Jennifer Lopez

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

   

  1. Elizabeth Pena, Jacob’s Ladder, 1990.     For Tim Robbins’ lover,  Jezzie, UK director Adrian Lyne saw Lopez. Plus Andie MacDowell, Demi Moore and Julia Roberts  – also shortlisted two years later for his Indecent Proposal.  But Pena had him from the first audition. Chicago critic Roger Ebert praised her as highly for “creating a believable and even sympathetic woman while at the same time suggesting dimensions that the hero can only guess at.”
  2. Salma Hayek, Desperado, 1995.     They were also rivals  for the rapid biopic of the tragic Mexican Tejano singer Selena, dead at 23 – they and some 2,000 others!
  3. Renée Zellweger, Jerry Maguire, 1996.   “You had me at Hello…”Once Tom Hanks passed and Tom Cruise breathed a sigh of relief, auteur Cameron Crowe started searching for The Girl: Dorothy Boyd.   Patricia Arquette, Cameron Diaz, Bridget Fonda, Janeane Garofalo, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez (she passed; her Agent said it wasn’t for hde!) , Courtney Love, Parker Posey, Molly Ringwald, Winona Ryder, Mira Sorvino, Marisa Tomei, Uma Thurman, even Zellweger, came and went. Recommended by Edward Burns (one of the Jerry possibles), Connie Britton made a good test with Cruise and she was Dorothy – depending on  Zellweger’s call back meeting with him. “We have video of that because I was filming,” Crowe told Mike Fleming Jr for Deadline Hollywood’s 20-years-later feature in 2017, “and you just see something happen when Tom sees her. He lights up… As Jerry discovers Dorothy, we discover Renée . That was a very personal thing for me and the way I feel about movies.”
  4. Patricia Clarkson, The Green Mile, 1998.   JLo was not keen on being married to a prison warden, so Clarkson wed James Cromwell instead   – in the 67th of Stephen King’s staggering 313 screen credits. The single most faithful adaptation of his work, he said. But didn’t he say much the same about The Shawshank Redemption. Of course, he did. They were both writer-directed by his best helmer: Frank Darabont.  And he called it the most satisfying movie of his career.
  5. Connie Nielsen, Gladiator, 1999.   First, Isabelle Adjani, then Lopez lost out on becoming Roman Emperor Joaquin Phoenix’s nearly incestuous sister, Lucilla – last played (for $1m) by  Sophia Loren inThe Fall of the Roman Empire, 1963
  6. Salma Hayek, The Wild Wild West, 1999.   “The script was so misogynistic,” said Italian star Asia Argento. And, apparently, JLo agreed, while Cruz was tied to her Franco-Spanish film, Volavérunt. Like almost everyone else concerned with the enterprise – including the star and director, Will Smith and Barry Sonenfeld – Hayek hated the movie.
  7. Elisabeth Shue, Hollow Man, 1999. Lopez was Dutch director Paul Verhoeven’s first choice for Linda McKay, titular invisible man’s ex-lover. But Shue had won an Oscar nomination for Leaving Las Vegas. In 1996.
  8. Angelina Jolie, Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, 2000.   For the girls, Lara Croft is their James Bond.  Well, more of a sexy Indiana Jones.  And 22 hopefuls wanted to bringther sassy, video-game adventurer to life. Demi More was, perhaps, the most keen, but who was simply disregarded. Christina Applegate, Drew Barrymore, Victoria Beckham  Sandra Bullock, Cameron Diaz, Nicole Eggert, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kate Hudson, Elizabeth Hurley, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lopez, Gwneth Paltrow, Anna Nicole Smith (a joke, surely), Catherine Zeta-Jones were considered. Fairuza Balk, Natalie Cassidy, Kirsten Dunst and Milla Jovovich auditioned while Denise Richards, Charlize Theron, Uma Thurman and Liv Tyler simply refused. And Lara’s guy (who fled the sequel) was Daniel Craig – complete with a Walther PPK pistol that he would use again as 007 in Casino Royale, 2005.
  9. Elisabeth Shue, Hollow Man, 2000.   JLo passed on  Dr Linda McKay opposite the invisible Kevin Bacon (typecasting!).  Shue wished she had passed. She tore her Achilles tendon in one scene and shooting was delayed until her recovery. 
  10. Rosario Dawson, Pluto Nash, 2000.      Halle Berry also escaped being Dina Lake, the singer from earth at Eddie Murphy’s 2087 lunar night club. Not released until 2002, the “comedy” scored one of the largest financial losses of any Hollywood movie. Budget: $100m for a US take of… $4.41m.

