- Leigh Taylor Young, The Adventurers, 1970. “I hadn’t read the book or thescript but (the producer) said right off I was perfect for the part. Only as a father and a grandfather, he couldn’t possibly ask a virgin to play the kind of scenes the part demanded. Well, I said, you’re a little late.He just sat there and got real red in the face. Angry. ‘Who did it to you?’ he said. ‘I’ll get him!’ Here’sa man making a really sexy picture getting outraged because I wasn’t pure in his sense of the word. Wow!”
- Sissy Spacek, Carrie, 1976.
- Carrie Fisher, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, 1976.
- Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver, 1975.
- Ingrid Brett, The Last Tycoon, 1976. Like co-star Theresa Russell, Ingrid was the best of a poor field for director Elia Kazan “She’s coltish,” said producer Sam Spiegel. “A quality,” noted Elia Kazan, “especially attractive to a pudgy man.”
- Brooke Shields, Pretty Baby, 1977. The plot sickens… A prostitute allows her 12-year-old daughter’s virginity to be auctioned off in a brothel in the red-light Storyville district of New Orleans, circa 1917. Elegant French director Louis Malle saw 29 hopefuls and/or instant (parental) refusals for pretty little Violet. From Laura Dern aged 10 and future Sex And The City co-stars Cynthia Nixon, at 11,, Sarah Jessica Parker, 12 (like Shields) and (the often too buxom) teenagers Melissa Sue Anderson, Rosanna Arquette, Linda Blair, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Mariel Hemingway, Helen Hunt, Anissa Jones (who tragically ODed at 18 before her audition), Diane Lane, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kristy McNichol, Tatum O’Neal (Dad said no), Dana Plato (Mom said no), Michelle Pfeiffer, Ally Sheedy, Meg Tilly, Charlene Tilton (pre-Dallas)… to seven twentysomethings. However, no make-up and soft lenses could make 12-year-olds out of Griffithj, Isabelle Adjani, Bo Derek, Carrie Fisher, Amy Irving, Mary Steenburgen or Debra Winger.
- Pamela Stephenson, The Comeback, 1977. For his penultimate movie, UK schlocker Pete Walker aimed higher than School Fot Sex, Cool It Carol!, The Flesh and Blood Show, House of Whipcord, Schizo, etc. He wanted Griffith or Kim Basinger as the groupie involved with Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr or Cat Stevens as the crooner involved with his wife’s ghost and her killer. He 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.
- Brooke Shields, Tilt,1978. Pinball wizardette.
- Bo Derek, 10, 1979.
- Brooke Shields, The Blue Lagoon, 1979. Auditioned for Emmeline – despite Grease director Randal Kleiser wanting his shipwrecked couple to be naked throughoutthe re-make. (They were not). Shields had her long hair glued to her front – and a nude body double.
- Brooke Shields, Endless Love, 1980. Now this doesn’t happen very often… Shirley Knight was displeased with Brooke Shields as her teenage daughter and set about re-casting Jade. She gave a list of better prospects to her director Franco Zeffirelli. Including Griffith, Rosanna Arquette, Linda Blair, Bo Derek, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kristy McNichol, Michelle Pfeiffer. Knight wuz right. They were all better, with the possible exception of beauteous Bo. Zeffirelli, however, was a very Italian macho maestro. He was the boss. OK, ready Brooke – and… action! Just do your best…
- Phoebe Cates, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 1981. The US high school movie..! Researched and written by Cameron Crowe, directed by Amy Heckerling. In their Linda loop – “We can’t even get cable TV here, Stacy, and you want romance!” – were Griffith, Rosanna Arquette, Justine Bateman, Carrie Fisher, Tatum O’Neal, Ally Sheedy, Meg Tilly.
- Elizabeth McGovern, Once Upon a Time in America, 1982. Italian maestro Sergio Leone claimed 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 Pfeiffer, 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 did Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Colleen Camp, Glenn Close, Geena Davis, Juy Davis, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Kelly McGillis,Kristy McNichol, Deborah Raffin, Brooke Shields, Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner.
