- Paul McGann, Doctor Who (The Movie), TV, 1996.
- John Goodman, The Borrowers, 1996. The delicious villain, Ocious P Potter, was not in the 1952 Marty Norton book that Peter Sellers tried to film in 1964. So he would have been Pod, the four-inch-high patriarch of the tiny Clock family living beneath the floorboards of a house owned by ”human beans”. Three versions had already been hits when this Anglo–American version was launched. The battle for Ocious was, therefore, UK v US… Martin Clunes, Bob Hoskins, Griff Rhys Jones, Alan Rickman v Tim Allen, Chevy Chase, Danny DeVito, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Ed O’Neill, Robin Williams. The fact that Pesci was also suggested signaled a ton of Home Alone physical attacks on poor Goodman, which out off both Steven Spielberg and his apprentice, Robert Zemeckis, from directing. They weren’t required! Nor were Rowan Atkinson and comic-turned-director Mel Smith – off busily making their own Bean movie for the same UK/US companies.
- Chris Rea, Parting Shots, 1998. Director Michael Winner’s final film – sure looks like it! Duff comedy of a guy dying of cancer knocking off people who have pissed him off. Ho! Ho! He was going to be Clunes or Neil Morrissey (TV’s Men Behaving Badly stars) until Winner fell for rock singer-songwriter Rea. Said Empire magazine: “So bad, in fact, that if you tried to bury it in landfill the other rubbish would climb out.”
- Chris Barrie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, 2001. The shooting schedule clashed with the Clunes code: Never work only wedding anniversary. So, Lara’s butler went from one UK TV star to another.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4