- Minka Kelly, Friday Night Lights, TV, 2006-2009. “Sorry, guys,” said Emmy, “but I don’t wanna be The Good Girl all the time.” To which Minka, working between auditions as a scrub nurse for a plastic surge, said… “Hey, I do!”
- Amber Heard, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, 2006. Or Halloween the 13th!!! Rossum was just not interested in any slasher movie, thank you guys.
- Amanda Seyfried, Mamma Mia,2007. Rossum, Amanda Bynes, Keira Knightley, Rachel McAdams, Mandy Moore were in the Abba musical mix for Sophie. Meryl Streep was Mama but who was Daddy, that was the question. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth or StellanSkarsgård?Hey, hadn’t the plot (of a mother not knowing which of three lovers fathered her daughter) already been spun for Gina Lollobrigida in Buona Sera Mrs Campbell… 40 years earlier.
- Anne Hathaway, Alice in Wonderland, 2009. Director Tim Burton felt she was tool young for The White Queen – and gave it to an earlier choice for Alice, herself. Apart from Burton’s biggest triumph, Emily missed nothing – it was the least developed character interms of script and make-up.
- Emma Stone, The Gangster Squad, 2011. Her Shameless TV work led to her joiningthe many damsels aiming to be Grace Faraday in the40s/50s LAPD v Mafia drama: Camilla Belle, Lily Collins, Maggie Grace, Ashley Greene, Aly Michalka, Teresa Palmer, Amanda Seyfried.
- Elizabeth Olsen, Godzilla, 2013. Emmy, Emilia Clarke, Hilary Duff, Jennifer Lawrence, Aly Michalka, Imogen Poots, Margot Robbie were up for Elle Brody (a nod to Roy Scheider’s Jaws sheriff?). But UK director Gareth Edwards said he got all his first choices for his second feature. It won him his third, the superb Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 2015.
- Amy Adams, Man of Steel, 2013.
- Kate Mara, Fantastic Four, 2014. Marvel wanted the Four back and offered Fox an extension on its Daredevil II plans. No way! In the mix for the third Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman were Rossum, Sasha Pieterse, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, Samira Wiley and director Josh Trank’s favourite, Allison Williams. He then bullied Mara for being the suits’ choice. Film flopped. (Only ever made to save the rights). Hollywood Reporter critic Todd McCarthy called it “a 100-minute trailer for a movie that never happens.” Marvel icon Stan Lee saw it coming and refused his usual seal-of-approval cameo.
- Emma Watson, Beauty and the Beast, 2016. Rossum, Lily Collins, Emma Roberts, Kristen Stewart were on Disney’s live- action list. But only Watson had been Harry Potter’s Hermione! And collected $18m without passing Go or going to jail.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 9