- Mena Suvari, American Pie, 1998. Alyson was asked to read for Heather and suddenly won Michelle. How come ? Well… she arrived at the callback badly needing to pee. Her name was called the very second she came out of the bathroom and she had no time to settle down after her urgency and, therefore, her reading was rather more quirky than planned. Perfect, everyone agreed, for Michelle.
- Mena Suvari, American Beauty, 1998. For his first LA movie – for a producer called Spielberg! – UK stage director Sam Mendes saw all the current young Hollywood babes for Kevin Spacey’s Lolita-esque infatuation (she was even called… not Haze, but Hayes). And he was turned down by SMG, Kirsten Dunst, Alyson Hannigan, Katie Holmes, Brittany Murphy, Leelee Soboeski – and Tiffani Thiessen lost her audition. That’s not Mena on the poster, though; the hand and stomach belong to actress-model Chloe Hunter. Mena is really all-American. Her other titles include Americana, American Beauty, American Dad, American Horror Story, American Ninja Warrior, American Pie 2,American Reunion, American Virgin (aka Live Virgin), American Wedding (directed by Jakob Dylan, one of Bob Dylan’s three sons), American Woman and two gigs called Americana – one being the original title of the In the Game series.
- Emily Mortimer, Scream 3, 1999. More Ghostface murders begin during the shooting of Stab 3… l in the horror flick inside the horror flick Alicia Silverstone refused to be Angelina Tyler, so director Wes Craven voted Mortimer (daughter of the UK playwright Sir John Mortimer) after seeing Clark, Claire Danes, Alyson Hannigan and Kelli Martin.
- Kate Hudson, Almost Famous, 2000. Looking for his Penny Lane groupie in his semi-autobiographical look back to his Rolling Stone reporter daze, auteur Cameron Crowe saw 48 of LA’s bright young things… Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, Lara Flynn Boyle, Neve Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Claire Danes, Cameron Diaz, Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Jenna Elfman, Jennie Garth, Maggie Gyllenhal, Alyson Hannigan, Angie Harmon, Anne Heche, Katherine Heigl, Jordan Ladd, Kimberly McCullough (busier as a TV director these days, High School Musical: The Musical – The Series, etc), Rose McGowan, Bridget Moynahan, Brittany Murphy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laura Prepon, Lindsay Price, Christina Ricci, Rebecca Romijn, Winona Ryder, Chloë Sevigny, Marley Shelton, Tori Spelling, Mena Suvari, Uma Thurman, Liv Tyler, Lark Voorhies. Plus the English Saffron Burrows, Anna Friel, Thandiwe Newton and Rachel Weisz, Madrid’s Penélope Cruz, the French Charlotte Gainsbourg, Canada’s Natasha Henstridge, Ukrainian Milla Jovovich, Scottish Kelly Macdonald, Israeli Natalie Portman, German Franka Potente, Australian Peta Wilson and Welsh Catherine Zeta-Jones. And the winner, Canada’s Sarah Polley, simply split. (Silly girl). Crowe then chose Kate (previously booked for Anita) because “she seemed more like a free spirit.” But, but, but… Chloë was the freest spirit in all Hollywood. As she proved two years later in The Brown Bunny… in a way the others would never have dared.
- Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2001.
- Sara Gilbert, Americana, TV, 2004. Booked to replace Paula Cale, Hannigan quit the series before David Schwimmer started directing the pilot. Jennifer Love Hewitt’s new best buddy became Gilbert – kid sister of Little House on the Prairie icon, Melissa Gilbert.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 6