- Karen Allen, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1980.
- Daryl Hannah, Blade Runner, 1981. She lost Raiders with Harrison Ford. Now she lost joining his Deckard into glory. Director Ridley Scott thought Ford was nervous about working with a newcomer (or was it Scott?) and mentioned a few other actressdes. “They’re rather old,“ said Ford. Enter: Hannah, 21, blonde, gorgeous, actress and… gymnast. In short: Pris perfect.
- Robin Wright (Penn), The Princess Bride, 1986. Apart from the busy Young, director Rob Reiner thumbed through a veritable little black book of Hollywood’s newyoung hotties! Director Rob Reiner saw many actresses – a veritable little black book of Hollywood! 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, Meg Tilly, Charlene Tilton, Nancy Travis, Amy Yasbeck.
- Roxanne Hart, HIghlander, 1985. Some 16 guys were up for Christophe(r) Lambert’s immortal clansman, Connor McLeod. But as many as 24 women for Brenda Wyatt, the modern-day forensics cop bedded by him. Brooke Adams… who must have felt she had as great chance, having already successfully partnered Connery in The Great Train Robbery, 1978, and Cuba, 1979. Her rivals were Karen Allen, Rosanna Arquette, Jennifer Beals, Lorraine Bracco, Elisabeth Brooks, Kate Capshaw, Glenn Close, Lisa Eilbacher, Linda Fiorentino, Kim Greist (Terry Gilliam’s huge Brazil error), Linda Hamilton, Diane Lane, Carolyn McCormick, Demi Moore, Annette O’Toole, Elizabeth Perkins, Tanya Roberts (booked for 007’s View to a Kill), Annabella Sciorra, Diane Venora, Sela Ward, Sigourney Weaver and (phew!) Sean Young. Broadway’s rank outsider won!
- Meg Ryan, Innerspace, 1986. The very title comes from dialogue in the film that inspired this spoof: Fantastic Voyage, 1965. Hero Dennis Quaid is miniaturised into a capsule and injected into Martin Short’s butt. (Never that funny). For the secondary rôle of Quaid‘s girl, 22 actresses were seen, auditioned and/or tested: Karen Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Beverly d’Angelo, Jodie Foster, Linda Hamilton, Anjelica Huston, Amy Irving (being wed to exec producer Steven Spielberg didn’t help!), Amy Madigan, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald Julia Roberts, Rene Russo, Ally Sheedy, Elisabeth Shue, Madeleine Stowe, Sigourney Weaver, Claudia Wells, Sean Young. And, of course, Meg – and Quaid married her during 1991-2001.
- Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction, 1986.
- Kim Basinger, Batman, 1988.
- Glenne Headley, Dick Tracy, 1989. Due to her much headlined, amour you harassment of previous co-star James Woods, Warren Beatty called up her Cousins director Joel Schumacher to check on her. “I said: She’s great. He said:But why is everybody telling me she’s crazy?” After less than a week’s shooting as Tess Truehart, Beatty let her go. She says she quit: “I felt very flat in the envronment, very stylised, very perfect. Put me in a perfect situation and I can look like Barbie doll. I suggested Glenn – she’ll be more balanced with him, there won’t be such a separation of age, it’ll look more realistic.” Owch! More courteous, Beatty made it clear: “I made a mistake casting her in the part, and I felt very badly about it… This is not something that should reflect badly on her.” After all that politesse, Young publicly accused Beatty of firing her because she “wouldn’t sleep with him.”
- Caroline Aaron, Crimes and Misdemeanors, 1989. “She is a genuinely eccentric artist, as most artists are,” said ex-lover James Woods in 1994. “I actually find her eccentricity very charming; most people who get to know her do as well.”
- Judith Hoag, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1989. And after Batman, Dick Tracy and Woody offers… how about the first live-action Turtle trot!! Steve Baron, the innovative director of music videos saw many a potential April O’Neill: Young, Jennifer Beals, Lorraine Bracco, Sandra Bullock, Melanie Griffith, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Kidman, Marisa Tomei. TMNT legend states the winning Hoag lost the sequels because she had complained so much the violence – and the six-day shooting schedule.
- Greta Scacchi, Shattered, 1991. German director Wolfgang Petersen’s US debut went through many changes… none of which saved the film. “She’s a good actress,” added James Woods, “and I really genuinely wish her nothing but good luck.“
- Geena Davis, A League of Their Own, 1991.
“There’s no crying in baseball…” Long-time ball fan, director Penny Marshall had never heard of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-1954) until seeing a 1987 PBS documentary. She swiftly contacted the makers to join her Hollywood writers to use their title for a fictional comedy-drama version. Penny staged baseball tests for about 2,000 actresses: If you can’t play ball, you can’t play the Rockford Peaches! Geena Davis, Rosie O’Donnell, Lori Petty were best; those turned down included Farrah Fawcett, Lori Singer, Marisa Tomei and Maria Maples (before becoming the second Mrs Donald Trump). Jim Belushi and Laura Dern were set to star in 1990 when Fox suddenly pulled the plug; Tom Hanks and Geena took over at Columbia. Also on the plate for the star player Dottie Hinson were Sean, Sally Field, Nicole Kidman, Kelly McGillis, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields and Debra Winger. - Nathaniel Parker, Hamlet, 1991. She applied to Italian director Franco Zeffirelli to audition as… Laertes. “As easily as I can be a real female character, I can quite easily become a male. There’s something kind of androgynous about me – once you get past the layers in me.” She chose the wrong director to strip ’em off! In the mid-90s, she was a man surgically altered into a woman (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) and a female alter ego of a man (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde).
- Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns, 1991.
- Holly Hunter, The Piano, Australia-France-New Zealand, 1992. Kiwi director Jane Campion shuffled several actresses for her Ada: Young, Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Angelica Huston, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Madeleine Stowe, Sigourney Weaver and Sean Young. “Americans are more pugnacious about auditioning,” said Huppert. “I regret not fighting more for the part.” (She simply posed for some period pix and said Campion should look at her films!). Holly was able to perform most of the piano sequences, herself – earning the Oscar and Cannes Festival best actress double whammy. And ten years later, Huppert was… La Pianiste!
- Gina Gershon, Showgirls, 1994. Writer Joe Eszterhas interviewed 50-plus strippers and, aided by Hawaiian weed, came up with All About Eve in Vegas. Unable to land his dream mix of Madonna and Drew Barrymore as the 90s’ Bette Davis and Anne Baxter,the Dutch director decided to create his own star in Elizabeth Berkley. And failed – ruining poor Elizabeth Berkley’s career. (No A-List film since 2001). Also in the mix for top strip star Cristal Connors were Daryl Hannah, Finola Hughes, Sharon Stone, Sean Young and in “my worst ever audition,” Jennifer Lopez. Gershon refused to reprise Sharon Stone’s leg-crossing from the previous Verhoven-Eszterhas titillation, Basic Instinct- for which Hannah had been seen.
- Sharon Stone, Casino, 1994. Back on the A List after Ace Ventura, she was considered by New York director Martin Scorsese – but pregnant with her first son, Rio Lujan.
- Tatum O’Neal, Wicked Wicked Games, TV, 2006-2007. For a scorned woman taking revenge on a man who dropped her… Sound familiar? She signed on and then clashed with the TV series producers (at Gone Fission, no less). Of course, she did. After all, she knew that role better than anyone.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 18