Liv Tyler

Posted on by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

 

  1. Natalie Portman, Léon, France, 1994.      Sorry, cherie, said auteur Luc Besson, you’re too old… at 17. Beson said he saw 6,000 petites filles for Matilda. Natalie was only 11, when he’d ordered 12-year-olds. “But she was like a bombe atomique! In one single scene, she was able to cry and to laugh – exceptional for a child of her age. “Thirty-three films and 16 years later, she won an Oscar for Black Swan, 2010.
  2. Reese Witherspoon, Fear, 1995.    Well, here’s a switch. A Hollywood movie copying, er inspired, by a Bollywood feature! Tyler was not keen on being  Nicole Walker in the rehash of Darr, 1983.  Maybe because director James Foley was then only known for making Madonna’s music videos. Papa Don’t Preach, etc.
  3. Charlize Theron, The Cider House Rules, 1999. Author John Irving went through four directors before settling on the Swedish Lasse Hallström to handle what Roger Ebert called a David Copperfieldish story (or, indeed, stories). For Candy, the girl who brings abortion into equation, Hallström also studied Spelling and Ly Tyler.  Tori felt she’d lose to Liv. “I look at Liv Tyler and think, ‘It’s not fair,’ because I can’t find a flaw on her. And on top of that she seems nice, so it’s really not fair.”
  4. Lucy Liu, Charlie’s Angels, 2000.  Tele-tycoon Aaron Spelling decided to put Aaron’s angels on the big screen  (to help generate a new series on the small). His first new  trio: MTV discovery Jenny McCarthy, ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and 007’s Hong Kong martial arts superstar. Then, Drew Barrymore showed him how to do it. with the  third  of her numerous (canny) productions. Just look at the 25 girls she shuffled to find the right  angel Alex Munday: Aaliyah (“too young”), Jennifer Aniston, Asia Argento, Halle Berry, Lara Flynn Boyle, Helena Bonham Carter, Penélope Cruz, Kristin Davis, Jodie Foster, Angie Harmon (stuck on Law & Order),  Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nia Long, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tiffani Thiessen, Uma Thurman, Liv Tyler, , Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon, Robin Wright, Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones… And two singers: Lauryn Hill and another  Spice Girl: Victoria Beckham.
  5. 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.
  6. Kelly Rutherford, Scream 3, 2000. Lost Christine to a Vegas-born Vegas dancer who said (of course, she did): “You can take the girl out of Vegas, but you can’t take Vegas out of the girl.”  Also in the mix were:  Ttyler, Charisma Carpenter, Jennifer Connelly, Kate Hudson, Alyssa Milano, Denise Richards, Keri Russell, Rachel True  and Kate Winslet.
  7. Angelina Jolie, Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, 2000.   For 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 more serioiusly 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Amy Smart, The Battle of Shaker Heights, 2003. In the running for the Tabby, the girlfriend of bright student Shia LaBeouf in the second Project Greenlight film made by Miramax and HBO.
  10. Gretchen Mol, The Notorious Betty Page, 2005.      Liv was Martin Scorsese’schoice as the renowned UStripper until his Aviator finally took off. They both quit and the Page project was inherited by Gretchen and director Mary Harron. “Gretchen was much prettier than I was,” said Bette. “My only complaint was the title. I was never notorious!”

  11. Jessica Biel, The Illusionist, 2005.  The beauteous Biel took over when the lissome Liv quit shortly before shooting started. The fact that the shooting was to be in the Czech Reopublic  (Prague and Tábor were playing Vienna) may have been a congtributing factor.
  12. Rosario Dawson, Clerks II, 2006.      Uncomfortable with Becky’s potty mouth – “Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, it’s forgivable to go ass to mouth.” Hey what did Liv expect. The script was another View Askew fromNew Jersey auteur Kevin Smith – not TheLord of the Rings IV.
  13. Keri Russell, August Rush, 2006.    Claire Danes was also seen for the cellist mother of the titular Freddie Highmore. Saw this on planes to and from LA for my 70th birthday trip in 2008.
  14. Katie Holmes, The Romantics, 2009.   Liv  was Laura  – and then she  was not.  Somethng wrong when a director can’t settle on the right actress. Even more so when the director invented  the character – as he is is Galt Niederhoffer,  who wrote rhe novel. Then again, she also also got the title wrong.  Nothing romantic here.
  15. Ashley Judd, Flypaper (aka Hold-Up$), 2010.   Jessica Biel was also up for the bank teller being protected by secret admirer  Patrick Dempsey when  said bank is hit by not one but two robbery crews. Just like the film had not one, but 17 producers, Dempsey included. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  15