Whoever aspires to be an actor or actress wishes to be part of Hollywood. Everyone wants a chance to showcase their talent on the big screen. But with the industry so saturated, the penetration process is not easy at all. It may take an actor/actress over a hundred auditions and years of patience and commitment to actually land a role in Hollywood. This is very true but there have been some anomalies in this process. Anomalies in terms of one of the most famous actors and actresses having to do very little to be cast in the blockbuster projects of Hollywood.
Call it luck or whatever you want, it’s not like these celebrities didn’t know how to act because Harisson Ford is also part of this list.
Scroll down below to go through what these actors and actresses had to do to get their iconic roles.
1. Charlize Theron’s argument with a bank clerk after being refused to pay her cheque. John Crosby, an agent, found this argument really attractive and soon became her manager. She then got a part in the movie Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest and proceeded to win an Oscar Award for her great acting.
2. Knowing Khal Drogo doesn’t speak much, all Jason Momoa had to do to win the role of this character in the infamous show Game of Thrones, was perform The Haka, a traditional dance associated with the Māori culture.
3. The only reason why Johnny Depp got the role in the movie Nightmare on Elm Street was that the director Wes Craven’s daughter thought he was suitable and beautiful for the role. The director actually thought he was too pale and greasy for the role but he had to submit to his daughter’s order.
4. After working in the movie American Graffiti, Harrison Ford continued his full-time job as a carpenter to support his family. One time he got hired to build doors for the officers where the casting of Star Wars was happening. Harrison met George Lucas there and the rest is history. His legacy became that of Han Solo.
5. Samuel L. Jackson knew he was close to losing a role so he went to audition for another role where he got wrongly addressed as Laurence Fishburne. This enhanced his anger and it worked perfectly in his audition. He got the role of Jules Winnfield that day.
6. Tom Hardy arrived in the USA to audition for his role in the movie Warrior. For some reason, instead of staying at the hotel, he decided to show up at the director’s house in the middle of the night. He stayed there for 5 days, the two gelled perfectly and Tom got the role.
7. In order to get a break in Hollywood, Sylvester Stallone made a script of his own, and convinced producers to invest. He played the lead role as Rocky in the first Rocky movie. The rest is history.
8. After Tim Roth refused to read the part of Mr. Orange, Quentin Tarantino decided to take him to a pub where the two got super drunk. This resulted in Tim Roth reading the script 10 times over. And that’s how he got the role.
I am sure all these actors who got these amazing roles were extremely passionate to get them or at least nail a significant role in Hollywood. Yes, some may call it luck but I would link these hirings to the passion of the actors and actresses who performed the roles they got selected for. And that’s because they absolutely nailed those characters, the story didn’t stop at the hiring process.
They honored the trust of their moviemakers in them and created history.
9. Nick Cassavetes, director of the movie The Notebook hired Ryan Gosling, not because of his infamous good looks, but because he looked average and not cool.
10. The producer of the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marti Noxon wanted to cast an actor who was extremely handsome. During those days, David Boreanaz was seen walking his dog by a friend of Noxon’s. He was called to audition the very next day and easily secured the role thanks to his good looks.
11. Wayne Knight had to do the bare minimum to get his role in the movie Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg only asked him to imagine he was standing next to a dinosaur and react to it. His nervous looks as he nailed that scene were enough to get him the role. He skipped the whole audition process.
14. Rory McCann knew in order to get The Hound’s role in the world-famous show Game of Thrones, he had to go crazy in his audition. He did just that and got the part.
15. When Harvey Stephens’ turn came to audition for the role of Damien’s character in the movie The Omen, he was asked to attack the director. He took the call very seriously and ended up kicking him in the balls. That was enough for director Richard Donner to cast Harvey.
17. Kit Harington got the role of Jon Snow after erupting in a fight at a McDonald’s. He got a black eye in the process and according to him, it helped him on the audition day to get the role.
“Adopted this Siamese girl one month ago, making me her 4th owner. she was returned twice due to her aggression…Turns out it was just play aggression that was misdirected. All she wants to do is chase feather toys and be pet.”
