- Jenna Fischer, The Office, TV, 2005-2013. Confessions, confessions. Allison Jones, #1 casting director of comedies (by Judd Apatow, Paul Feig, etc) told The New Yorker in 2015 how she (a) passed on Ryan Gosling for a pilot and (b) chose not to bring Wiig back for a second reading for NBC’s version of Ricky Gervais’ mockumentary classic, The Office. Also in the Pam frame: Ever Carradine, Anne Dudek, Kathryn Hahn, Angela Kinsey and 24’s Mary Lynn Rajskub. Fischer survived all 187 episodes.
- Elizabeth Banks, Pitch Perfect, 2011. Saturday Night Live makes you famous – and keeps you so busy you have no time for every film offered. Ay, there’s the rub! Banks savewd the capella singing contest movie. Hey, that was her job – she ] was the only one of the eight producer who could act.
- Elizabeth Banks, What To Expect When You’re Expecting, 2011. “Push! Push!” Banks rescues another Wiig role – one of five pregnant women based on the pregnancy guidebook selling beyond 15m copies. Others up the duff: Brooklyn Decker, Cameron Diaz Anna Kendrick, Jennifer Lopez.
- Leslie Mann, The Comedian, 2016. Change of partner for Robert De Niro’s toxic, Don Rickles-esque insult comic. Wiig was booked as Harmony when Sean Penn was to direct. By the time Taylor Hackford took over, Aniston was also gone – putting Mann in the hot seat.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4