Kim Basinger – Crawley's Casting Calls

Patricia Pearcey, Squirm, 1975. Still waiting for her breakthrough, Basinger even tested for Jeff Lieberman’s awful horror trip trying to do for earthworms what Jaws did for sharks. D’oh! All shot in 24 days. Really! I would have thought three… Pearcey never matched Basinger, who won an supporting actress Oscar on March 23, 1998, for LA Confidential.
Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver, 1975
Farrah Fawcett, Charlie’s Angels, TV, 1976-1980.
Anatomy of a triumph. Of sorts… “When the show was #3, I figured it was our acting,” said Farrah. “When it got to #1 it could only be because none of us wears a bra.” Jigglevision was born! And she stole the show as Jill Munroe, one of Charlie’s dazzling trio of private eyefuls. (Kim had a guest shot in episode #4: Angels In Chains – before winning her own cop show, Dog and Cat, 1977). Then, in what reads like a dry run for Suzanne Somers’ hassles during the same ABC network’s Three’s Company in 1981, Farrah was sued for qutting after the first season. She was Farrah Fawcett Majors by then and when Ladd arrived to replace her, she wore a t-shirt branded: Farrah Fawcett Minor.
Jessica Lange, King Kong, 1976. Jessica was so keen to get started in movies, she signed the exclusive seven-year contract with Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. “Stupid! I didn’t work for two years. Excruciating!”
Carrie Fisher, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, 1976.
Pamela Stephenson, The Comeback, 1977. For his penultimate movie, UK schlock director Pete Walker aimed higher than School For Sex, Cool It Carol!, The Flesh and Blood Show, House of Whipcord, Schizo, etc. He wanted Basinger or Melanie Griffith as the groupie involved with Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr or Cat Stevens as the crooner involved with the ghost of his murdered wife. Walker got Stephenson, who late wed Billy Connolly and became a shrink, opposite US singer Jack Jones, ex-lover of Walker’s Die Screaming Marianne star, Susan George.
Bo Derek, 10, 1978.
Corinne Clery, Moonraker, 1979.
Brooke Shields, The Blue Lagoon, 1979. Auditioned for Emmeline – despite Grease director Randal Kleiser wanting his shipwrecked couple to be naked throughout the re-make. (They were not). Shields had her long hair glued to her front – and a nude body double.
Jessica Lange, The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1981. Testing and losing made her housebound with agoraphobia until her career got rolling anew with her “message in a bottle” – her 1982 nude Playboy session.
Debra Winger, An Officer and a Gentleman, 1981. “You ain’t nothing special. You got no manners, you treat woman like whores and…you got no chance of being no officer.” There was a lot of choppping and changing about the officer and gent’s lady, Paula Pokrifki. Geena Dabvis, Rebecca De Mornay and Meg Ryan auditioned. Then, Paula became Kim Basinger, then Anjelica Huston, then Jennifer Jason Leigh… JLT departing for Fast Times At Ridgemont Highwas Winger’s lucky day. Although she never got on with Gere (“a brick wall”) and hated the film, despite her Oscar nomination.
Kay Lenz, Fast-Walking, 1981. Kim pased on the sassy female lead opposite James Woods’ his first male lead – as the oddly nick-named and corrupt prison guard seduced by the big fee (and Lenz) to murder a black radical miitant serving time on his watch. Or let him escape.
Jessica Lange, Frances, 1982.
Howard Hawks said she always seemed to be shining. “More talent than anyone I ever worked with.” She and Vivien Leigh were beaten by Ingrid Bergman to For Whom The Bell Tolls, 1942. She’s the subject of various books, plays (viz Sally Clarke’s Saint Frances of Hollywood), pop and rock songs – French-Canadian singer Mylène Farmer even took her name. All actresses loved her talent and guts (when wrongfully committed to asylums by her parents) and 23 wanted to be… Frances Farmer. From the sublime to the ridiculous: Meryl Streep, to Susan Dey of TV’s Partridge Family. Kim Basinger tested with Sam Shepard (Lange’s husband). Plus Anne Archer, Ann-Margret, Blythe Danner, Patty Duke, Mia Farrow, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Goldie Hawn, Glenda Jackson, Diane Keaton, Liza Minnelli, Michelle Phillips, Katharine Ross, Susan Sarandon, Cybill Shepherd, Sissy Spacek, Tuesday Weld, Natalie Wood. Undaunted, Susan Blakely made her own 1983 TVersion (from Farmer’s book, Will There Really Be A Morning?).