- Jennifer Beals, Flashdance, 1982. The “nation-wide search“ (of LA…!!) came down to 20 possibilities for flashprancer Alex Owens. Melanie, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bo Derek, Janice Dickinson, Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Grey (yet she won Dirty Dancing), Daryl Hannah, Mariel Hemingway, Helen Hunt (hated the script), Jennifer Jason Leigh, Heather Locklear, Andie MacDowell, Kathy Najimy, Tatum O’Neal, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kyra Sedgwick, Sharon Stone and Debra Winger, Pix of the final three – Beals, Demi Moore and Leslie Wing – were shown to the studio’s construction guys by Paramount suits asking: “Which of these women do you most wanna fuck?” Dissolve.
- Daryl Hannah. Splash, 1983. A mermaid – moi?! That’s what they all said, more or less. Except Debra Winger who longed to be Madison. (Director Ron Howard did not agree). “They all” were… Rosanna Arquette, Jodie Foster (she was booked into The Hotel New Hampshire), General Hospital soap queen Genie Francis, Melanie Griffith, Diane Lane, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tatum O’Neal, Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Tanya Roberts (booked for Sheena: Queen of the Jungle), Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields (studying French Literature at Princeton), PJ Soles (to be opposite Bill Murray, not Tom Hanks), Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner and Lisa Whelchel (from The Facts of Life, 1979-1988). Plus two Brits: Lynne Frederick and Fiona Fullerton. Disney’s new (“adult”) Touchstone company rushed Splash into production to beat Warren Beatty’s similar “half-human-half-kipper” tail: Mermaid.
- 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: Griffth, Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Christy Brinkley, Colleen Camp, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Judy Davis, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Teri Garr, Jennifer Grey, 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.
- Kelly LeBrock, The Woman In Red, 1983. Griffith passed on Charlotte in the tawdry re-hash of the French winner, Un éléphant ça trompe énormément, 1975, to become Holly in Body Double – a genuinly erotic thriller until Brian De Palma made it.
- Ally Sheedy, St Elmo’s Fire, 1984. Directors John Hughes and Joel Schumacher were rather like Lucas and Spielberg in the 70s: dipping into the same age talent pool. Those Brat Packers Hughes kept in the high school Breakfast Club, Schumacher made, as here, college kids. When Hughes said “Why can’t I make movies like The Lost Boys, Joel?” Schumacher replied:“Why can’t I make Pretty in Pink?”The answer was different experiences. Joel’s was “drinking at nine, smoking at 10, sexually active at 11.”
- Anjelica Huston, Prizzi’s Honor, 1984. “So let’s do it. Right here. On the Oriental. With all the lights on.” Maerose Prizzi knew what she wanted, where and when from her Family’s hit man, Jack Nicholson – the unlikeliest Mafioso since the Corleones’ James Caan. Before realising his daughter was Oscar-winning perfection, director John Huston looked at some 17 potential Maeroses. From the sublime Rosanna Arquette, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Liza Minnelli, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer (been there, done that and got the Married To The Mob and Scarface t-shirts), Debra Winger… to the ridiculous: Griffith, Geena Davis, , Daryl Hannah, Emma Thompson, Sela Ward, Debra Winger… and the damn stupid: Linda Blair, Carrie Fisher, Kelly LeBrock, Heather Locklear, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ally Sheedy.
- Helen Slater, Supergirl, 1984. As greeedy as ever, Warner Bros wanted more coin from the Superman franchise. When first choice Brooke Shields and then Griffth passed, a Christopher Reevesque talent hunt discovered Slater. She won the cape, the new identity of Linda Lee Danvers, but not Reeve in a cameo. Far better than the Jeannot Szwarc film, Slater turned up, during 2007-2018, as Supie’s biological mother, Lara-El, in the young-Superman-series,Smallville, voiced Supe’s foster-mom, Martha Kent, in Super Hero Highand played her own earthian-ma, Eliza Danvers, in the Supergirlseries, when Melissa Benoist succeeded her – the first time Kara Zor-El had been seen since the flop-movie 31 years earlier!
