Russell Crowe denies having a difficult audition for the role of the lead alongside Julia Roberts in the popular romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding from 1997.
Following his admission to author Scott Meslow in the book From Hollywood With Love that he had a table read with Roberts during the casting process, Crowe moved to Twitter on Friday to address the movie’s director, P.J. Hogan. It was “one of the worst table reads I’ve ever had,” according to Hogan, and it quickly became apparent that Crowe, who Hogan thought was a rising star, wasn’t the ideal choice for the role.
Crowe said in his tweet that Roberts and he had never read together and that the audition had never taken place. The Academy Award winner praised the director’s “pure vision.” “I didn’t go for this movie’s audition. I’ve never performed a table read with the stated actress. Would be humorous if it weren’t so useless.
After Vulture released an extract from the book in February—which, according to Crowe, she wasn’t aware of until just recently—remarks Hogan’s gained notoriety. Dermot Mulroney eventually portrayed Dermot Hogan’s closest buddy in the movie, but in the passage, Hogan said that Russell Crowe was his first choice for the character of Michael. Jocelyn Moorhouse, Hogan’s wife, had directed Crowe in the Australian movie Proof in 1991.
Regarding Crowe’s audition, Hogan stated in the book, “I don’t know what went wrong.” One of the worst table reads I’ve ever had, to put it mildly. Julia sat across from Russell. He held the screenplay in his hands and focused only on it, without once turning to see her. He monotonously read each line. Julia attempted to make eye contact with Russell at one point by practically leaning over the table and looking at him from a few inches away. He refused to look at her either. Russell approached me after the reading and remarked, “I thought that went fairly well.” I immediately realized that Russell would not attend the wedding of my best friend.