- Robyn Griggs, Another World, 1993-95. Became good friends with Susan Ward after both lost the role of Maggie Cory on the Bay City soap saga that ran for 35 years on NBC. Only Carpenter was a Mars fan.
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Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, TV, 1997-2004. SMG auditioned for Cordelia Chase and Charisma for Buffy, but… “Initially I was disappointed. I know now I’m better suited to Cordelia. I was a little turned off by the idea of doing another bitch. But my agent put it to me quite frankly: You have to be known before you can be typecast.” She also played the role in the spin-off, Angel, 1999-2004. Three other girls lost Sunnyvale’s saviour: Selma Blair, Katie Holmes and Natasha Lyonne (soon wearing Orange is the New Black). Four more won other roles: Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy), Julie Benz (Darla), Julia Lee (Anne) and 16-year-old Mercedes McNab (Harmony) as SMG ruled for all 145 episodes as Buffy… original name of Yoda in Star Wars!
- Jordana Brewster, The Faculty, 1998. Director Robert Rodriguez said Delilah was written for her. What did he tell Sarah Michelle Gellar who also turned him, down for the same reason… Too close to their TV series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, 1997-2003.
- Kelly Rutherford, Scream 3, 2000. Bit late to join a trilogy… Lost Christine to a Vegas-born Vegas dancer who said (of course, she did): “You can take the girl out of Vegas, but you can’t take Vegas out of the girl.”
- Heather Graham, Veronica Mars, TV, 2005-2006. Two girls were seen for Kendall Casablancas.
- 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 a Carpenter willing to postpone any second child for her dream role. “I’m not holding my breath, but I’m crossing fingers and toes and praying.” Hah! 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.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 6