(Graham Norton Show)
Meryl Streep didn’t always get the roles she was up for. She says she was once called “ugly” by legendary movie producer Dino De Laurentiis when he was casting the 1976 film King Kong. The legendary actress, who has gone on to be nominated for 18 Academy Awards (the most ever of any actor), told the story while appearing on Friday’s “The Graham Norton Show” (video below).
Norton began the segment saying that “young actors should take solace” because “not all the auditions went that brilliantly” for Streep. She then recalled how De Laurentiis’ son “had seen me in a play” and had her audition for the famed movie producer. But right as she was about to begin, De Laurentiis said to his son in Italian, “Why do you bring me this ugly thing.” To the producer’s surprise, Streep not only understood Italian, but also spoke it, and told him, “I’m sorry I’m not beautiful enough to be in… King Kong.” The female lead, for the record, went to Jessica Lange.
But Streep wasn’t the only star to talk about a horrible audition on “The Graham Norton Show.” James McAvoy, who was also a guest, spoke about an audition that required him to sing and play guitar. The day of the audition came and he admitted, “I had to get out of it” because he could neither sing nor play guitar. McAvoy told Norton he made himself cry in front of the casting director and then concocted a story about how “my mate has been knocked down and is in the hospital” before hauling out of the audition. Check out the video below of Streep and McAvoy’s bad audition stories, and tell us what you think.
Meryl Streep Audition Story
James McAvoy Audition Story
