Taylor Swift looked back on her failed audition for Les Misérables while appearing on The Graham Norton Show. “Basically, I was up for two roles. I had the look of Cosette and the range, vocally, of Eponine. So it was established I was there for a good time but not for a long time—I wasn’t going to get the role,” she said, adding that she was asked to do a screen test with Eddie Redmayne anyway. “When I got there they put me in full 19th Century street urchin costume and told me they were going to paint my teeth brown and I was like, ‘You are going to do that after I meet Eddie Redmayne right?’ But no, they made me look like death and it became a nightmare. When I met Eddie I didn’t open my mouth to speak!”
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Hugh Jackman revealed he lost out on a role in Miss Congeniality while speaking with Variety. Of a reading opposite Sandra Bullock, he recalled thinking, “Holy s—! She’s amazing! And so quick and fast. I’m not even vaguely up to speed here.” He added, “I was pedaling as fast as I could, but I didn’t know the script well enough. I was impressed that she was in there. I didn’t expect her to be in there.” He lost the role to Benjamin Bratt, adding, “That’s humiliating, when your agent says, ‘I don’t want you to get this job, but just go get it.’ And then you don’t get it.”
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Dylan McDermott reveals he auditioned for the role of Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride, in an interview with Sirius XM McDermott admits, “I was up for the Mandy Patinkin role. It was very close. I was young… but that audition opened the doors to many other things. I think I got in the line of fire because of it, but suddenly just I was off of it, but I was, cause it was the same casting directors, uh, that opened a lot of doors, but I really loved that movie and I, I had this whole, full blown character ready to go, but Mandy was fantastic in it, but I think that that kind of sticks in me somewhere.”
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Zoey Deutch opens up about how she auditioned to play Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games franchise, in an episode of Lights Camera Barstool the actress revealed, “I screen-tested for Katniss, but knew I didn’t get it, because in the screen test, he was like, ‘Why don’t you read this other part?’ But, yeah, that one was a little painful.”
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Lena Dunham opens up about her failed audition for Riding In Cars With Boys, in an interview with SiriusXM she revealed, “The only thing I’ll say is I understand why I didn’t get the role because she asked all of the young actors to say our name, our height, where we were from and smile. And I said, ‘I’m Lena. I’m from New York. And I don’t smile on command.’ in which Penny Marshall responded, ‘It’s called acting, honey.'” Dunham continued, “The thing is, it’s like, she was right, like, would you hire an actor who was like, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t smile on command’?”
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Chace Crawford said he was “extremely devastated” after not getting role of Jason Street in ‘Friday Night Lights.’ Crawford stated that he and his then-roommate Taylor Kitsch both auditioned to be on the series — and while Taylor landed the role of Tim Riggins, Scott Porter wound up getting cast as Jason.
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Andrew Garfield told Variety he auditioned for the Prince Caspian role in the Chronicles of Narnia films and believes it came down to him and Ben Barnes, who landed the part. After asking his agent why he didn’t get it, she told him, “It’s because they don’t think you’re handsome enough, Andrew.” He added, “Ben Barnes is a very handsome, talented man. So in retrospect, I’m not unhappy with the decision and I think he did a beautiful job.”
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Gabrielle Union tells Corden about a failed audition for “The Matrix.” “Everyone and their mother was auditioning for ‘The Matrix’. I went to audition, to me, I needed to feel like the most powerful, beautiful and amazing woman in the world, so of course, I wanted to channel Janet Jackson,” she said. “I literally find the exact outfit from her album cover. I draw in the damn mole. I fully committed.” “I play Janet the whole time, waiting for the audition, in there early. No one’s going to stop me… in walks Janet Jackson,” she recalled, “I’m pretty sure there was a restraining order of sorts.”
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Matt Damon revealed he auditioned twice to play Robin on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. First, he audition to play Batman’s sidekick for the original 1989 Tim Burton film, but the role was ultimately cut from the script. He later auditioned for 1993’s “Batman Forever.” Chris O’Donnell already had the part, but they were haggling over money,” he exaplined. “The studio was flexing, basically, by flying in two other people to screen test. They wanted Chris, but they just wanted him for a price.” O’Donnell landed the role.
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Salma Hayek and Jada Pinkett Smith were both up for the role of Trinity in “The Matrix.” “We were one of the four finalists for ‘The Matrix,'” said Hayek on “Red Table Talk.” “We had jumped through many hurdles and screen testing and many auditions, and they brought these stunt coordinators from Asia, and it was the physical test.” “Now I’m flexible. I’m agile, but I’m lazy,” the she added. “I never really went to the gym and they said to me, ‘You have to run,’ I go, ‘To where?’ ‘Around, you have to run around…’ They never called me again after that day.” Carrie-Anne Moss ultimately got the part.
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During a recent episode of the “Welcome to the OC, Bitches!” podcast, casting director Patrick Rush revealed that Chris Pine was a finalist for the role of Ryan Atwood. “We saw Chris Pine, he was really really really good but – this is painful. At the time Chris Pine’s skin was really really bad and that broke my heart because I was a kid with acne. I remember thinking he was so good,” Rush admitted.
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“One Tree Hill’s” Hilarie Burton revealed that her now-husband auditioned for the show years before they met. On the “Drama Queens” podcast Burton said, ““When I met Jeff, he was like, ‘Oh, I auditioned for that show.’ I’m like, ‘Wait, what?’ My husband, Jeffrey, auditioned for [Craig] Sheffer‘s part.” “He was like, ‘Yeah, you know, I liked the whole gritty garage guy, that edgy thing,'” she recalled. “Had Jeff shown up in those tight jeans that Sheff was wearing, I would have definitely had kids earlier!”
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Nicholas Hoult recalls the time he auditioned for “The Chronicles of Narnia. “One of my all-time worst [auditions] was definitely Prince Caspian,” he told EW. “They asked if I could do a Hispanic accent. I was like, ‘What would I base that on?’ They were like, ‘Have you seen Shrek? Puss in Boots.’ I was doing the scene, but in my head before saying each line, I was trying to do my impression, saying [in a Desperado voice] ‘I am Prince Caspian!’ It was horrendous. It sounded more like Borat.”
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Henry Cavill talked about the time he lost the role of James Bond in “Casino Royale” to Daniel Craig. “I probably could have prepared better,” he told “Men’s Health.” “I remember the director, Martin Campbell, saying, ‘Looking a little chubby there, Henry,'” Cavill recalled. “I didn’t know how to train or diet. And I’m glad Martin said something, because I respond well to truth. It helps me get better.”
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Chris Evans recalls botching his audition for “Gone Baby Gone” after being starstruck by Ben Affleck. “I turned around and it was [Ben], and for some reason I instantly was nervous,” he told “Backstage,” “I went in and shook his hand, and the first thing I said was ‘Hey, how ya doing — am I gonna be okay where I parked?'” “From that moment, I just wanted to get the f— out of the room. I just wanted to be anywhere but there,” Evans continued. “It was horrible, a complete disaster. So obviously, I did not get that job.”
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