- Nia Long, Made in America, 1992. London’s Newton was cast as Whoopi Goldberg’s daughter, Zora, but said Nia Long would be far batter and pushed hard to make it so. Not a story you hear every day from Tinseltown.
- Asia Argento, B Monkey, 1997. When his choice of Sophie Okenedo was overruled, Scottish director Michael Caton-Jones quit and Michael Radford (Il postino) rescued… no, took over the project.
- Lucy Liu, Charlie’s Angels, 2000. Delayed on the similar Mission: Impossible II. “No regrets. It just wasn’t right. My husband missed me and we’d been talking a lot about trying for a family. A film shouldn’t stand in the way of something which will be a life-changing event for us.” Their 2000 daughter is called Ripley after Alien‘s heroine.
- 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.
- Eva Green, Casino Royale, 2006.
- Zoe Saldana, Guards of the Galaxy, 2013. The most Lucasian of the Marvel films… Once Olivia Wilde passed, Newton, Gina Carano, Rachel Nichols and ex-Wonder Woman Adrianne Palicki, auditioned for Gamora. “I know who you are, Peter Quill, and I am not some starry-eyed waif here to succumb to your… your pelvic sorcery!” None could compete with Ms Avatar!
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Salma Hayek, Magic Mike’s Last Stand, 2022. Did Thandiwe quit after eleven days – “to deal with family matters,” said the production – or was she pushed? Page Six said she’d been fired following a huge fight with co-star and co-producer Channing Tatum (male stripper Magic Mike, himself) over the 2022 Oscarnight incident of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, Not so, director Steven Soderbergh told Rolling Stone. “Nothing I ever saw was accurate and there’s really no upside for anybody involved in litigating this or excavating it, because I consider it private. {That) means all of us can control it and I think that’s where it should sit for the time being.”
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 7