- Lily Cole, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 2007. Never good at picking actresses, director Terry Gilliam voted in the flame-haired model for Valentina (to be promised to the Devil at 16) over Gemma, Abbie Cornish, Romola Garai, Jena Malone and Mia Wasikowska. Duh!
- Emma Roberts, Valentine’s Day, 2009. Director Garry Marshall auditioned her and let her go. He should’ve known better! Then again, Emma was the neice of his biggest ($3m) discovery, Julia Roberts. He struck gold again here – then re-made it (badly) as New Year’s Eve in New York.
- Scarlett Johansson, Iron Man 2, 2009. That’s what James Bond does for an actress – makes her international. Gemma was called in for Natasha Romanov/Black Widow. Also in the Marvelverse loop: Gemma Arterton, Jessica Biel, Emily Blunt, Eliza Dushku. Plus Angelina Jolie, who led Marvel’s The Eternals, 2019, after Natalie Portman won Jane Foster in the Thor franchise.
- Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger, 2010. Peggy Carter changed about as often as the directors of this fifth screen incarnation of the heroic Steve Rogers… and his main squeeze. Others falling by the wayside included Alice Eve, Emily Blunt, Alexa, Alice Eve, Keira Knightley, Rosamund Pike.
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Kaya Scodelario, Wuthering Heights, 2010. Seemed a daft idea coming, as it did, just two years after the Tom Hardy-Charlotte Riley TVersion. (They wed in 2014). Both films were shot, correctly in Yorkshire. This one had more problems about Catherine. Natalie was cast first, then succeeded by Gemma Arterton, then succeeded by the Skins find, Sodelario… James Howson was an Afro-Caribbean Heathcliffe, as clearly implied by Jane Austen: a “dark-skinned gipsy” and “a little Lascar.”
- Natalie Portman, Thor, 2010. Gemma was seen as Jane Foster. After her fleeting Strawberry Fields in the Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, 2008, Gemma was seen for everything… and won seven roles in 2009.
- Rose Huntington-Whitely, Transformers: Dark of the Month, 2010. In the running to replace – not the Mikaela role, but the actress Megan Fox… after her hassles with the franchise director Michael Bay. She compared him to Hitler (and Napoleon) and producer Steven Spielberg told him to sack her. The Victoria’s Secret model became Carly, Shia LaBeouf’s new love interest. Also considered: Camilla Belle, Katie Cassidy, Brooklyn Decker, Ashley Greene, Lucy Hale, Amber Heard, Julianne Hogue, Anna Kendrick, Miranda Kerr, Blake Lively, Heidi Montag, Bar Refaeli and Sarah Wright.
- Alice Eve, Men In Black III, 2011. Script delays ruined Gemma’s plan to be young Agent O (Emma Thompson was the older) . Her substitute was another UK stunner. This is the only film that featured, as extras: David Beckham, Tim Burton, Bill Gates and Lady Gaga.
- Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises, 2011.
- Rosamund Pike, Wrath of the Titans, 2011. Titans go Bond Girl – again. Ursula Andress was the 1980 original, Gemma Arterton in the 2008 re-make – but too busy with Hansel and Gretel for this sequel. Enter: Die Another Day’s Pike. Next..?
- Hayley Atwell, I, Anna, 2011. It came down to Gemma v Hayley for Emmy in the noir thriller. Director Barnaby Southcombe, 39, had a much easier choice for Anna Welles – his mother, Charlotte Rampling.
- Noomi Rapace, Prometheus, 2011. Among the season’s usual testees chasing Ridley Scott’s (is it?/it isn’t/oh yes, it is) Alien prequel – Abbie Cornish, Anne Hathaway, Carey Mulligan, Natalie Portman, Olivia Wilde. The initially cast Charlize Theron switched to Meredith Vickers, instead.
