-
Kate Hudson, Almost Famous, 2000. Looking for his Penny Lane groupie in his semi-autobiographical look back to his Rolling Stone reporter daze, auteur Cameron Crowe saw 48 of LA’s bright young things… Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, Lara Flynn Boyle, Neve Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Claire Danes, Cameron Diaz, Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Jenna Elfman, Jennie Garth, Maggie Gyllenhal, Alyson Hannigan, Angie Harmon, Anne Heche, Katherine Heigl, Jordan Ladd, Kimberly McCullough (busier as a TV director these days, High School Musical: The Musical – The Series, etc), Rose McGowan, Bridget Moynahan, Brittany Murphy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laura Prepon, Lindsay Price, Christina Ricci, Rebecca Romijn, Winona Ryder, Chloë Sevigny, Marley Shelton, Tori Spelling, Mena Suvari, Uma Thurman, Liv Tyler, Lark Voorhies. Plus the English Saffron Burrows, Anna Friel, Thandiwe Newton and Rachel Weisz, Madrid’s Penélope Cruz, the French Charlotte Gainsbourg, Canada’s Natasha Henstridge, Ukrainian Milla Jovovich, Scottish Kelly Macdonald, Israeli Natalie Portman, German Franka Potente, Australian Peta Wilson and Welsh Catherine Zeta-Jones. And the winner, Canada’s Sarah Polley, simply split. (Silly girl). Crowe then chose Kate (previously booked for Anita) because “she seemed more like a free spirit.” But, but, but… Chloë was the freest spirit in all Hollywood. As she proved two years later in The Brown Bunny… in a way the others would never have dared.
-
Alexandra Staden, My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure, 2003.
Closer to author Peter O’Donnell than Joseph Losey’s 1965 campy rubbish, this 18-day quickie was simply made to allow Miramax to retain the rights for an 007-ish series to star… Henstridge, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, Mira Sorvino, Catherine Zeta-Jones, or Quentin Tarantino’s very own Dietrich: Uma Thurman. Plus Russell Crowe as sidekick Willie Garvin. We all know how the brothers running Miramax named their next combine after themselves. Weinstein. So, like Sidney Gilliatt’s 60s’ British Lion version and the ABC plans for a 1982 series with Ann Turkel, Tarantino’s dream project never happened. He had trailed his interest by having John Travolta found reading a Modesty book on the john in Pulp Fiction. Maybe Harvey Weinstein’s alleged inappropriate touching of the director’s then-lover, Sorvino (among other allegations about the producer abusing Asia Argento, Salma Hayek, Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, etc) was why the big film version was never happened… although such stories had not stopped Tarantino making six features for Weinstein including Kill Bill and Django Unchained. He later moved far from the producer, admitting: “I knew enough to do more than I did…. I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard.” - Sienna Guillory, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, 2004. Natasha may not remember as it was called Resident Evil: Nemesis at the time – and re-titled after the flop of Star Trek: Nemesis, 2002.
- Eva Green, Casino Royale, 2006.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 4