Today's Blind Items - Casting Couch Marriage
Usually casting couch sex is just sex for a role or some kind of help. This one time though, a marriage came out of a casting couch situation because the pair were bonded by what happened after. The actress at the time was B list and actually approaching A list but still needed to audition for this role that she really wanted. The director made it clear what he wanted and the pair hooked up and he offered her the part. Then someone else got involved and our casting couch actress lost the part through no fault of the director. He was fully on board. The producer of the movie wanted someone else in the role and told the studio he would back out unless his actress got the role. The director and the producer argued and the producer won. It turns out that the producer realized during the filming that the A list actress he had chosen was not the right decision. She was being the worst diva ever and acting as if she had been an A lister for 25 years when she had not even been alive that long. The director would confide all this to his casting couch companion and promised her that he would get her the lead in his very next movie. She didn't get the lead, but she did get a really good role in the next movie. Meanwhile the A list diva never got another good role and is now a C+ on a good day who mainly does television.
....I just heard my brain pack its bags in a bid to leave.....
ReplyDeleteAlicia Silverstone as the c+ actress??
ReplyDeleteFrom Alicia's IMDB bio:
DeleteWas turned down for the lead in "My Father the Hero". They said she was too heavy for the part. The role went to Katherine Heigl.
and Catherine Keener. Director Joel Schumaker. Catherines small role in 8MM
ReplyDeleteJudd Apatow/Leslie Mann
ReplyDeleteI think Alicia Silverstone was always well liked and down to earth. I don't remember her ever being thought of as a raging diva.
ReplyDeleteThere was a story about her and another actor,his name escapes me but Alicia is a big animal rights activist and will preach to anyone even if they didn't want to hear it...just like those folks from the Watchtower.You could be eating dinner with Alicia,if she saw you eating meat,she'll voice her opinion about it,giving you facts and stats about animals being killed and rat feces being dumped in the sausage factory,just a bible thumping heffa except she's PETA,right.Anyway,this actor,Jason something,was working with her on a movie,got tired of her ranting and jumped her shit about it.He commented on the incident in an magazine article.Thought the boy deserved a medal for that one.
Deleteisnt kate beckinsale married to a director?
ReplyDeleteSo we have an almost a actress, a director, a producer, and a c+ diva. so am i to understand the marriage consists of the director and his couch buddy who got a decent role later?
ReplyDeleteClueless was directed by a woman
ReplyDeleteJoel Shumacker is gay.
ReplyDeleteSchumacher is gay.
ReplyDeleteHmmm the person who got the role was under 25 years of age, so this is a young woman.
ReplyDeleteI like the Judd Apatow/Leslie Mann guess.
ReplyDeleteJudd Apatow doesn't strike me as having the self esteem to demand sex for a role. And he and Leslie Mann were married in 1997, long before he started his run of hits in 2005 with The 40 Year Old Virgin.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Leslie Mann was ever approaching A list, not even now.
ReplyDeleteHmm. The wording is curious. The actress was B list and approaching A, but it deosn't say what she is now. It also doesn't say that the marriage is current.
ReplyDeletewhat about tim burton & helena bonham carter?
ReplyDeleteWhat about Linda Hamilton & James Cameron with the first role she lost being The Abyss - Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio for the C+ TV actress?
ReplyDeleteI got the impression the movie she did get cast in was his next, which would be Terminator 2.
LH had already been in the first Terminator.
DeleteNot Apatow/Mann. They met when she auditioned for The Cable Guy, which Apatow produced and Stiller directed
ReplyDeleteNot sure she was ever close to A though. I honestly don't know much about her so prob not
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot and I have no clue. Must go to google now
ReplyDeleteTo clarify.. I meant I'm not sure Helena was ever close to A list
ReplyDeleteI just got the feeling this was an older blind, talking about people who were young at the time.
ReplyDeleteNot Kate Beckinsale/Len Wiseman. His directorial debut was Underworld which Kate starred in.
ReplyDeleteSee I read this as not necessarily "married" but a partnership from the casting couch that is being referenced as a marriage. However with that I have no clue.