Elizabeth McGovern, Once Upon a Time in America, 1982. Italian maestroSergio Leoneclaimed he interviewed “over 3,000 actors,” taping 500 auditions for the 110 speaking roles in his New York gangster epic. He certainly saw 33 girls for nymphet Deborah Gelly: Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Beals, Linda Blair, Glenn Close, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Farrah Fawcett, Carrie Fisher, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Linda Hamilton, Daryl Hannah, Goldie Hawn, Mariel Hemingway, Diane Lane, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Heather Locklear, Kristy McNIchol, Liza Minnelli, Tatum O’Neal, Michelle Pfeiffewr, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Cybill Shepherd, Sissy Spacek, Meryl Streep, Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver, Debra Winger. Plus Brooke Shields as the younger version. Deborah was 15 in the first script; McGovern was 20.
Michelle Pfeiffer, Scarface, 1982. Too hasty for her own good, she rejected the role of Elvira Hancock. But then so did Rosanna Arquette, Colleen Camp, Glenn Close, Geena Davis, Judy Davis, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Kelly McGillis, Kristy McNichol, Deborah Raffin, Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner.
Rebecca De Mornay, Risky Business, 1983. The Tom Cruise Breakthrough… Basinger hated the script. So did Diane Lane’s father..”No way my daughter is playing a 20-something hooker.”
Rachel Ward, The Thorn Birds, TV, 1983. Kim Basinger, Lynne Frederick, Audrey Hepburn, Olivia Newton-John, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jane Seymour were all the mix for Meggie Cleary, heroine of Colleen McCullough novel set in the 1920s’ Australian Outback. Bryan Brown was the only local Aussie star in the down-under Gone with the Wind – made in LA. His character married leading lady Rachel Ward. On and off-screen! Amanda Donohoe was Meggie in the 1996 “midquel,” The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years.
Linda Hamilton, The Terminator, 1983. In all, 55 actresses were considered, seen or tested for Sarah Connor (aged 18; Linda was 27) opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger. Auteur James Cameron created Sarah for Bridget Fonda. She passed; so did Tatum O’Neal. He decided to go older… and Glenn Close won – her schedule didn’t agree. OK, Kate Capshaw! No, she was tied to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – and Kathleen Turner was Romancing The Stone. Debra Winger won her audition, said yes… then no. The other 48 ladies were The ’80s Group: Basinger, Rosanna Arquette, Christy Brinkley, Colleen Camp, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Judy Davis, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Teri Garr, Jennifer Grey, Melanie Griffith, Darryl Hannah, Barbara Hershey, Anjelica Huston, Amy Irving, Diane Keaton, Margot Kidder, Diane Lane, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Heather Locklear, Lori Loughlin, Kelly McGillis, Kristy McNichol, Michelle Pfeiffer, Deborah Raffin, , Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Ally Sheedy, Cybill Shepherd, Brooke Shields, Sissy Spacek, Sharon Stone, Lea Thompson, Sigourney Weaver… one aerobics queen, Bess Motta (she became Sarah’s room-mate, Ginger Ventura), two singers, (Madonna, Liza Minnelli), two Brits (Miranda Richardson, Jane Seymour), five essentially funny girls, Goldie Hawn, Rhea Perlman (Mrs Danny De Vito), Gilda Radner, Mary Tyler Moore… plus the new MTM, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, then from Saturday Night Live. Most were in contention again a few years later for Fatal Attraction (won by Close) and The Accused (going to Foster and McGillis). Ten years later (after T2), Linda gave birth to Cameron’s daughter and Josephine’s parents wed in 1997… for two years.
Kathleen Turner, Prizzi’s Honour, 1984. Director John Huston looked over 11 Charley Partanna potentials, 19 Maerose Prizzis, but just five Irene Walkers… and three of them (Kristy McNichol, Tatum O’Neal, Brooke Shields) were too young to be falling for Jack Nicholson’s hit man for the Prizzi Family and the unlikeliest Mafioso since the Corleones’ James Caan. Basinger pushed for the part. Huston was not swayed.
Mia Farrow, Hannah and Her Sisters, 1984. Kim happily agreed to be Hannah. Of course, she did. It was a Woody Alllen movie! Then Adrian Lyne asked her for just 9 1/2 Weeks. Hmm, no scene-stealing sisters there, so… Hi, Mickey..! Hannah became the fifth Woody-Mia movie – and she brought her mother along, Maureen O’Sullivan, to play her mother. Michael Caine, who had introduced Woody to Mia, played her husband. “Shall I wear my glasses? Because I figure I’m playing you.”
