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Nikki Reed, Catch 44, 2005. Kate (and Lizzy Caplan) quit being among three women sent to crack a drug deal. Nikki took over – for the money, perhaps, certaintly not for the script. This was far from being twice as good as Catch 22. The wannabe Tarantino thriller just wasn’t… as underlined by a bored Bruce Willis and its release… in 2011.
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Christina Ricci, Speed Racer, 2007. Also on the grid for the racing hero’s gal, Trixie – complete with pink helicopter … shades of Lady Penelope… or Reese Witherspoon – were Elisha Cuthbert, Rose McGowan, Kate Mara. Speed, himself, kept changing from Johnny Depp and Zac Efron to Shia Labeouf and Joseph Gordon-Levitt… and, finally, Emile Hirsch, a long time fan of the 1967-1968 Japanese anime series series.
- Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises, 2011.
- Amy Adams, Man of Steel, 2011.
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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!
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Scarlett Johansson, Hitchcock, 2012. Thirty-two years after his death, Alfred Hitchcock’s back in business! With two films headlined by UK actors (Anthony Hopkins, Toby Jones) in bad impressions and fat suits. This is the first before the cameras – Hopkins making Psycho. And telling Scarlett’s Janet Leigh: “You can call me Hitch. Hold the cock.” As Janet Leigh was just two years older than the dowdier Vera Miles (played by Jessica Biel), most actresses were up for either role…
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Jessic Biel, Hitchcock, 2012. …the candidates included Dianna Agron, Camilla Belle, Abbie Cornish, Emilie de Ravin, Natalie Dormer, Sarah Gadon, Ashley Greene, Kate Mara, Brit Marling, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chloe Sevigny, Mary Elizabeth Winstead., Reese Witherspoon, Evan Rachel Wood… plus Jessica Biel (chosen for Vera Miles) and January Jones, who was also up for the role of Tippi Hedren in the Hitch-making-The Birds TV drama, The Girl, seen first in October 2012. (Timothy Spall was booked as her Hitchcock, finally portrayed by Toby Jones opposite Sienna Miller).
- Olga Kurylenko, Oblivion, 2012. Jessica Chastain (the new Meryl Streep) was #1 target for almost every Hollywood feature. That was the problem. Too many schedules not gelling. She quit and Olga, who had tested before her, took over. (Also losing Julia – and working with Tom Cruise – wereBrit Marling, Noomi Rapace. Olivia Wilde, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
- Mireille Enos, Sabotage, 2013. Mara and Isla Fisher were beaten by Malin Akerman who then she fell pregnant and Enos, The Killing TV find, took over as Lucy, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s DEA unit (young Expendables) in the ex-California Governor’s weak comeback.
- Abbie Cornish, RoboCop, 2013. Jessica Alba, Keri Russell also auditioned and Rebecca Hall passed on being the Mrs Robo-reboot who, as Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers put it, intuits that her husband’s heart is still in the right place.
- Sienna Miller, American Sniper, 2014. For what proved his biggest box-office success (at 84!), director Clint Eastwood looked at Mara, Jamie Alexander and Evangeline Lilly for Tara, the wife of his real-life Navy Seal hero Chris Kyle, before settling on Miller. Tara felt Sandra Bullock would be better than a Brit, before getting to know Miller in numerous Skype calls. Mara preferred joining the 2014 reboot of (gulp!) Fantastic Four.
- Haley Bennett, The Girl on the Train, 2015. Mara (and her sister Rooney), Haley Bennett and Margot Robbie were also in the frame for Megan. All lucky to miss the messy Hitchcock wannabe – never came close.
- Felicity Jones, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 2015.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 13