ReplyDeleteWhat about tim burton and helena bonham carter, with sleepy hollow as the movie? Christina Ricci would be the A list at the time actress who is now a C+ on a good day.
ReplyDeleteNope. I misread. Mine is way wrong.
ReplyDeleteTim puts the women he dates in his movies. At the time he met Helena on the set of Planet of the Apes he was seeing the actress Lisa Marie and Helena was in her 30's then
ReplyDeleteI've checked all the guesses; we don't have it right so far. I think @Amber might be on to something. How old do you think this is? 90s? 80s? Even further back?
ReplyDeleteMilla Jovotich and Paul W. S Anderson?
ReplyDeleteAt least a Marriage came out of it.
Just a wild guess:
ReplyDeleteFilm: Sleepy Hollow
Director: Tim Burton
Producer: Francis Ford Coppola
B-List Approaching A-List: Helena Bonham Carter (coming off Oscar and Globe nominations for Wings of the Dove)
A-List Diva Now C-List Mainly TV Now: Christina Ricci (Pan-Am last year)
I really like this guess!
DeleteI'm with @Jessi. I don't think this is necessarily a marriage in a 'romantic/life partner' sense.
ReplyDeleteWe've got the players:
- Actress 1: B-list/approaching A-list Actress
- Director
- Interfering producer
- Actress 2: A-list actress/diva who is less than 25 yo at the time
And the scenario:
- Director promises Actress 1 lead
- Producer wants Actress 2 instead, who turns out to be diva
- Director promises Actress 1 lead in in next film (gets good role instead)
- Actress 2 has fallen in rank to C+ doing television.
- Actress 1's fate is not given
So I don't see anywhere in there where there was an actual (romantic) relationship or marriage...
Burton and Bonham-Carter aren't married
ReplyDeleteHelena and Tim Burton aren't married
ReplyDeleteMarriage doesn't necessarily have to mean having a ceremony or formally having a union. Common-law for example.
ReplyDeleteKevin Smith is my guess.
ReplyDeleteHe's married to the one from Jay and Silent Bob Strike back.
I'm thinking the lead actress from Dogma for the Diva? Maybe not, she seems older. Shannen Doherty from MallRats?
As good of an actress though she is, I REALLY don't see Helena Bonham Carter playing Katrina in Sleepy Hollow. Also, wasn't Tim Burton big enough at that point to tell the producer to eff off?
ReplyDeleteIt says right in the 2nd sentence they got married.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amber.
DeleteTim Burton is the last director I would expect to be overruled on a casting decision. His films are all 100% his vision.
ReplyDeleteHis last directorial effort before Sleepy Hollow was the bomb Mars Attacks.
ReplyDeleteI am still sticking by my answer. Clueless being directed by a woman is irrelevant, Joel comes across a little effimenent but is not publicly out and may be bisexual. Alicia Silverstone went from THE it girl to nothing---she may have been a diva with all that attention. Back in the 90s there wasnt as much access to gossip etc. and behind the scenes antics. The blind never once says the director married the other actress, enty is using "marriage" as termonology. Tim Burton knew Helena way before he met Ricci and if its Appaltow then whos the bitchy actress?
ReplyDeleteSpielberg and Capshaw
ReplyDelete@A Resident They met when she auditioned for it. Also, actress 1 did not get the lead in the director's next movie; just a really good role
DeleteI'm IMDBing until my fingers fall off! So far, I've "notted":
ReplyDeleteKate Beckinsale
Linda Hamilton
Judy Garland
Leslie Mann
Jane Fonda
Sharon Tate
Christine Taylor
Milla Jovovich
And obviously, anyone who's not MARRIED to a director. Who else? I know we can get it!!!!
Oh my! Love the sharron Tate possibility
DeleteTim Burton says je met Helena on Planet of the Apes. Not way before.
ReplyDeletehttp://timburton.tumblr.com/post/23585697125/question-how-did-you-and-helena-meet-tim
@VIP - Add Frances McDormand to the NOTS
ReplyDeleteIdk....I like the Milla Jovovich guess but with Luc Besson...not Paul T.A.
ReplyDeleteThis one is hard! Keep guessing guys, cuz I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteCan't be Apatow and Mann. They met on Cable Guy before he even directed a movie.