- Faye Dunaway, Supergirl, 1984. OK, love, then how about the villaIn…? When Griffith, Jane Fonda and Goldie Hawn passed, Dolly Parton was offered $7m by the Salkind producers to play the power-hungry villainess, Selena, in the, alas, flop film about Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El. Alas because the producera, the Salkinds pere et fils, then sold their Super-rights to Cannon – hence the excremental Superman IV in 1986
- Madonna, Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985. “I saw a bunch of actresses for the part,” recalled director Susan Seidelman. Including Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kelly McGillis.
- Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction, 1986.
- Elisabeth Shue, Adventures in Babysitting, 1987. Back in the 60s, teenage babysitter Chris Parker was for Jane Fonda. By the 80s, her logical heir, her niece Bridget, was not interested. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was signed, followed by Jodie Foster, then it became a battle between Kathleen Turner (the fourth #1 choice), Griffith, Justine Bateman, Valerie Bertinelli, Judy Davis, Jodie Foster, Andie MacDowell, Kelly McGillis (spurned by director Christopher Columbus), Tatum O’Neal (who simply fled), Michelle Pfeiffer (preferring The Witches of Eastwick.. until she made it!), Brooke Shields and Sharon Stone.
- 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.
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: Griffith, Rosanna Arquette, Ellen Barkin, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Beals, Jennifer Grey, 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, Jennifer Connelly, Joan Cusack, 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! - Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman, 1989.
- Lolita Davidovich, Blaze, 1989. From little Carrie to stripper and state governor’s mistress Blaze Starr in just 13 years…. But she was when pregnant (with Dakota Johnson) at the tyimre. Producer Dale Pollock claimed more than 400 girls were seen for Blaze Starr…the stripper having an affair with Paul Newman as the licentious Louisiana governor Huey Lopng falling from power in the late 50s. Newman relished such lines as ”Ah goptta weakness for tough-minded, iron-willed, independfnt women wkith big titties.” But he almost backed out when he realising he had a daughter around the same age as Blaze… Gene Hackman was immediately contacted, Then, Newman woke up: “Screw it. I’ll do it!” Opposite Davidovich beating Griffith and Nancy Travis.. “She just blew him away,” said director Ron Shelton, making up for his worst possible choice of words by adding: “She got in his face and was funny and brave and guiless and when she left, he looked at me and said: What was that?!”
- Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot, 1989. Jodie Foster, Theresa Russell and Uma Thurman were doubtless put off by the nudity required in director Dennis Hopper’s erotic movie. Griffith had a different reason. She pregnant with her second child: Dakota Johnnson, her father, Don Johnson, was Hopper’s amoral cock o’ the walk leading man. (Dakota was the 2014-2018 star of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise – not steamy as Dad’s movie… or Mum’s 1984 Body Double). Madsen was the supremely sensuous Dolly – finding sex in car more fun than eating cotton-candy barefoot – perfectly matching what Chicago critic Roger Ebert hailed as “a superior work in an old tradition.” Hopper liked to call it Last Tango In Texas. They wuz both right!
- Judith Hoag, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1989. For the first live-action Turtle trot, the innovative director of music videos Steve Barron saw many a potential April O’Neill: Griffith, Jennifer Beals, Lorraine Bracco, Sandra Bullock, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Kidman, Winona Ryder, Brooke Shields, Marisa Tomei, Sean Young. TMNT legend states the winning Hoag was never considered for the sequels because she complained so much the violence – and the six-day shooting schedule.
- Angelica Huston, The Grifters, 1989. Toying with his Jim Thompson characters, UK director Stephen Frears considered Griffith, 33, as the mother of John Cusack, 24, opposite Annette Bening, 32, as his lover. Hmm… “She and Melanie are dead ringers which, of course, lent a lot of intrigue to the situation. Then, Melanie got pregnant.” Also up for the con-artist mom were Geena Davis, Lily Tomlin and Sissy Spacek. Griffith and Huston later co-starred in the 1995 CBS tele-film, Buffalo Girls.
