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Brooke Shields, Pretty Baby, 1977. The plot sickens… A prostitute allows her 12-year-old daughter’s virginity to be auctioned off in a brothel in the red-light Storyville district of New Orleans, circa 1917. Elegant French director Louis Malle saw 29 hopefuls and/or instant (parental) refusals for pretty little Violet. From Laura Dern aged 10 and future Sex And The City co-stars Cynthia Nixon, at 11, Sarah Jessica Parker, 12 (like Shields) and (the often too buxom) teenagers Tilly, Melissa Sue Anderson, Rosanna Arquette, Linda Blair, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Mariel Hemingway, Helen Hunt, Anissa Jones (who tragically ODed at 18 before her audition), Diane Lane, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kristy McNichol, Tatum O’Neal (Dad said no), Dana Plato (Mom said no), Michelle Pfeiffer, Ally Sheedy, Charlene Tilton (pre-Dallas)… to seven twentysomethings. However, no make-up and soft lenses could make 12-year-olds out of Isabelle Adjani, Bo Derek, Carrie Fisher, Melanie Griffith, Amy Irving, Mary Steenburgen or Debra Winger.
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Phoebe Cates, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, 1981. Rosanna Arquette, Justine Bateman, Melanie Griffith, Tatum O’Neal and Ally Sheedy were also in the early mix for Linda Barrett in Cameron Crowe’s classic scenario.
- Elizabeth Burridge, Amadeus, 1983. Tore her Achilles tendon the day beforeshootingstarted, when playing soccer with some children in the street in Prague. Like her ankle, her role hadto bere-cast. Milos Formandid not forget her.
- Robin Wright (Penn), The Princess Bride, 1986. Director Rob Reiner thumbed through a veritable little black book of Hollywood’s newyoung hotties! Suzy Amis, Valerie Bertinelli, Yasmine Bleeth, Phoebe Cates, Courteney Cox, Kim Delaney, Rebecca de Mornay, Cathryn de Prume, Sherilyn Fenn, Jennifer Grey, Anne Heche, Marg Helgenberger, Lauren Holly, Patsy Kensit, Juliette Lewis, Carey Lowell, Kelly Lynch, Virginia Madsen, Mary Stuart Masterson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alexandra Paul, Amanda Pays, Meg Ryan, Mia Sara, Greta Scacchi, Annabella Sciorra, Kyra Sedgwick, Tori Spelling, Catherine Mary Stewart, Brenda Strong, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Uma Thurman, Charlene Tilton, Nancy Travis, Amy Yasbeck, Sean Young.
- Linda Fiorentino, The Moderns, 1987. Withdrew when Sam Shepard quit for the birth of his and Jessica Lange’s son: Walker Samuel Shepard.
- Uma Thurman,Dangerous Liaisons, 1988. Outstanding UK director Stephen Frears said no to her for Cecile.Milos Forman said yes and made her hisMadame de Tourvel in Valmont, 1988, his over-ornate version of the same Choderlos de Laclos novel.
- Geena Davis, Thelma & Louise, 1990.
- Uma Thurman, Pulp Fiction, 1993.
- Sandra Bullock, Speed, 1993. Although sharing the heroics and the driving of the bus-bomb with Keanu Reeves, most girls saw it as The Guy’s film. An amazing 36 refused to be Annie: Meg, Rosanna Arquette, Kim Basinger, Halle Berry, Glenn Close (!), Geena Davis, Cameron Diaz, Carrie Fisher, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah, Mariska Hargitay, Barbara Hershey, Anjelica Huston, Diane Lane, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kay Lenz, Alyssa Milano, Demi Moore, Tatum O’Neal, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Winona Ryder, Jane Seymour, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields, Meryl Streep (!), Emma Thompson (!), Marisa Tomei, Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver and Debra Winger.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 9