- Scarlett Johansson, Under The Skin, 2012. Many of the same faces from the late 2010 casting season – Gemma, Jessica Biel, Abbie Cornish, Megan Fox, Eva Green, January Jones, Blake Lively, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde – were up for the alien hanging around Glasgow …originally the wife of an alien Brad Pitt, but he couldn’t wait for director Jonathan Glazer to get started on his “chilling masterpice” (The Guardian).
- Rebecca Hall, Iron Man 3, 2012. High again on Marvel’s list and not just alphabetically – for geneticist Maya Hansen. Other favourites were Isla Fisher and Diane Kruger. Jessica Chastain won the role but her diary didn’t agree. Enter: Hall. Not so happy upon her exit, as Maya was trimmed shorter than a crew cut. ” She wasn’t entirely the villain – there have been several phases of this – but I signed on to do something very different to what I ended up doing.”
- Alicia Vikander, The Man From UNCLE, 2013. For Gaby Teller, the rose betwixt the thorns of the two heroes (the mismatched Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer), Warner suits looked at Arterton, Emilia Clarke, Alice Eve, Sarah Gadon, Felicity Jones, Teresa Palmer and Mia Wasikowska. Director Steven Soderbergh quit in November 2011 when realising Warner Bros wanted a new franchise (like his Ocean’s 11 trilogy) … but didn’t want to pay for it! Guy Ritchie took over… badly. Amber Heard, London Fields, 2013. Gemma was opposite Johnny Depp. Then, she wasn’t and – surprise! surprise! – his new lady love (from his Rum Diary) was.
- Amber Heard, London Fields, 2013. Gemma was opposite Johnny Depp. Then, she wasn’t and – surprise! surprise! – his new lady love (from his Rum Diary) was.
- Kate Beckinsale, Absolutely Anything, 2014. Arterton and Benedict Cumberbatch churned into Beckinsale and Simon Pegg – in Robin Williams’ final film. (He voiced the dog Dennis). Beckinsale’s mother and daughter, Lily Mo, were also in the toon. The ETs were voiced the Pythons: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle Michael Palin and (director) Terry Jones.
- Alicia Vikander, Tomb Raider, 2017. Lara Croft is the girls’ James Bond. Many tried to succeed Angelina Jolie from her 2000 version – she won it from 20 candidates. Two dozen lost to the Swedish Vikander, on a roll with her 2016 Danish Girl Oscar and Ex Machinarobot…The Franchise Brigade was represented by two from the Percy Jackson flicks (Alexandra Daddario, Rosario Dawson), two Terminators (Emilia Clarke, Summer Glau), two Underworlders (Kate Beckinsale, Rhona Mitra) and three Twilighters (Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed and Kristen Stewart who simply refused). Plus 007’s Gemma Arterton, Harry Potter’s Emma Watson, Marvel’s Wanda Maximioff (Elizabeth Olsen), Star Wars’Daisy Ridley, Transformers’ Megan Fox, TRON’s Olivia Wilde, X Men’s Jennifer Lawrence, Other also-rans were: Jessica Biel (as perfect as Dawson), Emily Blunt, Emily Browning, Cara Delevingne (Vikander’s co-star in Tulip Fever, 2017), Nina Dobrev, Anne Hathaway, Sienna Miller (too mild, surely), Saoirse Ronan and Moon’s Kaya Scodelario.
- Stefanie Martini, The Crooked House, 2017. Agatha Christie’s 1949 mystery, was, allegedly, her favourite work. The reason it took 68 years to be filmed is because the killer (not really a spoiier) is a child. Tut, tut! Neil LaBute planned a version in 2010.With a far better cast: Julie Andrews, Gabriel Byrne and Arterton as the lopver of Matthew Goode as Dame Agatha’s youngest sleuth… as befits her youngest killer. He’s none too bright. A servant (Julian Fellowes is among is among the writers) works out whodunnit before he tumbles to the obvious.
- Hayley Atwell, Christopher Robin, 2018. A-for-Arterton won E-for-Evelyn (the adult Christopher Robin’s wife), changed her mind and she became A-for-Atwell.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 19