- Debra Winger, The Sheltering Sky, 1990. Italian maestro Bernardo Bertolucci’s budget restrictions meant that William Hurt-Griffith-Dennis Quaid, became John Malkovich-Debra Winger-Campbell Scott. So reported Juliet Taylor. No one knows better. She was the casting director. Anyway, Melanie was pregnant at the time with a certain… Dakota Johnson. Mom was back at work within three months in Pacific Heights, 1990
- Madonna, Dick Tracy, 1990. Warren Beatty’s production designer Richard Sylbert suggested Melanie or… “Madonna?” cried Beatty. “That’s like hiring a country.” He tested unknowns, while Madonna seethed. “Everybody said I’d be a perfect Breathless Mahoney.I waited and waited for Warren to call me.He never did. Finally, I decided to get pushy and called him.It took him a year to make up his mind…He insisted I get fatter. He wanted to pour me into my dress.” And his bed.
- Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise, 1991.
- Sharon Stone, Basic Instinct, 1991.
- 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: Griffith, Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Halle Berry, Glenn Close (!), Geena Davis, Cameron Diaz, Carrie Fisher, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, 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.
- Andie MacDowell, Four Weddings And A Funeral, 1994. Previously known as: True Love and Near Misses, Loitering in Sacred Places, Rolling in the Aisles and Skulking Around. Obviously, Griffith (Phoebe Cates, Sarah Jessica Parker, Brooke Shields, Marisa Tomei, Jeanne Tripplehorn) had no sense of humour. Or, not when learning that Andie’s cut hit $2m.
- Nicole Kidman, To Die For, 1994.
“You aren’t anybody in America if you’re not on TV…” Most bright young things agreed this was a role to die for… the girl who would do anything (murder included) to get on TV, and stay there. They included Griffith, Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Connelly, Joan Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Darryl Hannah, Holly Hunter, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tatum O’Neal, Mary-Louise Parker, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan (passing up $5m), Brooke Shields, Uma Thurman. However, Debra Winger simply refused… and Kidman persuaded director Gus Van Sant that she was his destiny. - Sharon Stone, Casino, 1995. The role? Robert De Niro’s ex-show-cum-call-girl wife in Martin Scorsese takedown of the Mafia running the biz called Las Vegas. Michelle Pfeiffer felt it was too close to her 1982 Scarface. (It was also close to Goodfellasbut that didn’t hinder the De Niro-Joe Pesci-Scorsese trinity). Ex-porn queen Traci Lords nearly won after an impressive test. Likewise, Madonna. Amber Smith also tested (and De Niro got her into Faithfuland Abel Ferrar’s The Funeral). Director Martin Scorsese saw all who agreed to test – he needed to see their Vegas look… Cameron Diaz, Melanie Griffith, Nicole Kidman, Rene Russo and Uma Thurman. “I want to be good enough to work with Robert De Niro,” Sharon Stone had told her drama coach. This time she was. Never again.
- Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets, 1997. The role, opposite Jack Nicholson in Oscar-wnning form, needed A Star. Hunt was a TV star. And Melanie was pregnant with Stella Banderas.
- Kelly Lynch,Charlie’s Angels, 2000. Drew Barrymore bought the movie rights and proved herself as star and producer – by immediately chasing Melanie for Vivian Wood, Sam Rockwell’s business partner at Knox Enterprises.
- 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. - Joanna Kerns, Knocked Up, 2007.
- Virginia Madsen, The Hot Flushes, 2012. A menopause comedy in a town called Burning Bush! It got better. Unless youn were Griffith, who had her differences with director Susan Seidelman and took a hike from the titular women’s team (Daryl Hannah, Brooke Shields, Wanda Sykes, etc) playing charity basketball matches to save their township’s mammogram facility.
- 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: 1957Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 46