- Kate Beckinsale, Pearl Harbour, 2001. She came thisclose…
- Jennifer Connelly, A Brilliant Mind, 2001. If the choice of the right actor to portray the schizophrenic Noble Prize-winning mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr was vital, selecting his screen wife was even more so – hence an Oscar for Connelly and not for Russell Crowe. The other candidates included Julie Bowen, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Geena Davis, Kirsten Dunst, Portia De Rossi, Claire Forlani, Rachel Griffiths, Teri Hatcher, Famke Janssen, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine McCormack, Mary McCormick, Mia Maestro, Rhona Mitra, Julia Ormond, Amanda Peet, Christina Ricci, Meg Ryan, Chloe Sevigny, Alicia Silverstone, Mira Sorvino, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, Uma Thurman, Rachel Weisz. PS Emily Watson was rejected as “too British” – while Salma Hayek was seen because Alicia Nash came from El; Salvador… which must have meant the others were too American, Australian, South African, etc. Director Ron Howard seemed to forget they were all actresses. Odd that, as he used to be one.
- Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries, 2001. Among 22 youngstars (Jessica Alba to Reese Witherspoon) rejecting the awkward San Francisco teenager being groomed (by Julie Andrews!) to inherit the Genovia throne – after director Garry Marshall’s (rather surprising) first choice of Juliette Lewis quit. And so, Hathaway made her first movie.
- Rachel Weisz, Runaway Jury, 2003. Amanda, Bridget Moynahan and Naomi Watts also auditioned for the hero’s girlfriend selling his jury vote (and influence) to the highest bidder in the John Grisham courtroom thriller. After Confidence, this was Rachel’s second successive movie with Dustin Hoffman. Leaving Peert free to be Jack Nicholson’s young lover in Something’s Gotta Give, 2003.
- Rachel McAdams, Red Eye, 2004. Horrorsmith Wes Craven also saw Neve Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Claire Danes, Rachel Weisz, Robin Wright – and made the right choice.Chicago critic Roger Ebert praised McAdams.Highly. “When she’s stalking a terrorist with a hockey stick, she seems like a real woman stalking a real terrorist with a real hockey stick. It’s not as easy as it sounds.”
- Selma Blair, The Night of the White Pants, 2005. Change of daughter for Tom Wilkinsonasa Dallas tycoon with heart problems (physical and romantic), hiding out during a night of sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll, robbery and… white trousers.
- Sarah Jessica Parker, Failure To Launch, 2005. The thirtysomething slacker suspecting his folks are setting him up with a dream girl so he’ll finally leave home – was written for Peet and Zach Braff. They became SJP and Matthew McConnaughey.
- Winona Ryder, The Ten, 2006. Thou shalt laugh. A lot. Amanda was once due for one of the updated Ten Commandments by David Wain and Ken Marino of The Ten comedy troupe. Winona signed on without reading the script – she was a big fan of Wain’s 2000 movie, Wet Afternoon Summer.
- Cobie Smulders, The Avengers, 2011. Morena Baccarin, Lindsay Lohan, Cloverfield’s Jessica Lucas and the ubiquitous Mary Elizabeth Winstead were seen for SHIELD Agent Hill Disney’s first summit meeting of the Marvel superheroes.
- Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age, 2020. With the 2020 Sprintgime shooting postponed by the deadly Covid 19 virus, Peet was no longer available to be Bertha Russell in the latest re-working of Gosford Park (after Downton Abbey and Belgravia) by Julian Alexander Kitchener Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, himself, Ohio’s Coon made her name in such series as Fargo and as Proxima Midnight the Marvelverse Avengers franchise and the 2020 Ghostbusters chapter: Afterlife.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 10