20 Wild Horror Movie Casting Choices We Almost Got

2. Jenna Ortega - Charlie (Hereditary)

Jenna Ortega recently revealed that she auditioned for the role of doomed teenager Charlie Graham (Milly Shapiro) in Ari Aster's instantly iconic horror masterpiece Hereditary.

Ortega, who had just a few small movie roles to her name when the film was in pre-production in 2016, read for the part, though by her own admission knew that her casting "wouldn’t have made any sense, especially for... [her] disposition as a kid."

As talented as Ortega is, it's simply tough to see her disappearing into someone like Charlie. 

Aster instead cast newcomer Milly Shapiro, whose audition relieved him as he was struggling to find an actress to match Charlie's relatively vague personality on the page.

Shapiro, while not nearly as high-profile as Ortega today, was a note-perfect casting choice in every sense. 

Ortega added that while she saw only a limited sliver of the script during her audition, she had a feeling the film would end up being important.