Russell Crowe might not agree with the recent blow in his acting skills.
In February, Vulture released an excerpt from Scott Meslow’s romantic comedy From Hollywood With Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise again), in which director P.J. Hogan said Crowe performed “one of the worst table reads I’ve ever experienced” for the movie.
And today, more than eight months after Hogan’s statement, the Gladiator star wants to clarify a few things.
“Pure imagination on behalf of this director. I did not audition for this film,” Crowe took to Twitter to express his truth on Friday. “I have never done a table read with the actress mentioned. Would be funny if it wasn’t so pointless.”
In the article, Hogan claimed Crowe was his “first choice” to star alongside Julia Roberts as Michael O’Neal, her best friend and love interest in the rom-com following his wife – screenwriter and filmmaker Jocelyn Moorhouse – worked alongside Crowe on Proof, a 1991 movie.
But he eventually said Roberts had final casting clearance when it came to her co-actor, so Hogan told Crowe the casting was via a table read with the star that reportedly didn’t end well.
“I don’t know what went wrong,” he elaborated. “It was one of the worst table reads I’ve ever experienced. Russell was seated opposite Julia. He gripped that script, and he stared at that script, and he didn’t look at her once.”
Hogan Against Crowe
And to aggravate the situation, Hogan stated that Crowe carried on reading “every line in a monotone” and continuously prevented Roberts’ gaze.
“At one point, Julia was literally leaning over the table, staring, like, inches from Russell’s face, trying to make eye contact. And he wouldn’t look at her,” he stated.
“At the end of the reading, Russell came up to me and said, ‘I thought that went pretty well.’ And then I knew: Russell was not going to be in My Best Friend’s Wedding.”
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Although, according to the excerpt, Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Perry, and Edward Burns were all vying for the role, Dermot Mulroney was the triumphant star in the end, completing the star-studded cast that consisted of Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Rupert Everett, and Philip Bosco.
When asked by EW for a comment, Hogan and Roberts’ reps did not respond.
Crowe Missed
My Best Friend’s Wedding follows the story of a 27-year-old (three weeks to 28) New York good critic Julianne “Jules” Potter as she receives a call from her longtime best friend Michael O’Neal, a sportswriter in Chicago.
Years earlier, the two had made a promise: if they hadn’t been married at 28, they would marry each other. If you think it happened, you need to read more.
Michael called to inform his best friend that he would tie the knot with gorgeous Kimmy Wallace in four days. After hearing the news, Jules realized she loved Michael more than a friend, so she decided to cook up a plan to sabotage the wedding. But all of that failed.
Ultimately, she and Michael did not end up together. But she found a new love interest named George.
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Photo: YIMG
