Stars Publicly Campaigning for a Role

[sojourner]

I was thinking. (yeah, make your jokes now) Are there any good examples of stars campaigning to get specific parts that ever turned out well? The earliest and most embarrassing example I can think of is Sean Young trying to get the part of Catwoman back during the Tim Burton films. She actually went on talk shows in costume in her pursuit of the part. It didn't work and I think it might have actually hurt her career.

 

[auntiehill]

I don't think it MIGHT have hurt her career; it DEFINITELY hurt her career. Don't forget that she also went to the lot, without permission, and approached Keaton--while dressed as Catwoman (before being thrown off the lot by security)--and also got arrested for crashing an Oscar party without an invitation.

This all happened before she went into rehab.......so, yeah, there's that. She had some real alcohol and drug problems; that's what impaired her judgement and therefore, her career and life in general.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Samuel L. Jackson put out that he wanted to be in Star Wars when Lucas made the prequels. I remember him joking he'd be Luke Skywalker's slave if need be. And of course famously requested a purple lightsaber once he was cast.

 

[sojourner]

Yeah, lots of stars have asked for "a part in the movie". It's when they campaign for a particular character that it seems to go pear shaped.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Zach Quinto actively sought out the part of nuSpock in the Abrams films. He fought HARD to get that role.

Oh, and Sean Young would have made an awesome Catwoman.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

And Burton's Catwoman wasn't exactly right in the head so maybe she would've been alright.

 

[Aragorn]

Sean Young was Vicki Vale in Batman until she had a horse riding accident. Then when Annette Bening had to pull out of Batman Returns, that's when Young went full steam ahead. It was a domino effect for her.

Tyrese Gibson has been lobbying for Green Lantern. We'll see how that one turns out.

 

[Starkers]

It's a bit like dating. You might like to go out with that girl/boy but the moment you seem too eager is the moment they decide they'd rather date someone else...

I think a lot of actors probably put behind the scenes feelers out/express an interest (is that how Whoopi Goldberg ended up on TNG?)

 

[urbandefault]

I remember in 1975 George Takei asking fans at a con to lobby the producers of a movie to cast him as a particular character. I can't remember if the movie was ever made, but at the time I thought it was a bit tacky.

Maybe that's just show biz.

 

[WiredPlanet]

Sean Young: Still Crazy After All These Years?
http://www.ibtimes.com/sean-young-still-crazy-after-all-these-years-418210
According to court documents obtained by People magazine, Woods and his then fiancee, Sarah Owen, filed a $6 million harassment suit, accusing Young of leaving a decapitated, iodine-doused doll on his doorstep, and of mailing photographs and graphic representations of violent acts, deceased persons, dead animals, gore, mutilation and other images specifically designed to cause Woods and Owen ... great emotional distress. The People article quotes witnesses who claimed Young and Woods definitely had an affair, and that he broke it off because of Owen (who he later married and divorced).''It is so retardedly stupid that anyone could have believed it,'' Young insisted in 2007. According to EW, the lawsuit was for only $2 million, and it was settled out of court in 1989.'It boils down to two people plotting to set me up and make me look like I was a crazy person, partially because of their own mental illness, partially because of revenge, Young said in the 1992 EW profile.''I love and admire Sean and she's actually half-right, Woods told EW at the time.

But it was a different story in 2007. Approached for comment in the follow-up story, Woods sent angry emails to EW, accusing Young of striking a ''jihad of terror'' against him and his fiancée, and that the lawsuit was ''was certainly not about spurned advances, as they were most assuredly not spurned. EW excerpted some of the emails against the wishes of Woods' lawyer, who insisted that EW publish only a bland, brief statement about the scandal.