10 Completely Insane Ways Film Actors Scored Famous Parts

The most bizarre, outlandish and unexpected ways that actors were cast in movies.

Star Wars The Force Awakens Rey Lightsaber
Lucasfilm

Any one of us could have been in the recent Star Wars movies. Providing we could act of course, although that's not a must, judging on Hayden Christensen. But it was still unusual for a franchise as huge as Star Wars to openly audition actors a few years back.

Whilst the selection process for Star Wars has been thorough and meticulous in the past (Ewan McGregor for example was a name on a list of fifty potential actors and chosen, in part, because of his likeness to the late great Alec Guinness) not all films cast actors the same way; certain parts are famously written specifically for certain people sometimes, and often, Hollywood's most marvellous can skip through the audition process.

Other films cast based on previous work, and some directors trust their hunch on an actor despite their bad audition; Bilbo Baggins actor Martin Freeman is a great example of this, having been cast in the Hobbit primarily because Peter Jackson was a fan of Sherlock, and having earned his role in Sherlock despite coming across as angry (he'd had his wallet stolen that day).

There are a thousand ways that a director can be impressed, but would any of the following "auditions" catch the eye of J. J. Abrams?

Here are some of the most bizarre, outlandish and unexpected ways that actors were cast in movies...

Contributor
Contributor

Mark White hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.