Paul Rudd

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

  1. Andrew Shue, Melrose Place, TV, 1992-1998. The series was a new branch of Beverly Hills 90210 but Leonard was not one of the saplings.  He lost out to Elizaberh Shue’s younger brother) for the struggling writer named (after the actor) Billy Campbell.

  2. Justin Walker, Clueless, 1994.    Rudd’s sardonic streak (honed by drama studies in LA and Oxford) auditioned for Christian…
  3. Jeremy Sisto, Clueless, 1994.    … and Elton…
  4. Donald Faison, Clueless, 1994.    … and Murray- and auteur Amy Heckerling selected him for Josh!

  5.  Sam Rockwell, Galaxy Quest, 1999.  Probably the finest Hollywood send-up of a TV show had the cast of a copy-Star Trek  being mistaken  for  real spacemen  by Thermian aliens wanting their help!  Most of the  cast sent up  William Shatner, Patrick Stewart,  Martin Landau… while  Rockwell was channelling Michael Keaton  in Night Shift,  Bill Paxton in Aliens, 1986,  John Turturro from  Miller’s Crossing  – helped by as much coffee as he could down in a day. 
  6. Mark Feuerstein, What Women Want, 2000.Mel Gibson is what women wanted – the other male role was of his buddy.
  7. Ken Marino, Veronica Mars, TV, 2005-2007.  The future Ant-Man, 2014 etc,  was  in the frame for Vinnie Van Lowe, no less. Fans of the series called themselves Marshmallows.  Honest!
  8. Adam Sandler, Funny People, 2008.      The new Mayor (for some reason) of movie mirth (aha, alliteration!), LA auteur Judd Apatow said if he could get his old room-mate for the lead (and Sandler had issues with some of the sexist jokes), the next names of his list were:Paul or Jason Bateman.
  9. Adam Scott,  Party Down, TV, 2009-2010.      Rudd co-created and exec-produced the about a bunch of actors surviving (just about) in as waiters – and owing much to the 2004-2007 Veronica Mars gang. He was set for  Henry when first trying to mount the show in 2000. Scott also produced  seven of the 20 episodes.
  10. Jason Bateman, Horrible Bosses, 2010.    Matthew McConnaughey, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson were also suggested for  Nick, victim of Kevin Spacey’s  supercilious sadist boss in this  masculine take on Nine To Five.
  11. James Marsden, Sonic the Hedgehog, 2019. For the new movie version of the video game, 15 actors jostled for Tom Wachowski, the Montana cop helping the speedy blue blur alien from another planet in his fight against Jim Carrey’s Dr Robotnik. They were: Rudd, Jack Black, Ansel Elgort, Chris Evans, Bill Hader (also up for voicing Sonic), Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Adam Pally (also seen for Sonic, he wound up as Wade, Tom’s deputy), Chris Pratt, Jason Segal, Justin Timberlake, Milo Ventimiglia, Owen Wilson and Marsden, who was ready for “as many as they want to make. it was so much fun to see Jim enjoying himself again.”

 

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  11