Rebecca De Mornay

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

 

  1. 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 Oascar nomination.

  2. Elizabeth Berridge, Amadeus, 1984.    “It’s something I really wanted to do.  The part wasn’t sogood, but I loved the project and the director so much. Unfortunately, Mrs Mozart was dark.  I screen-tested with Mick Jagger… playing Salieri.”

  3. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Flesh + Blood, Holland-Spain-US, 1984.   De Mornay beat Nastassja Kinski but was dropped when  she insisted her then boyfriend should  play Steven.  Dutch director Paul Verhoeven refused.  (He also dropped storyboards for the first time). Rebecca’s lover was…  Tom Cruise.
  4. Kim Greist, Brazil, 1985.  Women are Terry Gilliam’s weakest casting points…  Ellen Barkin was his favourite for Jill, yet hefell for an unknown riddled with so many problems. “Kim just wasn’t getting it.” She gave him so much trouble, during one love-scene with Jonathan Pryce that Gilliam strode off the set. “Kim, do the scene yourself and let me know when you’ve  got it done.  I’m off.” He kept having to shorten her role and even resorted to her wearing a bandage for “more personality.” Not necessary if he’d chosen from his eight other interviewees:RDM, Rosanna Arquette, Rae Dawn Chong, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kelly McGillis, Madonna, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathleen Turner.
  5. Isabella Rossellini, Blue Velvet, 1985.  The legend varies…  1.  Auteur David Lynch’s first choice for Dorothy Valens was the German star Hanna Schyguylla.  2. Lynch wrote Dorothy for Debbie Harry but she‘d had enough of weirdoes. 3. He moved on to Karen Allen, Rebecca De Mornay, Jodie Foster, Helen Hunt, Angelica Huston, Diane Keaton, Helen Mirren, Cybill Shepherd, Sissy Spacek, Sigourney Weaver, Debra Winger – most found Dorothy‘s script way too erotic.  4.Lynch then met Isa in a NYC restaurant and fell head over clapperboard in love.  Literally.
  6. Robin Wright (Penn), The Princess Bride, 1986.   Director Rob Reiner thumbed through a veritable little black book of Hollywood’s new young hotties! Suzy Amis, Valerie Bertinelli, Yasmine Bleeth, Phoebe Cates, Courteney Cox, Kim Delaney, Cathryn de Prume, Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Grey, Anne Heche, Marg Helgenberger, Lauren Holly, Patsy Kensit, Juliette Lewis, Carey Lowell, Kelly Lynch, Virginia Madsen, Mary Stuart Masterson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alexandra Paul,Amanda Pays, Meg Ryan, Mia Sara, Greta Scacchi, Annabella Sciorra, Kyra Sedgwick, Tori Spelling, Catherine Mary Stewart, Brenda Strong, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Uma Thurman, Meg Tilly, Charlene Tilton, Nancy Travis, Amy Yasbeck, Sean Young.
  7. Julia Roberts, Hook, 1990.    On Steven Spielberg’s short list (with Sherilyn Fenn, Carrie Fisher, Samantha Mathis) for Tinkerbell in his Peter Pan update. De Mornay would have been easier to deal with than Roberts.  The crew called her Tinkerhell. (Good nickname for De Mornay’s next gig:  destroying a family with The Hand That Rocks The Cradle).
  8. Sharon Stone, Basic Instinct, 1991. 
  9. Annabella Sciorra, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle,  1992.   “Originally, they wanted me for the nanny and they wanted Rebecca for the mommy,”Annabella told Moveline’s Martha Frankel in 1992.  “We screen-tested both ways. I don’t know ifRebecca had real strong feelings either way, and I didn’t either. It would have been just as interesting to play the nanny…  certainly the flashier part. But then Curtis [Hanson] and I had a very long talk and he explained why he decided he’d rather I play the other part. Wasn’t so sure about it at first, but then we kept talking, and he explained how he felt. And I agreed to do it. I think Rebecca was great.”
     

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