- Scarlett Johansson, The Horse Whisperer, 1998. Clutching a family Christmas card as her headshot, the 15-year-old equestrian champ – still called Catherine at the time – attended the open New York auditions for Grace – and director and co-star Robert Redford made her Grace’s best pal, Judith.
- Anne Hathaway, Havoc, 2004. Variety critic Lisa Nesselson suggested a better title would be: Slumming for Dummies. First Mandy Moore, then Kate won Alison… When director Barbara Kopple lost her final cut, Hathaway (and co-star Bijou Phillips) refused any promo work, so the movie landed in the video bin. Inevitably, Hathaway was told she’d never work in this town again. Hah! She co-hosted the 2011 Oscarnight and won a support Oscar for Les Miserables on February 24, 2013.
- Rosario Dawson, Sin City, 2004. The Heterochromiatic – she has David Bowie and Jane Seymour eyes: one brown, one blue – was seen for Gail. With Alexander’sRoxanne and Sin City’s Gail released in the same summer, Dawson’s stock was rising. And Kate became Lois Lane in Superman Returns, 2006.
- Jessica Alba, Fantastic Four, 2004. Considered (like Scarlett Johansson, again) for Susan Storm, aka Invisible Woman. The next year, Kate became the latest Lois Lane in Superman Returns (also offered to Scarlett).
- Anne Hathaway, Havoc, 2004. Variety’s Paris critic Lisa Nesselson suggested a better title would be: Slumming for Dummies. First Mandy Moore, then Kate won Alison… When director Barbara Kopple lost her final cut, Hathaway (and co-star Bijou Phillips) refused any promo work, so the movie landed in the video bin. Inevitably, Hathaway was told she’d never work in this town again. Hah! She co-hosted the 2011 Oscarnight and won a support Oscar for Les Miserables on February 24, 2013.
- Jessica Alba, Awake, 2006. Alba ably took over – again -as the lover of our heart-transplant hero, Hayden Christensen, when Kate flew off to Metropolis for Superman Returns to play Jerry Seinfeld’s favourite woman, Lois Lane,
- Katharine Heigl, Knocked Up, 2006.
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, Veronika Decides To Die, 2008. Change of the suicidal Veronika in UK director Emily Young’s version of Paulo Coelho’s novel.
- Christina Ricci, After.Life, 2009. The dead and alive Kate and Alfred Molina were switched to Christina and Liam Neeson. For what? “I’m a funeral director preparing a body, which happens to be Christina’s,” explained Neeson. “And she opens her eyes. I tell her: You’re dead. She says: I’m not dead. I say: You are dead! That’s it in a nutshell.”
- Kate Beckinsale, Total Recall, 2011. Bosworth, Diane Kruger, Eva Mendes (also up for Melina) were in the loop for Lori Quaid, the wife of our hero – Colin Farrell in an excellent 007-testing mode. Well, that is to say, she was the UFB undercover agent posing as his missus. Kate, of course, is he (real) wife of the re-make’s director, Len Wiseman. He failed in any retread’s #1 rule. Build a better movie.
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Rachel Weisz, The Bourne Legacy, 2011. Three was enough for Matt Damon. (Until 2015…!) The studio did not agree and kept the franchise alive by rebooting Jason Bourne as Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) – another victim of US secret service’s Program. Weisz won Dr Marta Shearing from a dozen other hopefuls: Eliza Dushku, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Milla Jovovich Kristin Kreuk, Diane Kruger, Jennifer Lawrence, Blake Lively, Michelle Monaghan, Elizabeth Olsen and three Kates: Beckinsale, Bosworth and Mara. Why? Because as Chicago critic Roger Ebert pointed out she spends more time on-screen than is usual for women in actioners, is not just around for sex and “her performance stands up strongly beside Renner’s.” Bravo!
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 11