Lea Thompson, Howard The Duck, 1985. In the mix for rocker Beverly Switzler were Basinger, Paula Abdul, singer Tori Amos, Jodi Benson, Phoebe Cates, Sarah Jessica Parker and the well-named Lori Singer. Thompson nailed it! “And I got to be a rock star. Everybody wants to be a rock star, right? So, I got to sing and wear really crazy hair. It’s unfortunate that it was such a bomb. But, whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Not sure producer George Lucas agreed. Short of funds to complete his Skywalker Ranch, Lucas sold to Steve Jobs what became… Pixar!
Mia Farrow, Hannah and Her Sisters, 1985. Kim happily agreed to be Hannah – then Adrian Lyne asked her for just 9 1/2 Weeks. Hmm, no scene-stealing sisters there, so… Hi, Mickey!
Diane Keaton, Baby Boom, 1986. Kim passed JC to Keaton (two years later she was Kate Jackson in the short-lived TV series). Her entrance on-sxet as trhe businesswom an was a shockm for the crew reported her biographer, Jonathon Moor. ”Used to her highly individual rummage-sale look they couldn’t believe this sophisticated, glamorous lady with a body was the layered, hidden Diane everyone knows. Someone, in total admiration, said to her: ‘You look like…” ‘A female of the species?” laughed Diane.”
Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction, 1987.
Christine Ebersole, Mac and Me, 1987. Basinger and Anjelica Huston simply fled being the single Mom in this shameless – and shameful – ET rip-off. Except this time ”Elliott” is in a wheelchair and befriending the ugliest, cheapest, stupidest looking alien in screen history. At least, it allowed a kid with spina bifida to have the fun of making a movie. Mac, by the by, stands for Mysterious Alien Creature.Or then again: Mighty Awful Crap. PS: Jennifer Aniston was an extra – sitting on a curb, watching some dancing.
Susan Sarandon, Bull Durham, 1987. Ron Shelton had one helluva job trying to win backing for his directing debut. “Baseball movies don’t sell.” His producer Thom Mount was part-owner of the real Durham Bulls squad. He recognised what Roger Ebert would call “a treasure because it knows so much about baseball and so little about love.” Kim Basinger was Shelton’s first choice for Annie (an Annie is s baseball groupie). “There’s never been a ballplayer slept with me who didn’t have the best year of his career.” He tested Carrie Fisher, Mary Steenburgen, Pamela Stephenson, Debra Winger… considered Kate Capshaw, Geena Davis (who made the female ball movie, A League of Their Own), Michelle Pfeiffer (too young) and Isabella Rossellini… felt Kay Lenz and Michelle Pfeiffer were too young… while Glenn Close was having Dangerous Liaisons in France, Melanie Griffith was a busy Working Girl and Kelly McGillis preferred The Accused. He also thought of Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis as The Couple but Moonlighting got in the way. And that’s how the splendid Susan Sarandon met Tim Robbins and lived together for 21 years.
Jodie Foster, The Accused, 1988.
An awful thing to say. Except it is true. Jodie Foster would never have won her (first) Oscar for this trenchant drama – if actress Kelly McGillis had not been raped in 1982… At first, the role of the rape victim Sarah Tobias was written for Andie MacDowell. She passed. The Paramount suits then saw 34 other young actresses for the (real life) victim. Or, for their own rape bait fantasies – including 16-year-old Alyssa Milano! Foster was refused a test because she was “not sexy enough”! And, anyway, the studio had decided upon McGillis, a high flyer in Paramount’s Witness and Top Gun. And, naturally, she refused point-blank! She knew what it was to be brutally raped and Kelly had no wish to revisit the horror and agony of her own assault six years earlier. The suits were annoyed. They needed her. She was hot at the box-office, their box-office. They had made her a star!! Eventually, McGillis agreed to play Sarah’s defence attorney – on condition that unsexy Jodie played Sarah! The suits caved, tested Foster and the rest is Oscar history… So is the huge list of talent also seen for Sarah. Starting with the Fatal Attraction also-rans: Basinger, Rosanna Arquette, Ellen Barkin, Jennifer Beals, Jennifer Grey, Melanie Griffith, Linda Hamilton, Darryl Hannah, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Diane Keaton, Demi Moore, Kelly Preston, Meg Ryan, Jane Seymour, Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep, Debra Winger. And moving on to the younger Melissa Sue Anderson, (trying to break her Little House on the Prairie image), Justine Bateman, Valerie Bertinelli, Phoebe Cates, Joan Cusack, Jennifer Connelly, Judy Davis, Kristin Davis, Bridget Fonda, Annabeth Gish, Mariel Hemingway, Kelly LeBrock, Virginia Madsen, Brigitte Nielsen, Tatum O’Neal, Molly Ringwald, Mia Sara, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields, Uma Thurman. Oh, and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, said the suits, was “too nice.” Rape victims shouldn’t be nice? Oh, Hollywood!
