“So many amazing actors”: the 2009 cult classic that almost starred Emma Stone
Across a career that simultaneously feels like it’s been around forever and has only just started, Emma Stone has played some truly iconic characters.
As well as bringing other people’s creations to life, such as when she played Cruella de Vil or Gwen Stacy, she’s also responsible for crafting many great originals. One of her earliest roles was as the internal monologue of a dog on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. This has nothing to do with anything, but I just love that it happened.
As is the case with any actor, Stone’s career is also full of paths not taken, like when she failed an audition for the TV show Heroes, which caused her to question her acting goals, or when she lost out to Mia Wasikowska for the titular role in Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland. She could have reunited with Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street, but chose The Amazing Spider-Man instead, and similarly, she opted to make The Help instead of Sucker Punch, which might be one of the best decisions anyone has ever made.
Another role she could have played in an alternative universe was Anita ‘Needy’ Lesnicki, which horror movie aficionados will recognise from the 2009 cult hit Jennifer’s Body. Needy was the bookish best friend of the title character (played by Megan Fox), who has to confront her conventionally attractive pal when she goes on a demonically induced murderous rampage, and in an interview with Variety, director Karyn Kusama and screenwriter Diablo Cody spoke about the audition process being stacked with great actors vying for the part.
“We read so many amazing actors,” Kusama said, “I remember seeing a young Emma Stone, a young Lizzy Caplan”. Cody remembered having a meeting with Stone about the part and also talking to Amanda Bynes about potentially playing Needy, but unfortunately, Seyfried was just too perfect.
“There was just something about Amanda,” Kusama continued, “She had this complete wide-eyed wonder about the world in her audition, and it travelled through her whole performance. As soon as I saw her, I felt like, ‘Oh, she’s the one’.”
Seyfried and Fox made up a huge part of the film’s marketing material, with the trailers heavily promoting the kiss between Needy and Jennifer in a painfully obvious attempt to lure male cinemagoers into the theatres.
Unfortunately, this didn’t help, as the film made a modest splash at the box office. Jennifer’s Body did have a strong appeal among female audiences, however, and is now regarded as something of a feminist classic that was underappreciated in its own time.
As for Stone, she might not have gotten this part, but 2009 was still a good year for her, when, alongside appearances in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Paper Man, she made it as Wichita in the comedy horror flick, Zombieland. The two films ended up basically going head-to-head, with Zombieland making $102.4million to Jennifer’s Body’s $31.6m.