ReplyDeletehe didnt work with Ricci till 99
ReplyDeleteAnd Planet of the Apes was after that.
ReplyDeleteRenny Harlin/Geena Davis is another one
ReplyDelete@FSP - Another NOT? Or another option?
ReplyDeleteHelena Bonham Carter wasn't just starting out when she met Tim Burton. She had already been a leading lady in Hollywood for probably 15 years. Not to mention I think she was either still with, or just recently split from Kenneth Branagh. Tim Burton did not "make" her. She was already there.
ReplyDeleteTopper, that's what I was thinking. Not HBC.
DeleteNancy Allen/Brian De Papalma
ReplyDelete@Amber - another director/actress marriage...not sure if it works or not, haven't researched.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to think the term marriage actually does refer to a professional pairing.
ReplyDeleteAll the actress/director marriages don't seem to fit at all.
Oooooooooh I like the Spielberg/Capshaw guess!
ReplyDeleteWonder what movie she was passed on. The only reason I (and I'm sure most others) know her name is because of her role in Indiana Jones. Maybe Karen Allen was the diva?
Add Emma Thompson/Kenneth Branagh to NOT.
ReplyDeleteWow I have no clue, but this is great gossip.
ReplyDeleteMost definitely not Helena, she was A before she met Burton.
I want C+ on a good day diva bad actress to be Elizabeth Berkley. Nothing else fits but damn, that sounds just like her.
ReplyDeleteCould Geena Davis & Renny Harlin work? He first directed her in Cutthroat Island. The movie he directed before that was Cliffhanger in which Janine Turner was cast. She's now mostly TV and odd plastic surgery.
ReplyDeleteThe blind doesn't say that the director and actress are still married. Sandra Oh was married to Alexander Payne, who first directed her in Sideways. That was a great role, but not the lead. However, they don't fit otherwise. Sandra wasn't approaching A list (I don't think) and a film that Payne directed previously with a young diva could have been Election with Reese Witherspoon, but Reese isn't C list and doing tv.
ReplyDeleteHere's an example of what we're looking for, but it's a not:
ReplyDeleteActress 1: Adrienne Barbeau
Director: John Carpenter
Producer: Irwin Yablans
Actress 2: Jame Lee Curtis (not a huge diva who hardly ever worked again
Movie 1: Halloween
Movie 2: Someone's Watching Me! (Directed by John Carpenter, Lauren Hutton as the lead, but Adrienne Barbeau is 3rd billed)
I've been looking at Laura's guess - it could work. The diva could be Margot Kidder from De Palma's 1973 movie Sisters. His wife Nancy Allen was one of the mean girls in the movie Carrie, released in 76.
ReplyDeleteKidder was 25 when Sisters came out.
DeleteAww shit, though - Kidder was a much bigger star later with Superman - duh. This is a hard one!
DeleteJust throwing out a few other options to chew on:
ReplyDeleteKate Winslet/Sam Mendes
Rachel Weisz/Darren Arronfsky
Jenna Fischer/James Gunn
Christine Taylor/Ben Stiller
Thanks Grey!
DeleteNot Winslet - Mendes never directed her
Not Weisz - They were never married
Not Fischer - The movie of his that she was in was the first feature he directed (we need someone to be in the second project)
Not Taylor - The rest doesn't fit. She's in Zoolander after they got married, and Leslie Mann (star of Cable Guy) is all movie
Mendes directed winslet in revolutionary road
DeleteKaren Allen fucked her way into most of her roles according to my uncle who was friends with her but has now since passed.
ReplyDeleteI'm liking the Spielberg/Capshaw guess though!
Strike Kate Winslet from the list...
ReplyDeleteFrom @VIP's list..."I'm IMDBing until my fingers fall off! So far, I've "notted":"
Kate Beckinsale
Linda Hamilton
Judy Garland
Leslie Mann
Jane Fonda
Sharon Tate
Christine Taylor
Milla Jovovich
Emma Thompson
Frances McDormond
Kate Winslet
@Amber We have to add Capshaw. Not her; they met at the audition for Temple of Doom and she got the part
DeleteYeah, I was thinking Spielberg and Capshaw the entire time I read it.