Kelly McGillis, The Accused, 1988. Numerous actresses were talked about for the for the gang rape trial. Few were up for either role – the victim or her defence attorney. Not Meryl Streep – but Kim, for example! Apart from some Fatal Attractioners, her rivals included Blythe Danner, Sally Field, Terri Garr, Mary Gross, Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver, Dianne Wiest.
Annette Bening, Valmont, 1989. Richard E Grant and Basinger read for Czech director Milos Forman in LA, around Easter 1988.
Nicole Kidman, Days of Thunder, 1989. Dr Claire Lewicki was aimed at all the usual misses. 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, Robin Wright. And a newcomer in the Irish 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 asked to study neurosurgery for her surgeon’s role, she was told, basically, not to be so silly.
Christine Ebersole, Ghost Dad, 1989. Faced with “a horroble role, ” Kim fled Bill Cosby’s comedy – first designed for Steve Martin and director John Badham. Cosby’s director was actor Sidney Poitier, for the fourth time after Uptown Saturday Night, Let’s Do It Again and Piece of the Action during 1973-1976.
Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman, 1989.
Madonna, Dick Tracy, 1989. High on the list of the titular star and director Warren Beatty for chanteuse Breathless Mahoney were Kim Basinger, Michelle Pfeiffer and Sharon Stone. Thery did not stand much chance when Warren Beatty, the square-jawed hero and director, was (as usual) grooming his latest lover for the role of… Breathless Mahoney. For union scale: $1,440 a week. With her resulting album, she actually made… $20m.
Ingrid Chavez, Graffiti Bridge, 1990. Prince’s warmed over Purple Rain simply poured down the drains.
Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise, 1990.
Catherine O’Hara, Home Alone, 1990. For the zero roles of Macauley Culkin’s forgetful parents (in a film written for and duly stolen by him), an astonishing 66 stars were considered – including 32 later seen for the hot lovers in Basic Instinct:Kim Basinger, Stockard Channing, Glenn Close, Kevin Costner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Douglas, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Linda Hamilton, Daryl Hannah, Marilu Henner, Anjelica Huston, Helen Hunt, Holly Hunter, Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Christopher Lloyd, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Annie Potts, Kelly Preston, Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, Martin Sheen, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, John Travolta. Other near Moms were Kirstie Alley, Lynda Carter, Kim Cattrall, Geena Davis, Laura Dern, Jennifer Grey, Gates McFadden, Kelly McGillis, Bette Midler, Ally Sheedy, Mary Steenburgen, Debra Winger… and the inevitable unknown: Maureen McCormick, part of The Brady Bunch for seven 1981 chapters.
Julia Roberts, Hook, 1990. Kim and Michelle Pfeiffer were reserve Tinkerbells in Steven Spielberg’s Peter Pan update in case Julia never showed up. She had dumped Kiefer Sutherland (almost at the altar) and fled to Ireland with new lover, Jason Patric. She did turn up and proved so difficult the crew called her Tinkerhell.
Julia Roberts, Sleeping With The Enemy, 1991. Her new agent said she was unhappy with script and co-star – Sean Connery at the time.
Michelle Pfeiffer, Love Field, 1991. When first planned with Denzel Washington, the new Sidney Poitier.
Sharon Stone, Basic Instinct, 1992.
Sherilyn Fenn, Boxing Helena, 1992.
Meg Ryan, Sleepless in Seattle, 1992. A ridiculous idea, said Basinger of the romcom plot of a kid trying to get his father Tom Hanks together with Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally Meets When Sam Met Suzy. Same writer, Nora Ephron. Same Sally. Also forgetting that romcoms are rarely plausible: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nicole Kidman, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts. And a surprise Brit. Natasha Richardson.
Nancy Travis, So I Married an Ax Murderer, 1992. Mike Myers aims to be a poet – and a bachelor – but falls for Harriet. Played by… well, Basinger didn’t want to know. Sharon Stone did as long as she could double as Harriet’s weird sister. No way, thundered the studio suits. Why not? Because they had already buttered up Myers by letting him double up as Charlie and his Scottish father. Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers was surprised he didn’t play Charlie’s horny Irish mother, as well.