  11. Diane Lane, Unfaithful, 2001.     For his passionate US update of Madame Bovary, UK director Adrian Lyne saw six potential husbands, three lovers… And as many as 15 cheating wives: Lane, Lopez, Josie Davis, Kristin Davis, Portia de Rossi, Jodie Foster, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alyssa Milano, Meg Ryan, Kyra Sedgwick, Brooke Shields, Tori Spelling, Hilary Swank, Kate Winslet.   Diane Lane, Unfaithful, 2001. For his passionate US update of Madame Bovary, UK director Adrian Lyne saw six potential husbands, three lovers… And as many as 15 cheating wives: Lane, Lopez, Josie Davis, Kristin Davis, Portia de Rossi, Jodie Foster, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alyssa Milano, Meg Ryan, Kyra Sedgwick, Brooke Shields, Tori Spelling, Hilary Swank, Kate Winslet.
  12. Rebecca Romijn, Femme fatale, 2001.   Changing his homestead every decade, Brian De Palma  moved to Paris – bringing his  rubbish with him.
  13. Madeleine Stowe, Imposter, 2001.   Seen for May in the Philip K Dick story,  relying on footage  from Starship Troopers and Armageddon and three CSI stars: Gary Sinise, Gary Dourdan and Adam Rodriguez.
  14. Lara Flynn Boyle, Men in Black II, 2001.  Famke Janseen was playing the svelte alien Serleena when she has to leave the sequel due to a death in her family.  Her possible replacements included Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez and Yeadley Smith.  Man in Black Jay (Will Smith) had co-starred with Boyle in Where The Day Takes You, 1991
  15. Salma Hayek, Frida, 2002.     Mexicans were not  keen on a non-Mexican playing  their celebrated artist Frida Kahlo. The reason Lopez, Laura San Giacomo and even the mighty Madonna split, allowing Salma to get on with her  labour of love.
  16. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago,  2002.   

  17. Alexandra Staden, My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure, 2003. 
    Closer to author Peter O’Donnell than Joseph Losey’s 1965 campy rubbish, this 18-day quickie was simply made to allow Miramax to retain the rights for an 007-ish series to star… Lopez, Natasha Henstridge, Nicole Kidman, Mira Sorvino,  Catherine Zeta-Jones or Quentin Tarantino’s very own Dietrich: Uma Thurman. Plus Russell Crowe as sidekick Willie Garvin. We all know what happened  to Miramax and how the brothers running it named their next combine after themselves. Weinstein. So, like  Sidney Gilliatt’s 60s’ British Lion version  and the ABC plans for a 1982 series with Ann Turkel, Quentin Tarantino’s dream project never happened. He had trailed his interest  by having John Travolta found reading a Modesty  book on the john in Pulp Fiction.       Maybe Harvey Weinstein’s alleged inappropriate touching of the director’s then-lover, Sorvino (among other allegations about the producer abusing Asia Argento, Salma Hayek, Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc) was why the big film version was never happened… although such storieshad not  stopped Tarantino making six features  for Weinstein including Kill Bill and Django Unchained.  He later moved far  from the producer, admitting: “I knew enough to do more than I did…. I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard.” 

  18. Angelina Jolie, Taking Lives, 2004.     UK director Tony Scott (Ridley’s brother) also tried Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett  – but next helmer, DJ Caruso, re-cast the FBI profiler.
  19. Diane Kruger, Troy, 2004.      Diane’s  rivals as the face that launched a thousand ships – Helen of Troy – were Halle Berry, Keira Knightley Kristin Kreuk, Sophie Marceau, Connie Nielsen,  Catherine Zeta-Jones.  You gonna argue with The Times (of London).
  20. Keira Knightley, Domino, 2004.   “My agenda is to kick ass.” Domino was the daughter of UK star Laurence Harvey and model Paulene Stone and became a model, herself, before switching to Bounty Hunter of the Year in 2003.  Director Tony Scott was a friend  and spent ten years searching  for a script more inspired by her than wholly based on her short life. (She ODed at 35 in 2005). He thought of Lopez or Sharon Stone, before  freeing KK from her uasual corsets The result was  ”fractured and maddening, but it’s alive,” said Chicago Roger Ebert, with, as someone  said of one of the characters,  “the attention span of a ferret on crystal meth.”  (She deserved better).

  21. Kate Bosworth, Superman Returns, 2005.
  22. Eva Mendes, Hitch, 2005.   Despite his hefty box-office clout as star and producer, Will Smith had no power at all.  Not even, apparently, to walk away in disgust… His producers refused a white co-star – “interracial couples are taboo.” Nor a black lover – “and piss off  white audiences?”  Hispanic was the solution. Eva and J-Lo were two women with  much the same philosophy.  As Eva put it: “It’s fun to be a woman. It’s fun to flirt and wear make-up and have boobs.”
  23. Jada Pinkett Smith, Madagascar, 2005.        From Lopez and Madonna to Gwen Stefani and… Well, Smith’s husband, Will, had starred as Oscar in DreamWorks’ previous toon, Shark Tale, 2003. So Jada voiced voice of Gloria the Hippo.
  24. Natalie  Portman, The Other Woman, 2008.   JLo was once keen on the lead but then Portman boarded the cinema version of Ayelet Waldman’s novel, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, as exec producer and the titular home wrecker Emilia Greenleaf.
  25. Linda Gray, Dallas, TV, 2011.    Efforts were made since 2002 to reboot the iconic series (and tele-films) for the cinema. Result? This pilot for a 2012 series… about JR and Bobby’s rival sons. Directors, stars, genres changed:Robert Luketic, Gurinder Chadha quit, Betty Thomas was to shoot a Southfork comedy; Drew Barrymore, Minka Kelly, Catherine Zeta-Jones were named for Pam, James Brolin as Jock and Jane Fonda, Diane Ladd or Shirley MacLaine as Miss Ellie. The movie idea collapsed when Lopez quit the idea of being JR’s alcoholic wife, Sue Ellen, opposite John Travolta as JR. Finally,the original Sue-Ellen joined the old-timers returning to their 1978-1992 roles.
  26. 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.Timethen, 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 Whedon’s favourite, Cobie Smulders. Then, the film morphedinto 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.
  27. Juliette Binoche, The 33, 2013.      She gave up the main female role in  the film of the 2011 Chilean mining accident  (with Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Martin Sheen, etc) to continue being an American Idol judge.   Not a serious actress, then.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  27