ReplyDeleteI could see Karen Allen as the diva, but was she really approaching A then? She had the role in Animal House, but I can't remember how big of a deal that was - her role, I mean. Obivously Animal House was kind of a big deal :-p.
ReplyDeleteTim Burton's "bombs" make a lot of money. I was looking at the year end box office numbers & his bomb "Dark Shadows" pulled in $240 million worldwide.
ReplyDeleteI looked at Spielberg and Capshaw earlier and didn't feel like it worked. Right before Temple of Doom, Spielberg made: Twilight Zone which doesn't really have any women of note; ET w/Dee Wallace who is in a bunch of movies coming up; and Raiders of the Lost Ark which has Karen Allen who seems to be a lot of movies.
ReplyDeleteNo! I love Karen Allen, it can't be her!
ReplyDeleteI've been working off this list. I'm going to automatically strike Madonna from the list because no way is she a B-list actress approaching A at any time. I'm also striking Ingrid Bergmann, because I think that may be going back way too far.
ReplyDelete@Amber LOL, me too!
DeleteAmber, none of those fit that I can see. So marriage may include partnerships.
ReplyDeleteStrike Nancy Allen. Her role in Carrie is described as a "pivotal supporting role," but the movies De Palma made prior to that (Obsession, Phantom of the Paradise, and Sisters), don't really have an actress that works as an A-list-then, C+-list-TV-now.
ReplyDeleteFrufra, she was in Star Man and was really huge back then.
ReplyDeleteI really like the Spielberg guess, remember his divorce from Amy was huge and messy and very costly at the time.
JoElla, I agree re. StarMan, but wasn't that kind of the pinnacle of her success? I mean, nothing was as huge as Raiders in her career. Not even close. But I agree also that she doesn't really fit.
DeleteDid anyone debunk my Geena Davis, Renny Harlin, Janine Turner?
ReplyDeleteNOT:
Kate Beckinsale
Linda Hamilton
Judy Garland
Leslie Mann
Jane Fonda
Sharon Tate
Christine Taylor
Milla Jovovich
Emma Thompson
Frances McDormond
Kate Winslet
Kate Capshaw
Nancy Allen
Madonna
Ingrid Bergmann
@Amber Harlin and Davis were married the same year Cliffhanger came out (meaning they met before), and Harlin was also a producer on Cliffhanger. Doesn't fit
DeleteNOT Joanne Woodward - She was in Rachel, Rachel which was Paul Newman's first directorial movie.
ReplyDeleteAmber, I'm thinking Geena Davis doesn't work because she was the lead in that crappy pirate movie, and she had already won the Oscar for The Accidental Tourist and done Thelma and Louise.
ReplyDeleteNOT Giulietta Masina - she was in Fellini's first directorial, Variety Lights.
ReplyDeleteThanks @ VIP & Fru :)
ReplyDeleteHas anyone notted Jovovich? I"m losing track.
ReplyDeleteFrufru, yes Starman was the pinnacle. How I love that movie. That's when I fell in love with Jeff Bridges.
ReplyDelete@ABlake - not Kevin Smith. His wife Jen Schwalbach was a reporter for USA Today when they met. She didn't make it into any of his flicks until after they married.
ReplyDelete@Fru - yup!
ReplyDeleteNOT:
Kate Beckinsale
Linda Hamilton
Judy Garland
Leslie Mann
Jane Fonda
Sharon Tate
Christine Taylor
Milla Jovovich
Emma Thompson
Frances McDormond
Kate Winslet
Kate Capshaw
Nancy Allen
Madonna
Ingrid Bergmann
Geena Davis
Joanne Woodward
Amber, I'm so busy IMDBing that I missed the list that was RIGHT THERE. Thanks.
DeleteNOT Anna Karina
ReplyDeleteKeep searching, super sleuths! I can't play any more, but I'll be back later to see what you guys came up with! This is my favorite kind of BI.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to make Rose McGowan/Robert Rodriguez work, but she had the lead in Planet Terror after he directed Sin City
ReplyDeleteEliminating Gena Rowlands, because I don't get the impression Stella Stevens in Too Late Blues fits the A-list-then/C+-list-TV-now role.
