More remarkably, she humanises a character who was little more than a bitch… on the page.” The remaining what-were-they-thinking candidates had been Kim Basinger, Cameron Diaz, Heather Graham, Lisa Kudrow, Tatum O’Neal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Meg Ryan, Alicia Silverstone and Naomi Watts.
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Vera Farmiga, The Departed, 2005. The name is Ukranian. The talent just blew away her rivals: Aniston, Emily Blunt, Kate Winslet. And the mighty Hilary Swank, winner of two actress Oscars in five years.
- Lauren Graham, Evan Almighty, 2006. It was Bruce Almighty 2 when, like Jim Carrey, she ruled against a sequel. His place was taken over by his news-anchor rival, now a USenator: Steve Carell.
- Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart, 2006. New wife, new star… Mariane Pearl’s book was part of Aniston and Brad Pitt’s Plan B company until the divorce, when his new lady inevitably took over the key role of the widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, slain by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in 2002. La Jolie’s favourtite movie. “Possibly because I loved Marianne, and Brad [Pitt] produced it, and I think it was a well-done film about something that matters.”
- Rachel McAdams, The Time Traveler’s Wife, 2008. The bittersweet love story’s author, Audrey Niffenegger, saw Adrian Brody and Lauren Ambrose as the couple. Oh, no, it’s us, said Aniston and Brad Pitt on buying the book in galley form for their Plan B combine. They lost Steven Spielberg as director, then each other… Pitt produced with McAdams, wed to Eric Bana who, well, just kept on disappearing… leaving his clothes behind. “It can be a problem,” he admitted.
- Julia Roberts, Valentine’s Day, 2009. Sandra Bullock, Jodie Foster also passed on Captain Kate Hazeltine – in the 21-star-jammed LA take on Love Actually. Julia said: Sure. Of course, she did. The director was the man behind her breakthrough, Pretty Woman, in 1989. “I owe my career to Garry,” she said. “There was no known reason for him to hire me… a nd even he was puzzled by his decision.” Julia was paid $3. this time. Or, about $12,000 per each of her Kate’s 251 words.
- Melissa Rauch, You Are You Here, 2012. Aniston and Bradley Copper became Amy Poehler and Owen Wilson when best buds Wilson and (of course) Zach Galifianakis embarked on a road trip back to their home town because… the MacGuffin was an inheritance.
- Cameron Diaz, Gambit, 2012. First Sandra Bullock, then Aniston – but how could any girl refuse an eccentric and unpredictable Texas rodeo queen called PJ Puznowski… And in a Coen brothers’ script opposite Hugh Gant … or, finally, new Oscar-winner Colin Firth.
- Kathryn Hahn, She’s Funny That Way, 2013. When director Peter Bogdanovich rescued his long dropped ‘90s screwball comedy called Squirrels to the Nuts (a Lubitsch line from Cluny Brown, 1945), he asked Aniston to play Owen Wilson’s wife, Delta. Oh, giving Delta to Kathryn Hahn as Delta and having Will Forte as playwright Joshua Fleet.
- Michelle Monaghan, Pixels, 2014. Wiser in her movie choices than her Friends, Aniston passed on Adam Sandler saving the world from dumb aliens thinking that old Pac-Man video-games are declarations of war and,.. No, no, enuff! The Girl, like all gals in Sandler “films”, has VV initials. Violet Van Patten. (Er, isn’t that VVP?)
- Leslie Mann, The Comedian, 2016. Change of partner for Robert De Niro’s toxic, Don Rickles-esque insult comic. Kristen Wiig was booked as Harmony when Sean Penn was to direct. By the time Taylor Hackford took over, Aniston was also gone – putting Mann in the hot seat.
- Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns, 2017. When Walt Disney made the first Poppins, he mused over Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury or Mary Martin for Mary but by 1963, he had only one star in mind. Julie Andrews. For this reboot, Disney suits went through no less than 37 contenders… Two Desperate Housewives:Kristin Davis, Teri Hatcher. Two Friends:Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow. Two Brat Packers: Molly Ringwald, Winona Ryder. Two of the three authors of The Penis Song: Christina Aplegate, Cameron Diaz. Three sirens: Kim Basinger, Heather Graham Uma Thurman. Four ex-child stars: Drew Barrymore, Alyssa Milano, Tatum O’Neal, Brooke Shields. Ten Oscar-winners: Sandra Bullock, Helen Hunt, Angelina Jolie, Julianne Moore, Tatum O‘Neal, Julia Roberts, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon, RenéeZellweger. Plus: Patricia Arquette, Melanie Griffith, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Peiffer, Meg Ryan, Alicia Silverstone, Naomi Watts. But just two Brits: Kate Beckinsale – and the winning Emily.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 28