5 famous TV roles with unusual casting stories
Most people imagine that the casting process must be fairly straightforward – actors go into a room and read lines with producers. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes, roles are cast in strange ways that have more to do with chance, charisma, or little white lies.
1. Robin Williams – Happy Days and Mork and Mindy
Worldwide audiences were introduced to Robin Williams during his guest appearance on Happy Days. Producer Garry Marshall was reportedly won over by Williams’ commitment to the character for the entire time he was auditioning. Famously, when Williams was asked to take a seat, he performed a headstand on the chair. Marshall said, “he was the only alien to audition.” Williams was cast in the room, and his character earned his own spin-off show after appearing in only one episode of Happy Days.
2. Frank Silva – Twin Peaks
Originally a set dresser on one of television’s most talked about shows, Frank Silva landed his big break thanks to David Lynch’s sense of humour, mostly. Lynch decided he wanted to shoot a reaction shot of Silva crouching at the end of a character’s bed – just for laughs, never intending to use the footage. During editing, Lynch noticed that Silva was visible in a mirror while a character was screaming in horror at something off-screen. Instead of reshooting the scene, Lynch decided to cut in the shot of Silva, and promoted him from set dresser to one of the show’s antagonists.
3. Hugh Laurie – House
Despite the show being an appropriation of the Sherlock Holmes character, producer and director Bryan Singer was insistent that Dr Gregory House be played by an American. After seeing many audition tapes from British actors, Singer was captivated by Hugh Laurie’s tape, in which he affected a convincing American accent. Singer reportedly moved very close to the television screen, excited by Laurie’s work, and said, “this is what I want – an American guy.”
4. Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
If you’ve often thought that Walter White looked kind of familiar, you may remember seeing him in the early 00s hit Malcolm in the Middle. Bryan Cranston played the goofy, loveable Wilkerson Patriarch, and was often seen in his white y-fronts. Breaking Bad’s creator, Vince Gilligan was keen to cast Cranston as the chemistry teacher who would become a drug dealer, but executives at network AMC weren’t convinced. To help show them Cranston’s potential, Gilligan showed them an episode of The X-Files he had directed Cranston in, in which the thespian played an anti-Semite whose head exploded. With the execs convinced that Cranston could play loveable but despicable at the same time, the show had its lead.
5. Mila Kunis – That ‘70s Show
Producers of That ‘70s Show were committed to only auditioning actors aged 18 or older for the role of Jackie. When Mila Kunis managed to land an audition, she was only 14 years old. In the room, producers asked her how old she was, and the cunning teen replied that she’d be 18 on her birthday – without clarifying that the birthday in question was about 4 years away. By the time her real age was discovered, Kunis was already the favourite for the role.
What’s the strangest story you’ve heard about landing a job? Share it with us in the comments below!