ReplyDeleteNo definitely not Anna Karina I don't think Enty even knows who Godard is!But Pierrot le Fou is another favorite movie of mine, I had a girl crush on Anna.
ReplyDeleteI just eliminated Adrienne Barbeau (sorry if someone did earlier - SO MANY TABS OPEN).
ReplyDeleteLast on my list is Louise Lasser who was married to Woody Allen...
Okay. Not Louise Lasser. They were married in '66 when he directed his first movie.
ReplyDeleteIs there ANY chance this is Sharon Tate and Roman Polansky?
ReplyDeleteFirst film: Repulsion
Director: Roman Polansky
A-list actress: Catherine Deneuve (later one an academy award, still super famous in France), age 22 at time of film
Next Movie:
The Fearless Vampire Killers directed by Polansky
Sharon Tate was the female lead, but there were two male leads which were much bigger parts
She also had an uncredited role in Polansky's Rosemary's Baby.
@Grey Sharon Tate doesn't fit. Catherine Deneuve isn't a diva who "never got any good roles" after that movie. Deneuve was nominated for an Oscar in 1993
DeleteAny try Bo Derek yet? I'll start looking into it
ReplyDeleteNevermind, it's a NOT
DeleteIm going to save ya peeps the trouble. It's Me! I had sex with Harvey weinstein but he played me after I played with his 3 belly roll he left me to dust. Now im working as special guest Star on Fox Bones.
ReplyDeleteAhh, thanks Lucas.
ReplyDeleteFolks, just because Spielberg said he didn't meet Kate until Temple of Doom doesn't make it so.
Just tossing that out, his divorce was fierce.
Karen Allen was in Star Man..I forgot about that.
That's a great guess Grey!
ReplyDeleteMy head hurts. From the blind, the bitchy actress who got cast is under 25, so the actress that married the director would be under 25 when all this happened. Still got nothing :/
ReplyDeleteBut she wasn't B on her way to A at the time, was she?
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, the Geena/Renny guess is the best fit.
ReplyDeleteI do think Grey might be on to something, maybe the actress who got married is dead. I was thinking she just isn't famous anymore but it could explain him trailing off and not explaining what happened to the marriage or their current status. Obvs the bitchy actress is alive and on tv but maybe the chick who got married is not. All talk of the woman from the casting couch is in past tense.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine spielberg not getting his choice of actresses for his movies. he's had huge power for years and years.
ReplyDeleteWho's on first?
ReplyDeleteWhat's on second
ReplyDeleteI don't think the two are actually married...I think it's only a casting couch marriage, just like you have an office wife or office husband. It's someone in a work environment (for example) that you confide in and go to as if they were your wife or husband, even though they are not.
ReplyDeleteAnyone checking Actors that sometimes direct Like Sean Penn or Warren Beatty? I don't think they fit but maybe someone else like that?
ReplyDeleteNeither Sean Penn nor Warren Beatty work as far as I can tell :/
ReplyDelete@crila - Ugh. If it's a "casting couch marriage" IDK how we'd ever figure it out. :/
ReplyDeleteHere's a feeble guess:
ReplyDeleteDirector: Paul W.S. Anderson
Actress: Milla Jovovich
Movie 1: Soldier
Producer: Jerry Weintraub
Actress: Connie Nielsen
Movie 2: Resident Evil
Martin Scorsese
ReplyDeleteMovie - Raging Bull
Actress who got part (now TV) - Cathy Moriarty
Casting Couch Actress who married Director - Isabella Rosellini
Next Film - Il pap'occhio (Scorsese acted in this, didn't direct)
Producer - Robert Chartoff
Lola, I thought that was a terrific guess. But sadly, I found this "It was Pesci who saw a photograph of Cathy Moriarty at a New York restaurant, and was amazed by her resemblance to the real life Vickie LaMotta. Though she had acted in the past, she was not professionally trained and had no prospects of success. Her test won the hearts of both Scorsese and De Niro, and after showing it to the skeptical Actors Guild, she got the part."
