- Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2001.
- Jessica Alba, Fantastic Four, 2004. Spider Man’s Betty Brant was on the wish list for Susan Storm, aka Invisible Woman. So were Alba, Kate Bosworth, Scarlett Johansson, Ali Larter, Rachel McAdams, Denise Richards, Meg Ryan, Julia Stiles, KaDee Strickland, Renee Zellweger.
- Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up, 2006.
- Rahda Mitchell, The Crazies, 2009. Been there, got the blood-stained tee-shirt and don’t want another, thank you.“Don’t want to repeat myself.”And Judy was way too close to Starla in another living-dead rip-off, Slither, 2005.
- Jessica Alba, Valentine’s Day, 2009 .Rachel McAdams and Fernanda Romero also read for Morley Clarkson – in the 21-star-jammed LA take on Love Actually. Director Garry Marshall struck gold – then re-made it (badly) as New Year’s Eve in New York.
- Jennifer Lawrence, The Silver Linings Playbook, 2012. “If you really want to go back and do an archeological dig,” laughed director David O Russell, “I wrote it for Vince Vaughn. And Zooey Deschanel.” Then, Jennifer dida reading on Skype with “an enormous amount of confidence that was beyond her years…toughness and a sweetness and charisma… I hadn’t seen anything like that.” JLaw won the Oscar. Her rivals – Banks, Kirsten Dunst, Rachel McAdams, Rooney Mara, Andrea Riseborough, Olivia Wilde – had been well and truly Skyped!
- Nicole Kidman, Grace of Monaco, 2012. Also in the mix to play Grace Kelly were: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, Kate Hudson, January Jones, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rosamund Pike, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon. But not Christina Applegate, the young Grace on TV in 1983 when Cheryl Ladd was the older. None of them resembled Her Serene Highness, but then nor did Tim Roth look like Prince Rainier.
- Eva Green, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, 2013. Ava Lord in Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez’ Sin City sequel was written for Angelina Jolie with 14 back-ups: Green, Banks, Amy Adams, Kate Beckinsale, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Salma Hayek, Elizabeth Hurley, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose McGowan, Sofia Vergara, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams.
- Vera Farmiga, The Judge, 2013. The battle for the female lead of the Robert Downey Jr thriller was between Banks and Farmiga.
- Ariel Winter, Mr Peabody & Sherman, 2013. Banks, Tina Fey, Ellie Kemper – even Meryl Streep – were heard for voicing Penny Peterson, classmate of Sherman, the adopted human son of Mr. P, the most amazing dog in history: inventor, scientist, Noble laureate, gourmet chef, business tycoon, double Olympic gold medalist. With its own time machine. As if having an adopted son was not enough.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 10