Sharon Stone, Silver, 1993. For his comeback after a decade in a coke blizzard, Robert Evans voted for the ‘93 erotic model, instead of yesterday’s… Basinger went on to achieve something Stone never managed. An Oscar.
Wynona Ryder, House of Spirits, 1993. Danish director Bille August won top ladies Glenn Close, Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep. But not Kim (despite breaking her no-testing rule for him) or Julia Roberts as Blanca. He gave that role to his wife, Pernilla August – and then, having made her pregnant, he sent for Winona. And she stole the movie. As for the others, Roger Ebert made use of Mark Twain on women, swearing: “They know the words, but not the music.“
Geena Davis, Angie, 1993. The official reason was Madonna was already booked for Abel Ferrara’s Dangerous Game, 1992. Then, one of her emails was leaked – furious with the head Fox, Joe Roth, for dumping her for a non-Italian in the titular role. In truth, she fled after hearing Roth didn’t want her because she couldn’t carry a movie. (Not that this one did any better without her). Her director, Jonathan Kaplan, also quit and Martha Coolidge took over with her 1991 Rambling Rose star – after some thoughts about a dozen others, from Halle Berry to Meryl Streep. Oh, very Italian!
Sandra Bullock, Speed, 1993 Although sharing the heroics and the driving of the bus-bomb with Keanu Reeves, most girls saw it as The Guy’s film. An amazing 36 refused to be Annie: Kim, Rosanna Arquette, Halle Berry, Glenn Close (!), Geena Davis, Cameron Diaz, Carrie Fisher, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah, Mariska Hargitay, Barbara Hershey, Anjelica Huston, Diane Lane, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Alyssa Milano, Demi Moore, Tatum O’Neal, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Winona Ryder, Jane Seymour, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields, Meryl Streep (!), Emma Thompson (!), Meg Tilly, Marisa Tomei, Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver and Debra Winger.
Jodie Foster, Maverick, 1994. When Meg Ryan backed out, helmer Richard Donner considered Kim. Shooting was ten days old when Jodie turned up.
Melanie Griffith, Nobody’s Fool, 1994. He landed Paul Newman, but not even director Robert Benton can get all the stars he desires. He had loved working with her in Nadine, 1987, “and I’ll find a way to work with her again.” He never did.
Miranda Richardson, Kansas City, 1996. Too busy earning her eventual Oscar in LA Confidential – and being pregnant! – to join revered director Robert Altman’s jazz movie, the one where Harry Belafonte played… Seldom Seen.
Angie Everhart. Another Nne and a Half Weeks, 1996 Randy John Gray is back… but with a different conquest. Kim Basinger has the wet tee-shirt and didn’t want another which meant many changes to what had been a direct sequel… John and Elizabeth go to Paris. Everhart is the new Liz, but called Lea.
Kathleen Turner, The Virgin Suicides, 1998. For her first feature, Sofia Coppola requested Basinger as Kirsten Dunst’s hysterical mother but – too expensive after her support Oscar for LA Confidential.
Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut, 1999. Director Stanley Kubrick wanted a couple as his married leads. Like… er… first names off the top of his balding head: Kim and Alec Baldwin. The film was also way out of touch with the time it was made in. (Exactly like The Shining).
Helen Hunt, A Good Woman, 2003. Julianne Moore must have been busy.
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 Bewitched re-hash, but with the emphasis on him (of course) as Darrin, rather than the unknown he chose for Samatha 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 “Nuclear 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.
Joanna Kerns, Knocked Up, 2006.
Adrianne Palicki. Wonder Woman, TV, 2011. The DC comicbook heroine had not been seen on screens since Lynda Carter ended her four year reign on ABC in 1979. Time then, said Warner, for a new movie. DC’s testosterone duo, Batman and Superman, had cleaned up, now it up to the beautiful superhuman Amazon warrior Princess Diana of Themysacira, her Lasso of Truth, her indestructible bracelets and (honest) her invisible plane. With who…? Across a decade of plans by producers as diverse as Joel Silver (so wrong) and Joss Whedon (so right), 24 beauties were in the frame: from Madonna to Whedon’s favourite, Cobie Smulders. Then, the film morphed into an updated TV series by David E Kelley – that, too, was dead after the rushed pilot. Palicki was the sole actress considered for TV – she was previously seen by George Miller for WW in his aborted Justice League, in 2008.
Laura Linney, Nocturnal Animals, 2016. New mom for Amy Adams in a flashback to her student daze – in fashion designer Tom Ford’s second auteur outing seven yerars after A Single Man. 2009).
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: 60