DeleteDidn't Renny Harlin direct Geena Davis in Long Kiss Goodnight with Samuel Jackson a long time before Cutthroat Island?
ReplyDeleteWhoa, I was way wrong. Cutthroat Island was a year before Long Kiss Goodnight.
ReplyDeletewhat about emme rossum as the diva actress? maybe from phantom of the opera?
ReplyDeleteThis is HARD! I think we need to back into the clues and try to figure out who the bratty almost A-lister could be that is now on the skids as a C, instead of looking for married actress/director couples. Like others have pointed out, I’m not sure there was an actual marriage. That could simply be a term for their relationship. It could also be someone who directed ONCE or TWICE and does something else now. That would open things up for a zillion couples because we don’t know the current status of the original B-lister. Is she alive or dead, what is her current ranking, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo…I’m taking the path of least resistance. All of these ladies are in the DM:
Mira Sorvino
Kim Basinger
Jane Fonda
Denise Richards
I’m going with Door #4 and Denise Richards. She is also in the photos today. Denise would qualify as the bratty almost A-lister that now struggles to get on TV as a C+. She was in The World is Not Enough as that ridiculous Christmas Jones character. Director was Michael Apted. His very next film after that was Enigma with Kate Winslet in a smaller role but I couldn’t find anything about them having a professional partnership or even staying in touch. Unfortunately, Richards was older than 25 in that Bond movie but just barely.
Denise also did Starship Troopers with Paul Verhoeven as the director. His very next movie after that was Hollow Man with Kim Dickens in a smaller role (Shue was the lead). Again, he’s been married for 500 years and I couldn’t find any proof that they even keep in touch. I really think the key is identifying the former diva that is now treading water to stay in the spotlight and then the other puzzle pieces will fall into place.
I give up. My head hurts!
I like the Spielberg/Capshaw/Allen guess. Karen Allen is well known for having serious psychiatric issues, and she and Spielberg did not get along well making Raiders of the Lost Ark.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Connolly? She's married to a director.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Connolly is married to Paul Bettany who I believe is mainly an actor.
ReplyDeleteI think Enty means "marriage" here in the literal sense. The couple in question actually got married after bonding over their casting situation.
Oh my gosh, researching this blind has made me realize that Karen Allen and Amy Irving are two different people! All these years I thought they were the SAME PERSON!
ReplyDeleteCould Joe Wright and Rosamund Pike work?
ReplyDeleteJoe Wight met Rosamond Pike when he directed her in Pride and Prejudice. And he broke it off weeks before the wedding when she sent out Christmas cards to everybody they know with a picture of the two of them in a hot tub. Whoops. So they never got married.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking Lea Thompson, married to Howard Deutch, director of Pretty in Pink. Next movie was Some Kind of Wonderful. I know it doesn't perfectly fit, since I don't think John Hughes regretted casting Molly Ringwald, but it was the peak of her career. Just throwing it out there...
ReplyDeleteIsn't Julianne Moore married to a director? Bart something? But I think he is more of an indie director.
ReplyDeleteYep this is a tough one. Hmmm.
Ignoring the B-almost-A rating issue, I think this is Mark Waters, Dina Waters/Spybey and Tori Spelling. The first movie was The House of Yes, which was Tori's only really good movie role. She was 23 when it was filmed, I believe, and there were rumors about how she got the role and how she acted on set. Dina and Mark married three or four years later.
ReplyDeleteThe second movie was Freaky Friday, in which Dina got a role.
Alice Tate has the best guess: Lea Thompson, Howard Deutch & Molly Ringwald. On the Pretty in Pink wikipedia page, it states that Molly had to be convinced to take the role after they couldn't find another actress for it. She probably was trying to avoid being typecast as John Hughes's muse. It's likely that Lea Thompson (on verge of A list due to Back to the Future) auditioned. Molly never got a better role. Lea got the secondary female lead in Some Kind of Wonderful, directed by Deutch after Pretty in Pink, and married Deutch.
ReplyDeleteI have seen so many sites but never saw this type of work that has won my heart!! comfortable leather sofas
ReplyDelete