What’s up y’all, it’s Emile Ennis Jr. with Clevver News, and while we typically
identify an actor based on the iconic TV and movie roles they played, in some cases, said
actor never even intended to play the character we’ve gotten to know them for.
Let’s break this all down.
We’ve all heard the saying, “Everything happens for a reason,” but sometimes that
reason has yet to be seen until looking back months (or sometimes years) down the line
and realizing everything really WAS meant to pan out the way it did.
The same goes for hundreds of Hollywood actors who prepare for a certain role, only to be
handed the dreaded news that said role would be going to someone else.
Case in point, Millie Bobby Brown received her fair share of ‘no’s’ in the industry
before landing her breakout role as Eleven on Netflix’ sci-fi thriller Stranger Things.
Last month, she opened up to Jimmy Fallon about being rejected many times before actually
getting a ‘yes,’ saying, “This industry is just full of rejection, 24/7.
You get far more nos – a lot of nos – before you get a yes.
I was auditioning for commercials, for anything really.”
She then admitted that it was her rejection for the part of Lyanna Mormont in Game of
Thrones that caused her to almost quit acting altogether.
“I then auditioned for Game of Thrones and I got a ‘no’ for that.
And then that’s kind of when I was like, ‘Oh, this is really difficult.’
And I guess I really wanted that role.”
Millie recalled one of her last attempts at auditioning was for a show called “Montauk,”
to which she got the part for the show that would later be renamed to “Stranger Things.”
Funny how things work out, huh?
Life also worked in mysterious ways for Madelaine Petsch, who is best known for her role as
Cheryl Blossom in CW’s Riverdale.
But before being cast as queen of the sass, Madelaine had her eyes set on the role Betty
Cooper, now played by Lili Reinhart.
Shocking right?!
During a Q&A on Madeleine's personal YouTube channel, she told viewers that with the intention
of auditioning for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, she then got called in on the same day for
an audition to play Betty.
“But from there, I came in three days later for producers for Betty, but I’m pretty
sure they always knew they wanted me for Cheryl.
Then four months later, I came in for Cheryl.”
Ironically enough, Madeleine's casting couldn’t have been more opposite of the person she
is IRL, as she opened up to Stylecaster about how SHE was the one bullied in school.
Life works in mysterious ways, y’all!
Here’s another kicker -- back in 2017, just ahead of The CW’s Gossip Girl’s 10th anniversary,
show creator Josh Schwartz dished to Vulture that another A-lister had her heart set on
playing Upper East Sider’s “IT girl” Serena van der Woodsen before Blake Lively
ultimately snagged the role.
Jennifer Lawrence auditioned for the role of Serena, as Schwartz revealed QUOTE, “We
did not realize this at the time, but Jennifer Lawrence really wanted to play Serena and
auditioned.
This story came to us secondhand, but we were told she definitely auditioned and was bummed
to not get it.”
Around the time of the reunion, Schwartz also opened up to Vanity Fair about the role of
Serena, saying that the show’s creators “didn’t see a lot of other girls for Serena,”
but that they were looking for “somebody that you believe would be sitting in the front
row at Fashion Week eventually.”
Whether you could’ve seen J-Law in the front row of New York’s biggest fashion event
of the year, Blake’s portrayal of Serena will always be iconic in and of itself.
Besides, Jen went on to make a name for herself in MANY other iconic roles, including Katniss
Everdeen in the Hunger Games series.
Speaking of Hunger Games, before auditioning for Gale, Liam Hemsworth had his sights set
on tackling the role of Katniss’ right-hand-man, Peeta Mellark.
He caught up with MTV during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, saying that, before casting,
he had already read the script, which stood out as “definitely something different.”
Liam even screen-tested alongside Jen as Peeta while she was running lines for Katniss, but
eventually landed on the role of her childhood best friend-turned-first-lover.
Another one of our favorite leading ladies auditioned for a role in Nickelodeon’s popular
teen sketch comedy “All That”, but based on Emma Stone’s wide range of roles through
the years, this rejection is actually pretty shocking.
Back in 2016, Emma opened up about her audition to Jimmy Fallon, recalling QUOTE, “I went
to an open call.
We drove out from Arizona and I auditioned for ‘All That’ when I was 12 years old.”
The audition already began to take a turn for the worst when she said, “I didn't know
that you had to have characters.
I thought they were going to give us sketches, and then five minutes before I went in the
room they said, ‘You need to have three characters when you come in the room.’”
Emma made up some pretty good characters on the spot, and honestly, it makes for a pretty
good story…
“I remember that one was a cheerleader who couldn’t spell what she was cheering.
So it was like, ‘Be aggressive!
B-E…
A-R!’
And then there was another one that was actually pretty nuts, that was a babysitter who is
possessed.”
After hearing this, how Emma DIDN’T get a role in “All That” is seriously beyond
me…
And finally, we have Tom Felton, who played Slytherin’s resident bully Draco Malfoy
in the Harry Potter series, BUT was initially up for the role of Harry Potter himself, and
shockingly enough, also Ron Weasley.
Tom admitted to MTV back around the time the series’ final film, Deathly Hallows Pt.
2 was released, that he’s “grateful” he wasn’t cast as any other character, and
that he would’ve been a “very different individual” had he been cast as Harry or
Ron.
He said QUOTE, “I'm very grateful I am in the film at all, but even more grateful that
I got the character of Draco.
I think Rupert and Dan, there's no question in my mind, there's no one else in the world
that, A) could have played the character better, but B) could have handled the behind-the-scenes
pressure those guys have dealt with over the last decade.”
And instead of any jealousy or animosity between the main characters on set, Tom went on to
explain that they’ve essentially become more like a family than anything.
He even revealed that it was Daniel Radcliffe who brought the group closer together, adding
tha he, “was always the most excited, the most eager, he had the most fun on set, and
through that, I think everyone just kind of latched on to him and sort of followed his
lead.
So he’s definitely been like the godfather over the years, and he's definitely been the
one that's been the most inspirational, for sure.”
Well guys, that seems like the perfect note to leave off on, and as I previously stated,
everything really does fall into place exactly how it was meant to as each of these actors
and their respective roles will forever go down in Hollywood history!
For more Hollywood movie news, click right over here to watch another Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know which of these failed celeb auditions surprised you the most
down here in the comments, and if said celeb would’ve been perfectly suited for their
desired role.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys.