- Robin Wright (Penn), The Princess Bride, 1986. Director Rob Reiner thumbed through a veritable little black book of Hollywood’s newyoung hotties! Suzy Amis, Valerie Bertinelli, Yasmine Bleeth, Phoebe Cates, Courteney Cox, Kim Delaney, Rebecca de Mornay, Cathryn de Prume, Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Grey, 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.
- Sofia Coppola, The Godfather: Part III, 1991.
- Janeane Garofalo, Reality Bites, 1994. Four unknowns auditioned: Anne, Janeane, Gwyneth Paltrow and Parker Posey.
- Uma Thurman, Beautiful Girls, 1995.
One of the earliest examples of Harvey Weinstein casting – as far back in his Miramax days… Heche told her story in 2018: “I was offered one of the lead roles and asked to go to the his hotel room. She refused to stay in the room after he exposed himself to me,” she alleged. “I got out and I got fired the day after.” She believed that the abuse she suffered as a child, “gave me the strength and understanding to get up and walk out of that room,. Because I recognised something others didn’t. Once he got up from the couch and excused himself, I knew I had to create an exit, But I never thought I could walk out of that room and say: ‘Hey, that guy just hit on me, now what am I supposed to do?’Especially when somebody calls the next day and says they’re taking the role away from you. The first thing out of your mouth isn’t:“Yeah, but he tried to fuck me!” You don’t even have the language for it. But now our culture has reached a point where every girl has the foreknowledge to say: “That’s an inappropriate. Excuse me, I’m off.’ Heche said called Hollywood was Harvey’s little whorehouse. “It really was… He was targeting young girls, many from broken homes. I mean, that’s who actresses often are. We discover ourselves, and often heal ourselves, through our work.” - Jennifer Jason Leigh, Washington Square, 1997. JJL won Catherine Sloper from Heche and Meg Ryan. But Heche took Spread – and its great, nearly four-minute Steadycam shot – from her in 2008. And Ryan beat her to the seventh of ten films they had both been up for: Sleepless in Seattle, 1992.
- Emily Watson, Trixie, 1999. Emily continued her run of taking on cast-offs. And scoring with them. Her Trixie Zurbo was an undercover detective for a casino – replete with malapropisms. Critic Roger Ebert listed a few. She got her man “by hook or by ladder,” told one bad guy he’s a “Jekyll of all trades” and often finds herself “between a rock and the deep blue sea.” Watson was, as per usual, delightful. The film was not.
- Cate Blanchett, The Gift, 1999. Anne was too busy promoting Reaching Normal, the short film she directed, featuring her then-lover Ellen DeGeneres, and the 2000 tale in HBO’s If These Walls Could Talk 2, in which she writer-directeda passionate Ellen and Sharon Stone.
- 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.
- Renée Zellweger, Chicago, 2001.
- Gwyneth Paltrow, Proof, 2005. A battle of the Catherines to play… Catherine. As per tradition,the Broadway star was side-swiped… As were two others who hadplayed the role on stage: Heche and Jennifer Jason Leigh. And the role goes to…the London West End Catherine.
- Jane Adams, Hung, TV, 2009-2011. “Incredibly difficult to find beautiful, talented, funny women over 35,” said co-creator Colette Burson. Anne was invited to audition as the titular Ray’s pimp. “Who am I not to take a meeting? I didn’t get that part, but then they thought of me for the other. [Jessica, Ray’s ex-wife].So, great. Listen, one job doesn’t ever change the path of your career.” But it sure helped her comeback aftersuch a public free-fall. After Hung, came… Spread.
Birth year: 1969Death year: 2022Other name: Casting Calls: 11