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Joaquin Phoenix, To Die For, 1994. In the loop for Jimmy, one of three fans persuaded by Nicole Kidman’s TV celeb to murder her husband – “because he doesn’t know a thing about television. ” Said Furlong: “I really wanted that part and thought I’d had an interesting meeting with [director] Gus Van Sant.”
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Sean Astin, Safe Passage, 1994. “I read for that, I think,” said Furlong, “but I look at so many scripts.” As well as Lestat in Interview With The Vampire, Furlong and River Phoenix were also up for Izzy Singer, one of the seven sons of Susan Sarandon and Sam Shepard’s dysfunctional family. Phoenix won the role and then ODed on October 31, 1993.
- Edward Norton, Primal Fear, 1996. “I hear Leonardo DiCaprio is up for every freaking film that I am.”
- Lukas Haas, Boys, 1996. As Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert saw it: “It goes to excruciating lengths to explain why a teenage boy and a slightly older girl would… spend most of the night together (with) nothing of any interest to say. A waste of Winona Ryder and Lukas Haas.”
- James Franco, James Dean, TV, 2001. In the Jimmy mix with Johnny Depp, Brendan Fraser( !), Gary Oldman and Brad Pitt. Other actors played… Pier Angeli, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Julie Harris, Hedda Hopper, Rock Hudson, Louis Jourdan, Elia Kazan, Raymond Massey, Marilyn Monroe, Geraldine Page, Nicholas Ray, George Stevens, Lee Strasberg – and director Mark Rydell was Jack Warner Oh you hadda be there!
- Tobey Maguire, Spider-Man, 2001.
- Nick Stahl, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, 2002. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on $29.5m (plus 20% of everything!) to reprise his most famous role. But Furlong was dropped as John Connor. After five tests (and an OK from Schwarzi, who had approval of everyone… including the publicist!), Stahl took over. “So much fun,” he told Ain’t It Cool News as late as 2020. “I got to go up to the Los Angeles forest and shoot uzis with a SWAT team. I got to ride motorcycles. It was crazy. I learned all of these cool skills. Felt like I was a kid. It was a blast.” And yet he passed on the next one: Terminator Salvation, 2008.
- Jak Kendall, Firecracker, 2004. Originally attached to directorSteve Baldedrson’s project about a true 50s’ murder in his home burg of Wamego, Kansas – where he shot it.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 8